Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 386 - 389 

REV. M. J. CASEY, Pastor of St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Wichita, is a native of County Monaghan, Ireland, where his birth took place in 1850. His education was completed in All Hallows, Dublin, and in 1875 he emigrated to America, and making his way westward took up his residence first in Leavenworth, this State. Thence he went to Olathe, where he was settled for ten years and where under his supervision there was erected a very fine church edifice at a cost of $50,000, including the church property adjacent. 

        While at Olathe Father Casey established the celebrated mission there and also churches in various other places, where he either erected buildings or paid off the debts which had accrued. His remarkable energy and executive ability have been forcibly illustrated by his labors in Wichita, to which city he came in November, 1885. The church here at that time was in an enfeebled condition, but Father Casey at once set to work, and in the short space of two years erected a substantial edifice at a cost of $25,000, and the interior of which is most beautifully decorated. He also founded All Hallows Academy on the West Side and put up its building also at a cost of $25,000. This, however, is not yet completed, but promises to shelter one of the largest institutions of the kind. One mile south of the academy there is now being completed, also under the supervision of Father Casey, a seminary building for young men, equal in proportion to that of the academy. He has also erected a church edifice on the West Side, where the church owns property to the value of $50,000. In addition to this he has also erected a building for the St. Aloysius School and a hall for parochial purposes, which it is designed shall be thoroughly equipped with all modern appliances. The entire value of the St. Aloysius Church property in Wichita is estimated to be nearly $1,000,000. The greater part of this has been accumulated by the wisdom, persistent labors and forethought of Father Casey.

         In addition to his other labors, Father Casey while at Olathe established a paper, the Kansas Catholic, the only journal of its kind in the State, and devoted to the interests of the church. He is Administrator of the Diocese of Wichita. His force of character, talent and ability are phenomenal, and he possesses great power for good among his people.

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