A celebration of the 70th anniversary of the dedication of Notre Dame Church in Greeneville is set for Sunday, April 27, with Bishop Mark Beckman presiding at a bilingual Mass at 4 p.m., followed by a dinner and dance at the Eastview Recreation Center near Notre Dame.
The parish will not have its 11 a.m. Mass in English or its 3 p.m. Mass in Spanish that day.
Tickets for the catered dinner are $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under, which includes a buffet meal, a trivia game, and country music by The Flying J’s.
Greeneville Catholics first met at St. Patrick Church on College Street, which was dedicated on Oct. 16, 1870. Irish Catholic railroad workers made up many of the early parishioners. Circuit-riding priest Father Emmanuel Callahan served area Catholics in the early years of the 20th century. When the railroads were completed and the Irish residents began to move away, the number of Catholics in the area dwindled to about 15 in 1934.
The old church was torn down in 1950, after which Father Albert Siener began celebrating Mass in the balcony of the Capitol Theater on Main Street. Notre Dame Church’s current building on Mount Bethel Road was dedicated April 26, 1955, with Father Siener serving as the new parish’s first pastor.
