History

In 1956, the Archdiocese of Chicago decided that people in the newly founded town of Harwood Heights need an additional place of worship.

Other churches in the area were overcrowded and not able to provide the local faithful with the religious services they needed. In response to this rapid post-war developement, Fr. Stephen Ryan was chosen to solve the problem. He took residence with Monsignor McGowan, pastor of St. Priscilla’s Church, just south of Harwood Heights. Next, he gauged the demand.

Sometimes described as formal and “stand-offish”, Fr. Conrad didn’t greet his parishioners after masses that only he could squeeze into twenty minutes. The present look of the Sanctuary. A door-to-door census and parishioner registration for a new church was conducted. At what is roughly halfway between St. Monica’s and St. Priscilla’s Church, Fr. Ryan founded the Mission of St. Monica’s; an extension of St. Monica’s activities but not yet properly equipped to be called a parish.