Manson - St. Thomas

MANSON - St. Thomas Parish was organized in 1880. Previously, Catholics in the Manson area attended the country church of St. Patrick on the Lizard. St. Thomas Church was the first Catholic Church in Calhoun County.

Once a month, for the next three years, Father Thomas Lenihan came from Fort Dodge to offer Mass in the Jerry Hallihan home. Father Lenihan was later consecrated as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and it is in his honor that the parish bears the name of his patron, St. Thomas, the Apostle.

Land was purchased for a church in 1883 and construction began. Though construction was not finished, the first marriage was celebrated on Nov. 9, 1885, uniting Matthew J. Foley and Mary Clark.

In 1890, Father M. C. Daly was appointed the first resident pastor. He served the parish as well as the missions of Barnum and Pomeroy. A residence was built for the pastor and land was purchased for the parish cemetery.

Father Daly served the parish until 1902. Subsequent pastors were: Father John McAuliffe (1902-1908), Father Bernard O'Reilly (1908-1919), Father Clement P. Sweeney (1919-1922), Father Patrick T. Lynch (1922-1932), Father August J. Nuel (1932-1936), Father James B. Greteman (1936-1945), Father Otto A. Dentlinger (1945-1952), Father Clemens A. Knobbe (1952-1956), Father Charles M. Kneip (1956-1969), Father David T. McGoey (1969-1971), Father Alfred E. McCoy (1971-1972), Father John R. Turza (1972-1979), Father Elmer D. Thom (1979-1985), Father Jerome B. Koenig (1985-1987), Father Roger J. Linnan (1987-1989), Father Robert J. McClintock (1989-1996) and Father Jerome A. Degen (1996-2001). Father Dale George is pastor of St. Thomas.

The present church, social hall and classroom building was built during the pastorate of Father Kneip in 1966. The present rectory was constructed in 1974.

There have been a number of vocations to sacred order and the religious life nurtured in the parish. Father Robert M. Kelly, S.J., born in Manson in 1877, entered the Jesuit Society in 1889. Florence Adams entered the Sisters of St. Francis in 1932 and was given the name Sister Mary Matilda. Other women religious from the parish are Sister Dorothy Sievers, OSF; Sister Madonna Lang, OSF; and Sister Regina Markert, OSF.

Msgr. Kenneth Seifried was ordained for the Diocese of Sioux City in 1963 and is presently the pastor at St. Joseph Parish, Granville. Thomas Lang, who served many years as an army chaplain, was ordained to the permanent diaconate for the diocese in 1982.

On Oct. 1, 1998, the parish clustered with St. Mary Parish, Pomeroy, and St. Joseph Parish, Palmer. St. Joseph Parish was closed shortly thereafter.