History of Immaculate Conception Parish
The Jesuits are brought to New Mexico
The priests and brothers of the Naples Province of the Jesuits were expelled by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the great unifier of Italy because the Jesuits had backed the King of Naples and his nobles. The misfortune of the Jesuits turned out to be a boon for the Catholic Church in New Mexico, Colorado, and West Texas. Bishop Lamy of Santa Fe went himself to Rome looking for the sons of Ignatius. Eventually, five Jesuits of the dispersed Naples Province were assigned to return with Bishop Lamy back to New Mexico. Traversing the Atlantic and pioneering across the US Western frontier, the Jesuits finally arrived with Bishop Lamy in Santa Fe on August 15, 1867.
The Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1549, has long looked for new mission fields to help spread the gospel and search for the Greater Glory of God. The Jesuits were happy to be invited to the New World and new land of New Mexico.
The Jesuits were first put to work in Bernalillo where they were given Pena Blanca, and Jemez and the Indian pueblos of Sandia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Cochiti, Santa Ana, Zia, and Jemez. Bishop Lamy, fulfilling his promise of giving the Jesuits a parish, entrusted San Felipe in Old Town Albuquerque on April 21, 1868. They immediately began administering the sacraments to the people of an area that reached north to Alameda, west to some placitas on the Rio Puerco, south only to Barelas, and east beyond the Sandia Mountains. The Jesuits became very active within the diocese.
The Albuquerque parish of San Felipe had become the seed ground of many Jesuit enterprises, and for some years was even the site of a novitiate for the training of young Jesuits.
Another extension out of the San Felipe parish was the Jesuit mission in the mountain west. This included the creation of the first catholic magazine in the region, Revista Catolica. The Jesuits also opened the College of Las Vegas, a high school for boys. In time, this school would move to Denver and be renamed Regis College and High School.
The arrival of the Railroad
In 1880, the railroad arrived in the region and presented the Jesuits with an opportunity for an expansion of their activities close at hand. It became evident that New Town Albuquerque would need a church as the population now overcame the population of Old Town. So Father Donato Gasparri, S. J., met with some of the New Town’s leaders and chose a site for what would become Immaculate Conception Church.
The New Town’s people generously helped to build the church, and it did not take long for them to build a school as well. St. Mary’s School was staffed and directed by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and a large number of dedicated lay men and women. In 1893 the new school building was completed and began to educate young Catholics.
From 1892 until he departed from Immaculate Conception Parish in 1924, Father Alphonso Mandalari, S. J., managed to become an Albuquerque legend, a leading figure in Albuquerque's civic enterprises. He arrived at the age of 42, while he had youth and vigor. He had served on the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico; he had worked hard for the construction of an orphanage to shelter children left without parents. St. Mary’s School, which served both elementary and high school students, flourished under his care. He made substantial improvements to both the church and the school. Father Mandalari also worked with the Sisters of Charity by providing them Jesuit-owned land for the construction of St. Joseph’s Hospital, now Lovelace hospital. And it was during his time as a pastor that President Theodore Roosevelt visited St. Mary’s School. In 1924, Father Mandalari suggested that a younger man come and take his place as pastor. The whole ecclesial and civic community protested loudly against Father Mandalari being taken from Albuquerque.
Another well-known and well-remembered pastor was Patrick J. Kelleher, S. J., who came on the Albuquerque scene in 1944. Father Kelleher was a builder. He acquired the land on which the church rectory now stands on Copper Avenue. He raised money to build a new elementary school. He arranged for the expansion of Mt. Calvary Cemetery to its present size. In 1956, Father Kelleher called together some of the illustrious persons not only of Immaculate Conception but of the City of Albuquerque and began raising funds to build a new convent, a church, a rectory, and addition to St. Mary’s School. The grand dedication of these additions to the parish was held in May of 1960. Father Pat, as he was known by many of his parishioners, left Immaculate Conception in 1965 at the age of 79.
Today
More recently, the pastors have been Jesuit Fathers Joseph Malloy, Frank Renfroe, Alvin Pilie, Edgar Tiblier, Sidney Lange, and Jack Heaney. It was during their tenure that Sister Amadea Heaney, S. C., a Sister of Charity who had worked in China, returned home to Albuquerque and founded both the Amadea Shelter for Unwed Mothers and the St. Mary’s Rest Home for Seniors under the umbrella of the Faith and Justice Center, Inc. Both institutions have been reimagined.
It was during these years also that the work of the Brothers of the Good Shepherd, under the inspired leadership of Brother Mathias Barrett, blossomed, and Brother Tom Scherman, S. J., visited Catholics at Presbyterian Hospital and did extensive telephone visits with shut-ins.
The Jesuits strategically used Immaculate Conception Church as a home base to begin several other parishes in the neighboring vicinity: Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, St. Francisco Javier, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and San Ignacio. The final three Jesuit pastors were Fr. Edmundo Rodriguez, Fr. Rafael Garcia, and Fr. Warren Broussard.
On July 1, 2020, The Jesuit Provincial, Fr. Provincial Ronald Mercier, S.J., Archbishop John Wester, and Fr. Warren Broussard, S.J., announced that the Jesuit Fathers would be leaving New Mexico. This message was communicated in print as well as via a YouTube Video available
here.
On June 27, 2021, the parish of Immaculate Conception said farewell to Fr. Warren Broussard, S.J., the
last Jesuit pastor of the parish. As a result of dwindling vocations, and in response to a need to better
manage the resources of the Jesuit Community, a decision was made to turn Immaculate Conception
Parish over to diocesan administration. As of July 1, 2021, Immaculate Conception continues its
important mission to the community of downtown Albuquerque under the administration of the secular
clergy of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, and continues to provide a rich heritage of daily services to the
Albuquerque community. The parish staff continues to attend to the long Jesuit service of regularly
attending to anointing the sick and Communion to the Catholic faithful at the downtown hospitals, happily
feeding the downtown homeless on Sunday mornings through its Bread and Blessing Ministry, and
continuing the legacy of support of St. Mary's School which continues to be the favored Catholic school
for downtown students.
Some Images of Our Jesuit Fathers... and our new diocesan clergy.
