History
In early 1956, according to diocesan archives, Bishop Gerow appealed to the Extenson Society for a $10,000 donation to build a church in "a churchless county." It was at this time Bishop Gerow appointed Father Frances Reid, a chancery official, as leader of the project. With the help of generous donations from other faithful Catholics, ten acres were purchased in 1957. The site was graded and dirt was brought in to fill the washed out gullies, which ultimately made St. Jude's property the highest point in the area.
The Construction of St. Jude began, a high-pitched A-frame marvel of
brick, concrete, black formica, satin finish aluminum and amber
glass.
Its design was considered to be one of the last of its kind in modern
church architecture. If you look up, in our church, you will see that
there is ribbing in the ceiling to hold the roof up. This ribbing
resembles the underside of a boat. This is done on purpose, it is why
this section of the Church is called a NAVE, from the Latin word
meaning "ship". It is where we get the english word "navy". The church
(as a whole, not just the building) is called the Barque (boat) of
Peter. It is a boat tossed about in the turbulent sea of the world. We
must hold fast within the barque of Peter to be safe as we sail to our
goal, guided by the Holy Spirit, and led by Christ to our Father in
heaven. Our church looks like ribbing of a shop purposely to remind us
that the church is the barque of Peter and we need to be in the safety
of the ship to overcome the world and come to Jesus Christ.
St. Jude was chosen as our patron saint because "being Catholic was tough in those days," when Catholicism was misunderstood because of old prejudices and practices which seemed strange to outsiders. St. Jude, a mission of St. Peter's co-cathedral, was dedicated in February 1959. A rectory was built in 1961, and on August 9, 1962, St. Jude's was formally declared a parish.
St. Jude became well known for the establishment of the St. Jude's Day Care Center and Kindergarten. Based upon the ideas of Maria Montessori, the center opened in half of the rectory with fewer than 20 children. It quickly grew into two buildings and 250 children. Daughters of Charity and School Sisters of Notre Dame were involved in the day care center and local area outreach. The Mississippi State Mental Hospital, at Whitfield, was also an integral part of the ministry of the parish of St. Jude.
In 1958 the first challenge to the parish came in the form of a fire, which started in the early morning hours, totally destroying the day care housed in the parish center. The parish center was rebuilt and an additional building was constructed later. In 1972 the church was renovated to increase the seating capacity, because of the continuous growth of the parish.
On New Year's Day in 1981, the next great challenge came again, and
again it came in the form of fire. After a late moring Liturgy,
everyone went home to enjoy the last of the holidays. Late that
afternoon the pastor was watching Notre Dame play in the Sugar Bowl.
At 4:25 p.m. a neighbor called to say, "Father, the church is on
Fire." The week-old greenery around the creche was dry. An undetected
candle nearby had been left burning. By the time it was discovered,
the fire had already been burning for three hours. Because of the
vaulted ceiling the church structure had withstood the fire, but the
repairs were so extensive that it was nearly a year before
parishioners could return to their worship space. The church was
re-dedicated on December 4, 1981.
A few decades have passed since the re-dedication and we continue to be a vibrant parish, serving each other and our community with the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are continually in renovation to accommodate our ever-growing parish and its' ministries.
