St. John’s and Holy Rosary

St. John’s was formally incorporated as a parish in 1936.

The parish was staffed by the Benedictines of St. John’s Abby in Collegeville, Minnesota, until the Diocese of Duluth took the responsibility in 1985.

The current parish consists of about 140 registered families. Along with Holy Rosary in Grand Portage, St. John’s serves the residents of Cook County and many seasonal residents and visitors throughout the year.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Grand Portage was built in 1865 to serve the spiritual needs of the Ojibwa Community and is the oldest log cabin church still operating in Minnesota.

Five miles from the Canadian Border, Grand Portage was the center of the North American fur trade during the late 1700’s. The parish was served by a succession of early itinerant missionaries, Jesuits, Benedictines and since 1985, by the Diocese of Duluth. In 1940, the exterior logs were covered with siding to improve insulation, but the same log siding can still be seen on the rectory next door. The parish of about 30 families is served by the Pastor of St. John’s in Grand Marais and welcomes many tourists each year.

The year, 2011, was a particularly happy one for our parish of St. John’s. In 1911 the Catholics in Grand Marais began a plan to have their own church in town, and so be distinct from the St. Francis Xavier church in Chippewa Village, just east of town. In 1912 they started to build. So, this year we celebrate the 100^thanniversary of the beginnings of this new congregation, which was looked after by the Benedictine priests at Holy Family Church in Cloquet – 130 miles away. That meant that the new St. John’s congregation was a mission of Holy Family parish in Cloquet. The second anniversary we celebrate this year is the raising of St. John’s from Mission status to full parish status in 1936. That meant that St. John’s now stood on its own, no longer dependent on a priest from Cloquet, and now with its own pastor. That makes our parish 75 years old this year. And our third reason to be joyful in 2011 is to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the building of our present St. John’s Church in 1961.

Content the property of St John’s Church.

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