Sainthood candidate and a stand-up comic: Demolished Peoria church has deep history

When the home of United Fellowship Ministries collapsed and was demolished in July, Peoria lost a tangible link to a candidate for sainthood.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once served as assistant pastor at the former St. Patrick's church at 231 S. Saratoga St. He went on to national renown as a radio and television personality. Sheen's beatification, the last step before sainthood, is currently on hold.

St. Patrick's began as a mission in 1861, according to Journal Star and other accounts. A small frame structure was built in 1862 in the 100 block of Butler Street. The first resident pastor was appointed in 1868. A red-brick church at the corner of Saratoga and McBean was dedicated in 1880. Turnout for the ceremony was large, with Lacon residents even chartering a steamboat to attend the dedication, according to accounts.

The "impressive Byzantine-Roman style structure" was almost destroyed by fire in 1881, according to a 1943 Peoria Star article, but was rebuilt and rededicated the same year. A "commodious brick school" was built in 1888, the story said, and "the present Sisters' residence was erected in 1922." Thereafter, "the interior of the church was completely renovated and redecorated, marble altars erected, and sacristies added."

The Fulton J. Sheen connection

Enter Sheen. Born in El Paso in 1895, he later moved to Peoria with his family. Sheen studied at St. Mary's Grade School and Spalding Institute and served as an altar boy at St. Mary's Cathedral. In 1919, he was ordained a priest at the cathedral. He earned multiple degrees before returning to Peoria.

According to a 2017 Journal Star story, "In 1926, he began his only priesthood in Peoria, serving as assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Church. ... Giving lectures on Sunday nights, Sheen drew such large crowds that chairs had to be placed in the aisles, as even then he was a spellbinding speaker. His tenure would last into 1927."

Sheen's speaking prowess brought him fame as the host of radio and television programs. He won multiple Emmy Awards and graced the cover of Time magazine. Sheen died in 1979. The cause for his canonization as a saint began in 2002.

More: Even in death, Fulton Sheen draws attention

In a booklet chronicling the history of St. Patrick's parish, Sheen wrote in 1968, "I renew the bonds of affection which tie me to St. Patrick's Church. ... A poet once spoke of 'the first love that is the last love,' and such is the upreaching of my heart toward the people whom I once served."

Sheen returned to Peoria for the 1968 centennial of the parish. Of his time there in the 1920s, he told the Journal Star, "It was a very happy year for me here."

A new identity

A shrinking congregation sealed the fate of St. Patrick's as a Roman Catholic church. In January 1976, the Journal Star reported, "St. Patrick's Catholic Church ... will be closed and the building will be sold or leased, according to a letter issued by Bishop Edward O'Rourke.

"... St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's Church ... will cease to exist as separate parishes and a new parish will be formed. ... The new parish will use the existing St. Joseph Church building. ...

"The bishop's letter said the reason for the change is the reduced membership in both parishes since population shifts."

Subsequent ads in the Journal Star said, "Seats 700 and is priced at $49,500." The original brick structure had reportedly been built at a cost of $25,000.

A link to Sam Kinison

An October 1976 Journal Star story reported a completed sale: "The former St. Patrick's Catholic Church building will become the Miracle Life Cathedral, a nondenominational, evangelistic church for all races.

"A young Rockford couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Kinison, has purchased the church building at Saratoga and McBean and will reopen it Oct. 15 as 'a real freedom church,' Sherry Kinison, 23, said yesterday. ...

"Her husband, Bill, 27, a former Peorian, has been an evangelist about seven years, and he and his wife have been conducting services throughout the country for all denominations."

"... 'We preach revivals, and we want to open up a real freedom church, an integration church of blacks and whites for the worship of spirit,' Mrs. Kinlson said.

"'We expect to be a little more lively' than another local tabernacle, she said."

Some of that "liveliness" apparently came from an eventually nationally known comic.

The late comedian Sam Kinison was a former Pentecostal preacher who "performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream, similar to charismatic preachers," according to Wikipedia. The onetime East Peoria resident had an older brother named Bill.

In the book "It Didn't Play in Peoria: Missed Chances of a Middle American Town," the authors write, "In the Mid 1970s, Reverend Bill Kinison bought St. Patrick's and renamed it the Miracle Life Cathedral. His younger brother, Reverend Sam Kinison, was an occasional preacher."

(Curiously, Sam Kinison and Fulton Sheen shared a comedic link. A picture of Sheen, flanked by some of the biggest comedians of the day, has been displayed at the National Comedy Hall of Fame.)

More: Tavern in a cavern: Unearthing the history of a popular Peoria attraction

Over time, the former St. Patrick's church had other identities, including the Pentecostal Temple Charismatic Ministry and the Word of Faith Christian Center.

In 1992, a piece of the former St. Patrick's church found a new home in Sunnyland. According to a Journal Star story, a family of former parishioners disassembled the steeple and bell tower. The 60-foot steeple and the 12-ton bell were to be placed on a platform built on the Dick LaHood family's property. LaHood had already purchased the church's stained-glass windows, marble altars and religious statues, the story said.

Most recently, the structure was home to United Fellowship Ministries.

On July 29, The Peoria Fire Department responded to a report of a roof collapse at the site. Crews found a "major collapse" of the sides and roof of the building. A Peoria city building inspector ordered an emergency demolition after evaluating the building.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Historic collapsed church in Peoria, IL, tied to sainthood candidate