The history of the Diocese of Superior dates back to the 17th century. Our Journey Through Faith offers a glimpse into the historic events that played a role in the growth of Catholicism in Northern Wisconsin. Diocese of Superior - Statistics
Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior,
View the summary from the last Parish self-assessment questionnaire conducted in 2012.
Read the 98-page Executive Report 2013 (PDF)
When the new Indian village of Lac du Flambeau was established around a saw mill in 1895, a new Catholic church was also built. Fr. Chrysostom Verwyst, a Franciscan priest who had been serving the Native Americans in the old village of Lac du Flambeau, received $600 from Mother Katharine Drexel, foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem, PA, to build a church on land across from the village's fire station. The old church in the old village had a history that went back to 1854, when diocesan priests from Chippewa Falls provided spiritual care to the Indian people. In 1861 Fr. John Chebul began his ministry to this area, traveling 90 miles from Madeline Island on snowshoes to honor a request to assist a sick man. While Fr. Chebul was in the village he instructed and baptized about 30 people. During the next two decades the Franciscans attempted to visit Waswagoning, the name of the old village, but the distance and rapid waters of the Flambeau River made it difficult. By 1880 the Franciscans accepted responsibility for serving the Catholic Indian population in northern Wisconsin. In 1905, Franciscan Fr. Odoric Derenthal organized the building of a new church on the present site on Pokegama Lake. Under the pastorate of Fr. Walfrid Boesche, the parish began fund raising and planning for a new church in 1960. Dedication of the new church was celebrated August 12, 1962, by Bishop George A. Hammes. In 1977, the parish was returned to the diocese with Fr. John Drummmy as pastor. Fr. John Stremski was pastor from 1979 to 1999.
REFERENCE: Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior,
by Sam Lucero, 2005.