St John the Baptist Catholic Church
St John the Baptist Catholic Church was a Catholic church in the Diocese of Birmingham first located at in East Lake at the corner of 12th Avenue North and 81st Street North. 7921 1st Avenue North in the Roebuck-South East Lake community. The site was donated by Bishop Edward P. Allen in 1922 and the the $10,000-church was dedicated by him on May 6, 1923. At first the church was served by Father John Canepa, pastor of St Mark Catholic Church in Thomas.
After that site was acquired in 1930 by the City of Birmingham for the expansion of the Birmingham Municipal Airport a new six-lot site on 66th Street North was purchased and a new church erected there reusing materials from the original church. This site was later addressed as 6514 52nd Court North. Begun as a mission to Italian truck farmers in North East Lake, the church was raised to parish status on November 7, 1937 and Father Frank Giri was installed as its first resident pastor.
In 1971, St. John’s became a mission of St Bernard Catholic Church in Inglenook. On January 11, 1977, Bishop Joseph Vath closed St John Church and decreed that its assets be transferred to St Bernard Church.
Pastors
- Frank Giri, 1937-1943
- Joseph Durick, 1943-1947
- Andrew Gavin, 1947-
- John T. Igoe, 1967–1970
- James J. Mulvaney, 1970-
References
- Lovett, Rose Gibbons (1980) The Catholic Church in the Deep South: The Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama, 1540-1976. Birmingham, AL: The Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama