Parish History

St. Gabriel parish was established on November 25, 1963. Located at 6000 West 34th Street, with County Line road, our western boundary; Falcon Drive, our eastern boundary; 25th Street, our southern boundary; and Lafayette Road as our northern boundary. The original parish buildings were the church, a connected grade school, and a two-story rectory.

The founding pastor was Father Victor Wright. He and his new parish family came together at liturgy for the first time on June 9, 1963. The official dedication of St. Gabriel Church took place on July 14, of that year, with Archbishop Paul C. Schulte officiating and blessing our cornerstone.

Fr. Wright was pastor until 1967, succeeded by Fr. Lawrence Frey. Fr. Frey continued as our pastor fifteen years until his unexpected death on April 25, 1982 . In July 1982, Fr. Paul Landwerlen then accepted the pastorate at St. Gabriel and served here fourteen years until July, 1996. Fr. William G. Marks accepted his first assignment as a pastor and served until Jan. 1999.

Our current pastor Fr. Larry Crawford who is here for the 2nd time. He previously served our parish as Associate Pastor while Fr. Frey was here.

St. Gabriel School opened in September, 1963, with an enrollment of 527 students and with Sister Edith Sorgel as the first principal. By 1964, there were 703 students enrolled and a new wing was built to accommodate this growth. In 1971, Sister Timothy Kavanaugh became St. Gabriel School's second principal and guided our children for 14 years. When Sister Timothy left as principal in 1985, she was succeeded by Ms. Barbara Shuey, the first lay principal of St. Gabriel. In June of 1997, Ms. Shuey left St. Gabriel School to become the President of Cardinal Ritter High School. Mrs. Kris Duncan replaces Ms. Shuey as principal. St. Gabriel School enrollment is over 370 students, including preschool.

In 1987, Sister Timothy returned to St. Gabriel Parish as our first Pastoral associate. We also have a full-time Maintenance Supervisor, Ken Bramlage. Clare Bain, our current Director of Music, recently joined our parish staff in August of 1997.

The leadership of our parish has always been very strong and dedicated. St. Gabriel Parish is an active, dynamic and changing parish. We celebrated our 25th anniversary in June of 1988. During that time we have grown together in our love of God and each other. Our parish mission is to serve God and our community and proclaim the Word of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This mission has been carried on through our leaders and the people of St. Gabriel Parish. With the love and dedication of our fine staff and all the parishioners of St. Gabriel united together, we will continue to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and teach our Christian Doctrine to all who want to learn.