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Late in 1841, then Bishop Odin founded the first Catholic Church in the five-year-old city of Houston and named it after the founder of his order, St. Vincent de Paul. In the years that followed, this parish faced fires and storms and ceased to exist.
The current parish of St. Vincent de Paul was established in 1939 by Bishop Christopher Byrne. In 1940 construction began on the new St. Vincent under the leadership of its first pastor, Fr. Michael Leahy. Fr. Leahy dedicated the church and celebrated the first Mass. At summer's end 1941, Fr. Leahy retired due to ill health and Fr. John D. Connolly was summoned from St. Joseph's to become St. Vincent's second pastor. -
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Msgr. Connolly quickly opened the school in 1940 with four temporary classrooms, 165 children, and four teaching Sisters of the Incarnate Word, the Girl and Boy Scout units were formed and the Legion of Mary was organized. By 1948 a two-story school building was completed and, a year later, the men of the parish built the Boy Scout House using donated materials.
In 1950 St. Vincent acquired an additional 5 acres of land with the “help” of St Jude. This help was the inspiration for our parish’s devotion to St. Jude, the yearly novena, a weekly Mass and chapel area.
A new church was built and the first Mass was on Christmas Day, 1953. A new rectory followed in 1956, followed by the gymnasium, cafeteria, and adjoining primary school building in 1958. After Msgr. Connolly retired our parish was lead by Msgr. Dexter George and then Fr. Laurence Connolly.
In 1985, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza appointed Msgr. James A. Jamail as the 5th pastor of St. Vincent’s. Msgr. Jamail oversaw the construction of five new buildings as well as all physical components of the campus renovated or remodeled. The newly-restored church is the capstone of the 15-year effort.
Monsignor James Jamail died in 2002. Fr. John Weyer, the sixth pastor, brought a wide spread devotion to Divine Mercy and a renewed devotion to Our Lord through adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Adoration during the weekdays. Fr. Weyer died in December 2008.
Our current Pastor, Msgr. Bill Young, was appointed Pastor in January 2009. He completed the campaign started by Fr. Weyer. The funds raised were used to update the school cafeteria and gym. We also completed the Buffalo Speedway entrance to the church making it ADA approved. Even though we did not raise enough to complete the scope of work for which was hoped, the money raised was held in trust for an expansion of our school and adding a “sacramental” daily Mass chapel.
Msgr. Young was approached by a dedicated group of parishioners who hoped to bring the dream of the Sacramental Chapel to reality. He supported the effort to build the new chapel, Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul. We broke ground on the new chapel in January, 2019. The Chapel is nearing completion and will be dedicated in the fall of 2020.
We are now embracing the effort to complete our campaign, Building Bright Futures, which will provide the funds to build a new Educational Building. We are currently working with tjhe City of Houston and hopefully will begin construction in the near future.
Msgr. Bill is dedicated to our parish and works tirelessly to provide a wholesome Catholic atmosphere throughout all our educational programs and ministries.
