St. Mary's, retitled Immaculate Heart at some point when the Bishop (I forget which one) required all the "St. Mary's" parishes in the diocese except for the first one to rename themselves under one of the Blessed Mother's titles, sits along Brush Creek, at 2416 Swope Parkway.
St. Mary's was no architectural exemplar of "Catholic Triumphalism" that purportedly worried some of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. The plant was modest: the church (built in 1939) was small, the rectory and school were pretty common-looking, much as you might find in a small town. Even pictures are hard to get because the buildings are so tight on the lots and an iron fence surrounds the church. Now, the church and rectory are the Emmanuel Family & Child Care Center, and the School is the Kansas City Job Corps office.
In my last race through This Far by Faith, didn't pick up any information about when, how and why St. Mary's was supressed, but I'll update this when I do.
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I attended Immaculate Heart of Mary school from 1960 through 1968. The congregation celebrated its last Mass on Sunday, June 29, 1969. Fr. Hartigan was the pastor and Fr. Bauman was the assistant pastor. The final sermon, printed in the bulletin which I still have today, says, "The official decree ending the Parish used the word 'suppressed,' but really the wording makes little difference....the Parish ceases to exist." The sermon went on, "we will not waste any time or effort asking the senseless question, 'Why?', but we take this time and effort...to thank God for all He has already done for us."
Mass was celebrated in the basement of the school building, not in the building which your photo indicates is the Church. That building was the convent and the rectory was east of the convent.
My recollection is that the parish was closed due to a lack of funds. In my graduating class, a combined 7th and 8th grade, there were only 16 students.
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