O
ther activities were noted at Blessed Sacrament in 1912. The Knights of Columbus proposed to institute a council in Ontario on 18 August 1912, but subsequently the date was changed to September 1. On that day, Snake River Council #1656 was inaugurated with thirty-five members. In mid September, a new Baptismal font was installed in the Baptistery of the church. On October 6, Bishop O’Reilly conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on a class of 35 children and adults. This was the first time Confirmation was administered in Ontario. On this visit, Bishop O’Reilly separated the missions of Malheur County from Ontario. He appointed Father Bishop to be in charge of these missions, with his residence moved to Vale. As a result, Fr. Campo was assigned the duties as hospital chaplain as well as pastor in Ontario.
.
Bishop O’Reilly was transferred to the See of Lincoln, Nebraska in August of 1919. Father Campo accompanied him and was incardinated in that diocese. The Rev. Joseph Francis McGrath, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Tacoma, Washington, succeeded Bishop O’Reilly. At the time of the consecration of Bishop McGrath, there were 16 parishes, 15 diocesan priests, 10 priests of religious orders, and a Catholic population of 6,809 in the Baker Diocese.
.
Because of the departure of Father Campo, Father J.H. Maloney was temporary administrator to the parish of Ontario from June of 1919 to November of that year when Father P.J. Stack was appointed pastor. On the nomination of Father E. J. Kelly to the Bishopric of Boise in 1928, Father Stack was transferred to Baker as Chancellor of the Diocese of Baker City, and replaced Father Kelly as the chaplain of St. Elizabeth Hospital. Bishop Kelly High School in Boise bears the name of the former priest from the Baker Diocese.
.
Father M. J. Dalton succeeded Father Stack as Pastor of Ontario on February 22, 1928. Father Dalton remodeled the interior of the rectory in the summer and fall of that year. Bishop McGrath administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on Rosary Sunday 1928 to a class of 23 children and 12 adults. Five of the adults were recent converts to Catholicism. Later that year, Father Dalton organized a committee of the men of the parish to take charge of the local St. John’s Catholic Cemetery (currently known as Sunset Cemetery). The actual date of the opening of the cemetery is not known. The earliest grave is that of a nun, Sister Mary Luke O.P., who died in 1913. The cemetery remained as property of the parish until the 1960’s, when a combination of expensive upkeep as well as a lack of volunteers to run the cemetery led to the decision to turn the cemetery over to the City of Ontario. Recently, repairs have been made to a statue of Jesus and some of the older grave sites which had been obscured by overgrown shrubs. Several groups, including St. Alphonsus Medical Center, the Ontario and Fruitland Knights of Columbus and Blessed Sacrament Altar Society and Hispanic Ministry combined resources to build a memorial vault for the remains of premature babies. It provides a fitting place for families to come to mourn the loss of their unborn children.
Parish History
Other Activities; the Knights of Columbus ....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
3
... Continued to page 4 ...