In June 1930, Father M. J. McMahon was appointed pastor of the Ontario parish and Vale/Brogan missions. During his pastorate, both the churches in Ontario and Vale advanced in membership. The Sisters of St. Dominic conducted a very successful vacation summer school.
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In January 1936, Rev. A. F. Loeser of Burns was transferred to Ontario. In 1939, the mission of Jordan Valley was attached to the Ontario parish, with Father Peter Duignan in charge. Father Duignan had been appointed assistant pastor on September 1, 1939. Mass was said twice a month in Jordan Valley and every Sunday in Vale. In 1940, Father Loeser bought four lots adjoining the church in Vale.
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On June 18, 1942, Father P. J. Gaire received his appointment as assistant pastor, to succeed Father Duignan who was transferred to Klamath Falls. Father Loeser became ill and remained in the hospital from November 30, 1942, until his death on June 4, 1945. Father P. J. Stack filled in for him during that time. Father John Baumgartner was appointed as an assistant pastor at Ontario until February 15, 1945 when he was transferred to LaGrande. Father Peter Tighe succeeded him in Ontario.
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After the death of Father Loeser, Father Gaire was appointed pastor of Ontario on August 15, 1945. In September of that year, he purchased extra property nearby (800 block of SW 2nd Avenue) in the hope that some day a new church and school would be built there. In November, Father John A. O’Brien, a classmate of Father Gaire’s, was appointed pastor of St. Patrick’s parish in Vale. On January 5, 1947, the new mission of Nyssa was opened. Mass was said in the Nyssa Episcopal Church every Sunday. As the Catholic population grew, the Nyssa people felt they needed their own church, and, in March 1948, a new basement church building was obtained. It was opened on Mothers’ Day in 1948.
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On August 24, 1947, Father Martin J. Quigley was appointed assistant pastor of Ontario. By September 1949, plans for a new church and rectory were underway, the contract for which was awarded on March 6, 1950. The first Mass in the new church was held on Christmas Eve of that year. An interesting connection with the very early days of the church in Ontario was that Bernard Rader, who as an altar boy had served the first Mass in the old church in 1911, also served the last Mass in the old church in 1950. Bernard was also an altar server at the first Mass on Christmas Eve in the new church. With his parents, Frank and Daisy Rader, who were so instrumental in the beginnings of the Catholic Church in Ontario, Bernard also holds a special place in the history of the Ontario Parish.
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In the waning years of his episcopacy, Bishop McGrath was given a Coadjutor by the Holy See, Leo Fabian Fahey of the Diocese of Nachez, Mississippi. Bishop McGrath was plagued by illness almost from the day of his consecration, and died April 12, 1950. 

Parish History

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