Most Blessed Sacrament Parish celebrated its first Mass on the fourth
Sunday of April, 1937, in a building rented from Brother Walker, pastor
of Carlisle Avenue Baptist Church. It was a year of challenges. The
Ohio River flood had devastated Louisville, the Depression was still
affecting many, and the world was on the brink of war. Undaunted, a
small band of Catholics, mostly from St. Helen and Holy Name Parishes,
led by Most Blessed Sacrament’s first pastor, Father William J. Mulcahy,
went to work. They cleaned the former Baptist Church building on
Woodruff and in less than four months had it ready for services. In
little more than a year a new school-church building was opened. Mass
was celebrated in its basement until the present church was built in
1962. A new altar was dedicated in 1995, and Pioneer Hall was added in
1998.
Most Blessed Sacrament School began in 1937 and was staffed by the
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and from 1972 to 1987 by the Ursuline
Sisters of Louisville. It closed in 2004 to join with St. Thomas More,
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and SS. Simon and Jude Schools to form St.
Nicholas Academy.
From about sixty families, Most Blessed Sacrament has grown to more
than 1,400 parishioners. The parish council works through
committees—worship, formation, administration, Christian services,
finance, bereavement, and sick and homebound. Activities include the
Men’s Club, Altar Society, Rosary Club, Bible study, CCD, and RCIA.
Annual gifting projects are the Apple Tree to help with school supplies
and the Angel Tree at Christmas. The parish furnishes a meeting place
for Gamblers Anonymous.
Pioneer Hall is kept busy with athletic events, receptions, spring
and fall festivals, bingo, the W.W.E. wrestling programs, health
screening, and more. The parish is working with Catholic Charities and
the Housing Partnership of Louisville to convert the former school
building into housing for the elderly.
A landmark in south Louisville, Most Blessed Sacrament continues the
ministry begun in the dark days of 1937, striving to remain a beacon of
light for the area.