Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Ording, James A. 1881 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 8, 2008, 8:28 pm

Author: Ed Blair

 Rev. James A. Ording, Pastor of St. Paul's Catholic Church, Olathe, is a 
native of the Keystone State. He was born near Mt. Pleasant, Wayne county, 
Pennsylvania, October 30, 1881. He was educated in the public schools of 
Forest City, Pa., and entered college September 12, 1899. He studied theology 
at St. Bonaventure College, Alleghany, N. Y., and was ordained a priest in the 
Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Leavenworth, Kan., by the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. 
Lillis, on June 13,. 1909. He was then appointed assistant pastor to Rev. B. 
S. Kelley at Leavenworth, where he served until his appointment as pastor at 
Olathe, August 12, 1910. Since coming to Olathe, Father Ording has been active 
in his work and very successful in bettering the conditions of the 
congregation. He has erected a residence in Olathe at a cost of $5,000, 
besides paying off a $1,000 indebtedness which was on the church when he came 
here. He has had the interior of the church decorated. The expense of the 
decoration, however, was a donation from Mr. Frank Peck, of Kansas City, Mo. 
Father Ording has also established a parochial school in a building which he 
bought and which is located across Santa Fe Street from the church. The school 
is in charge of the Benedictine Order of Sisters, and was established in 
September, 1914, and a new school building is now in the course of 
construction adjoining the church on the west. When completed it will be a 
brick structure 35x52 feet, two stories high and will be made as nearly fire 
proof as possible. It will be modern in every particular and capable of 
accommodating about 100 students. Father Ording also has charge of the Sacred 
Heart Church at Gardner, as a mission. When he took that charge, the needs of 
the congregation were such as to make a new church imperative, and in 1912 
they built a handsome, new brick church, 35x80 feet, costing about $8,000. 
Many interesting reminiscences are associated with the early history of St. 
Paul's parish, whose first members faced the troubles of border days and the 
many hardships accompanying them, to make homes for themselves on the prairies 
of Kansas. The first mass within the city limits of Olathe was celebrated in 
the private residence of Mr. and Mrs. Terence Cosgrove in February, 1860, by 
Rev. Father Scatt, of Lawrence, Kan. Subsequent masses were celebrated at 
intervals in the Masonic hall and in the private residences of Peter Cosgrove, 
John Haverty, Joseph McNulty, Mrs. McNamara, John Mead and others of the 
little community by Fathers Scatt, Favre, Denesterman, Pichler and Myers. On 
Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1868, a meeting was held at the home of Mrs. 
Peter Cosgrove, who lived on the Kansas City road two miles east of Olathe, 
and an organization effected and plans for building a new church were 
discussed. The result was the construction of a small frame church 30x40 feet, 
located on a lot in the northeast part of Olathe, known as the Cornwell and 
Barton addition. This lot was a gift from the town company and the church was 
conducted as a mission church, and attended by priests either from Eudora or 
Shawnee once a month for seven years. In 1875 Rev. M. J. Casey was appointed 
the first resident pastor of Olathe with Gardner and Edgerton as missions. In 
1879, a lot was purchased on the corner of Santa Fe and Chestnut streets, and 
a new brick church erected at a cost of $10,000, and only a few years 
afterwards it was found that the walls of this church were spreading and the 
foundation giving away. Rev. Patrick McInerney was pastor at that time and he 
built a new church on the site of the old one, at a cost of $12,000, which is 
the present edifice. For some reason St. Paul's Church has been subjected to 
many changes of pastors and to write of each here as he truly deserves would 
be impossible. From the archives of Episcopal residence we find the following 
appointments of pastors for Olathe: 1875, Rev. M. J. Casey; 1885, Rev. John 
Francis Lee; 1886, Rev. Bernard Hayden; 1887, Rev. Bartholomew Werf and Rev. 
P. McKeever; 1888, Rev. John Redecker; 1890, Rev. George Patrick Sherr; 1895, 
Rev. Bernard Hudson; 1897, Rev. H. Friesberg; 1899, Rev. P. J. Kennedy; 1900, 
Rev. Patrick McInerney; 1907, Rev. Hugh Herron; 1910, Rev. James A. Ording. Of 
this list of faithful priests, at least five have passed to their eternal 
reward, Revs. Lee, Hayden, Hudson, Sherr and Casey.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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