St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, Minneapolis

Eastern Slavs, who did not wish to join St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox Church but preferred to follow the Uniate or Byzantine rite, requested that Bishop John Ireland allow them to establish a Byzantine Rite parish.  Wishing to avoid the problems that occurred when St. Mary’s made a similar request, Bishop Ireland acquiesced, providing the priests practiced celibacy.  In 1907, the newly established parish purchased the old St. Anthony of Padua church that was being used by Holy Cross and moved it to the corner of 22nd Avenue and 3rd St. NE, a few blocks from St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral.  As Kieley and Doerfler observe: “by 1910, a community of 350 East Slav families lived along Fifth Street from 10th to 18th Avenues with the two churches the center of their religious and social lives” (“Northeast Minneapolis, A Church on Every Corner,” p. 19).  In 1926, a new brick church with a soaring central tower capped by a small dome was erected at 2215 Third Street NE.  While the exterior is austere, the interior is elaborate.