St. Casimir Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church was a church in Sioux City, Iowa. It was built by the Lithuanian immigrant community of Sioux City in 1915, and served as a neighborhood parish until 1998. Although it was founded as an ethnic parish, members have included Roman Catholics of diverse backgrounds, including Irish, Polish, Italian, and Mexican. The location near the stockyards and meat packing industrial area of the city attracted many of its working-class neighbors, including many new converts who came to Catholicism through St. Casimir Church. However, during the 1990s, the Diocese of Sioux City forbade St. Casimir parish from enrolling any new members, in spite of a lively and financially solvent congregation. Then, in 1998 the diocese dissolved the parish, appropriating all holdings and instructing parishioners to join other active parishes. The building, which was deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, was emptied of the fixtures, artwork, and stained glass and left vacant. As of May, 2007, the diocese made public a plan to raze the structure, based on safety concerns. Private interests arranged for the unique dome to be salvaged. The demolition was completed on 17 July 2007.
The building was designed by the Prairie School architect William L. Steele, and built by Babue and Co. It incorporated a simplified neo-gothic exterior design, along with a distinctive “bell-cast” dome (cupola) atop the steeple. The interior was extensively decorated by the Lithuanian artist Adolfas Valeška in the early 1950s, including woodwork, a pulpit, stained glass, and several large paintings, among them Our Lady of Fatima, the Good Shepherd, and the Assumption of Mary. Our Lady of Fatima and the The Good Shepherd now reside in St. Joseph Center at the Trinity Heights Marian shrine in Sioux City, along with the European bisque statue of the patron, Saint Casimir, all of which were purchased back from an antiques dealer after having been salvaged from the sanctuary. Other artifacts were hand-picked by the diocese for placement in the newly renovated Cathedral of the Epiphany and Mater Dei grade school.
These are the remains of special parish at 2524 Leech Avenue in Sioux City, Iowa. No memorial even marks the remains of what was once a proud Lithuanian parish -- that had more than 90 families when it was forced closed. Not surprising, given the disgraceful actions of then Bishop Lawrence Donald Soens (in deciding to steal the funds collected from the hard-working immigrants and other parishioners to feed the voracious appetite of his out-of-control administration. Fortunately, he is no longer leads the Diocese of Sioux City. The beautiful church, created from brick, mortar and love was summarily razed and destroyed, its files and parishioners scattered. And the dreams and hopes of several generations blown to dust. All that remains is a hole and a piece of wall. Not even a plaque to mark the blood, sweat and tears of those parishioners.
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