The Diocese of Gary’s historically Black Catholic parish, Ss. Monica and Luke Catholic Church, celebrated its final Mass on May 24, Pentecost Sunday, marking the end of a century-long journey and the onset of a new era of diocesan retrenchment.
The two-hour liturgy was celebrated by Franciscan priest Michael Surufka, who has pastored the church since arriving during the pandemic in 2020. He was joined by the parish choir, instrumentalists, and a large crowd gathered from around the region and beyond to celebrate the church’s long history of faith and service in Northwestern Indiana.
“What a day to do a sad thing,” Surufka said during his homily, looking to bring joy on a challenging day for local Black Catholics.
“Because the promise of Pentecost gives us great hope.”
Founded in 1927, the parish’s constituent Church of St. Monica was founded following a petition by African-American Catholics to open a parish for their community following a stiff welcome in local White parishes. A group of five Black women—Lillian Bolden, Mary Graham, Louise Smith, Eugenia Williams, and Beulah Wycoff—met with Bishop John F. Noll, being then within the Diocese of Fort Wayne.
The church opened the same year in the Midtown neighborhood and later moved into larger digs in 1945, bringing along a parochial school that educated many of the area’s African-American children. The school was staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, whose foundress St. Katharine Drexel also helped financially support the parish and school.
Staffed by diocesan priests for most of its history, St. Monica was merged in 1980 with St. Luke Catholic Church, a working-class parish founded to serve European immigrant families in 1917. The St. Luke campus became the permanent home for the new community, which featured a mix of African-American and Latino parishioners.
“St. Monica served 99 years, almost 100 years, but we can't lose the fact that St. Luke has been here 110 years,” said longtime parishioner James Harris during comments near the end of the final Mass.
Ss. Monica and Luke celebrated its 98th anniversary in 2025, amid a yearslong planning process in the Diocese of Gary to assess financial sustainability and the headwinds of low membership, building maintenance, and priest shortages. Harris was among the Ss. Monica and Luke parishioners who helped ultimately make the decision to recommend the church cease operations.
In March of this year, Bishop Robert J. McClory announced plans to close several local parishes, including merging Ss. Monica and Luke into the Cathedral of the Holy Angels just under a mile and a half away.
With the closure comes the departure of the Franciscans from Gary, who originally arrived to lead the cathedral parish in 2019. They later took charge of two other parishes, including Ss. Monica and Luke, but will now move on to other ministries. The latter parish celebrated a farewell Mass for the order on Sunday, June 14.
“It has been a singular honor for the Franciscans who have served you over the past seven years to be with you, walking every step of that way,” said Surufka at the Pentecost Mass marking the end of liturgies at Ss. Monica and Luke.
“If in some way God has allowed me to make a fraction of a mark on your lives the way you all have on mine, count it a blessing.”
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
