About Us

Past, Present and Future

In June, 1959, Archbishop Albert G. Meyer appointed Rev. Joseph R. Hanton to form a
parish in Palos Heights. Father Hanton, an Army Air Corp Chaplain in World War II,
had been an assistant at St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Chicago since 1955.

The First Mass for the new parish in Palos Heights was celebrated at Van Henkelum's
Funeral Parlor on July 19, 1959. During August of 1959, due to an increase in
attendance, the Sunday services were moved to the auditorium of the Palos East School.

The parish was subsequently named for St. Alexander, in memory of Father Hanton's
deceased brother, Father Alexander Hanton. An eleven-acre site was acquired near 126th
and 71st Avenue from the Crawford Family. The parish complex was designed for this
site by the architectural firm of John L. Bartolomeo and Associates and built by the
general contractors, M.A. Lombard and Sons.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the parish church and school complex was
December 6, 1959. The construction of the new parish school for St. Alexander's was a
top priority for Father Hanton. Since his sister was a member of the Sisters of
Providence, he made an appeal to them to staff the school. Four sisters were assigned
on August 5, 1960. Sister Joseph Clare was the first principal. St. Alexander School
opened on September 1, 1960 with an enrollment of 247 students. Our present
enrollment is 430. The cornerstone of the church/school building was laid on
October 30, 1960. The first Mass in the new church was August 28, 1961. Cardinal
Meyer dedicated the completed part of the parish complex on October 4, 1961.

The Catholic population of Palos Heights and surrounding areas grew so rapidly that
in 1962, Incarnation Parish was formed on 127th Street to the east of St. Alexander
Parish. Along with the loss of territory came an added financial burden on the balance
of the parish families. The parish continued to grow in membership, however, and all
worked toward the goal of completing the original plans for the church and school. By
the 1962-63 school year, three new classrooms had been added to accommodate the
sixth and seventh grades. By September of 1963 all eight grades were in session. In
2005, the school received the National Blue Ribbon Award. St. Alexander School was
one of only two private schools in Illinois to receive this award that year. This was the
culmination of the hard work and dedication to our parish's children by our founders,
Sisters of Providence, previous principal Sister Diane Mason, current principal Mrs. Pat
Lynch, current assistant principal Mrs. Cathy Biel, teachers and staff.

Father Hanton died suddenly on April 16, 1969, one week after his 35th Anniversary in
the priesthood. As a memorial in his honor, the statue of St. Alexander was erected in
the atrium next to the vestibule of the church. The statue was moved to it's current
location in the east facade of the church building to be more visible in 1999.

Following Father Hanton's death, Monsignor Cornelius J. McGillicuddy was named
pastor. Involved for many years in campus ministry, he had been a full time chaplain
at Northwestern University in Evanston. In addition to parish work, Monsignor
McGillicuddy also served at Moraine Valley Community College. After eight years as
pastor here, Monsignor McGillicuddy assumed the pastorate of St. Patrick's Church in
Lake Forest, Illinois.

Rev. John M. Crosby was named pastor on June 1, 1977. As the community and
parish continued to grow, a parish center was conceived and constructed to provide a
facility to meet the religious, educational, athletic and social needs of the parishioners. A
new rectory was also constructed at this time. Cardinal Cody dedicated the new Parish
Center and rectory on September 14, 1980. Father Crosby presided as pastor until his
retirement in 1997.

Rev. Edward J. Cronin was installed as our current pastor in July 1997. After serving
on the Mundelein Seminary faculty for seven years, Father Cronin was eager to return
to parish ministry. He still serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Seminary and as
spiritual director for a few seminarians.

Today, nearly 49 years after those founding families celebrated their first Mass at
St. Alexander's Parish, the parish has grown to nearly 3,000 families. Through the
findings of "Tomorrow's Parish", an archdiocesan program designed to help parishes
take an honest look at themselves, the parish developed a plan for the future. Two
major projects have been completed. Providence Hall opened for the 2004-2005 school
year. This added ten new classrooms, a state-of-the-art science lab and an applied
technology lab. All of this allows students to put learning into practice through real-life
projects, learn concepts at their own pace and integrates math and science cirriculum.
The other major project completed in 2006 was the reconfiguration of the parish
parking lot. This gave the parish a safer and larger parking lot to provide access to our
growing parish community.

As the parish now revisits "Tomorrow's Parish", we enter a new chapter of our parish
following in the path of our ancestors' faith, ever committed to spread the gospel
message of hope, repentance and eternal life in Jesus Christ.