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Rectory Phone: (605)928-3883
Religious Education: (605)928-3498
A Catholic parochial school was started in 1885 which was the same year that the railroad from Sioux City to Mitchell was completed. Also, in 1885, the town's name was changed from Rome to Starr.
Church records indicated 50 baptisms and 150 confirmed by Bishop Marty in 1886. In 1891, lightning struck the steeple and damaged the structure extensively. the church was then rebuilt, doubling it's size. In 1908 the enlarged frame church burned to the ground, the bell being the only item saved from the fire. The parishioners immediately rallied a plan for a new church building project.
Because the crops and livestock had been bountiful from 1886 up 1908, the people were inspired to build a church that would serve their children and grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren as well as to be an inspiration to all who saw it. The new church was completed by July, 1909 at a cost of $34,000. It is one of the few consecrated churches in the Sioux Falls diocese.
In 1913, Father John Wulf began construction
of the new school which served as a parochial school until 1968.
Many of those years, it served as a boarding school.
In 1918, Father Charles Auer had the church decorated
in a Gothic theme. The paintings are all canvas murals, prepared
in Germany. The ground form of the church is that of the cross.
The Mass in the sanctuary of the church is the memorial of Christ's dying,
rising, and coming again to lead us to heaven.