A HISTORY OF

ST. STEPHEN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH

Midland, Texas — Diocese of San Angelo

1979 – Present

Compiled and organized from the personal accounts of Fr. James P. Bridges, founding pastor

St. Stephen's Catholic Church traces its origin to a seven-acre piece of land in north Midland, Texas, set aside decades before a parish ever stood on it. What followed was not a simple, steady rise but a story of a false start, a year-long hold, a change of bishops, an oil-bust economy, the sudden death of a beloved pastor, and, eventually, a rebuilding centered on service to the poor. Founding pastor Fr. James P. Bridges, who both began the parish in 1979 and returned to lead it from 1996 onward, described it simply: "A parish, like a family, has a beginning and a history."

Today St. Stephen's is described as the largest parish in the Diocese of San Angelo, first in service to the poor, in the number of sacraments celebrated, and in weekly offertory giving, home to roughly 600 families worshipping in a church, hall, and campus built without debt.

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1979, Bishop Stephen Leven asked Fr. James P. Bridges 

 then happily settled in his Abilene pastorate to develop a new Midland parish on seven acres of land the Diocese of Amarillo had purchased in the early 1950s for exactly this future purpose. Fr. Bridges asked for time to pray about it, then called Fr. Cliff Blackburn, pastor of St. Ann's, who assured him of St. Ann's full support. Fr. Bridges said yes, and named the new parish St. Stephen's in honor of Bishop Leven.

The beginning was full of energy: organizational meetings drew enthusiastic Catholics, Tom and Helen McCurdy lent their garage apartment as a rectory and office, and Sunday Mass was celebrated in the Chapel of Trinity School. It grew from a first gathering to more than two hundred people within a single month.

The excitement was not universal. Some in Midland doubted the new parish was needed, and the expected financial support from St. Ann's did not materialize. The morning after the first organizational meeting brought the unhappy announcement that Bishop Leven, in poor health, was resigning. With their sponsoring bishop gone and no successor yet named, opponents of the new parish took their concerns to the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, who asked that everything be put on hold until a new bishop could weigh in a delay expected to last as long as a year.

"Pain often suggests birth. What in the world does God have in mind to come forth from all of this?" — Fr. James P. Bridges, recalling the 1979 setback

With St. Stephen's on hold, Fr. Bridges was reassigned as pastor of St. Joseph's in Fort Stockton, the oldest church building in the diocese, with badly deteriorated, smoke-blackened walls, broken windows, and a sagging ceiling. Twenty parish men showed up the next morning with tools and pickup trucks and, together, restored the church.

On June 1, 1980, incoming Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza confirmed St. Stephen's founding and, in the same action, established a second new Midland parish on the city's Southside, Our Lady of San Juan (later renamed San Miguel Arcangel). Fr. Robert (Bob) Kelly was named St. Stephen's founding pastor, while Fr. Bridges moved on to St. Mary's in Odessa as pastor and diocesan Superintendent of Schools, within two years founding yet another parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton on Odessa's Northside, whose outreach work would eventually grow into Catholic Charities and what became the West Texas Foodbank.

Fr. Kelly took on what the parish's own history calls "the formidable task of resuscitating St. Stephen's," beginning Sunday Mass at Alamo Junior High School and weekday Mass at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church while the parish looked for a permanent home. With a $750,000 loan, he built the multipurpose building that would serve as St. Stephen's worship space and community hub until a dedicated church became affordable.

The timing was brutal: the Permian Basin entered one of the sharpest and most prolonged oil-economy downturns in its history, forcing the loan to be refinanced multiple times and taking a heavy toll on Fr. Kelly's health. Fr. Charles Vogel, already retired, began coming by to help with the care of souls from 1985 onward, an assistance he continued for years to come. Fr. Kelly retired for medical reasons in 1991.

Fr. Dan McCaffrey served as interim pastor in 1991–1992, establishing the parish's first active Pastoral and Financial Councils. Late in 1992, Fr. John Waldron became pastor, remembered for his ready smile and easy-going personality, and continued the steady work Fr. Kelly had begun. His pastorate ended with his sudden and unexpected death, after which Fr. Bridges was asked to return.

Fr. Bridges returned to St. Stephen's as pastor on July 1, 1996. He found roughly 300 families with a deep devotion to the Eucharist, Mary, and pro-life witness good people, well served by dedicated priests- yet the parish had barely grown, with only 17 baptisms and 3 weddings recorded the year before, even though it was older than Odessa's St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which by then had already become that city's leading parish.

Searching for the reason, Fr. Bridges concluded that little attention had been given to the poor. Working from the conviction that "if we take care of the poor, God will take care of us," he founded Helping Hands as St. Stephen's answer to Midland's poor. As the parish's focus on the poor grew, so did the parish itself; membership nearly doubled.

With the parish growing, a campaign retired St. Stephen's roughly $266,000 debt, clearing the way to plan a permanent church building. The "Arise, Build, Rejoice!" capital campaign followed, raising funds for construction. On Sunday, June 30, 2002, the parish community gathered with Midland Mayor Mike Canon for the official groundbreaking.

"This is a long-awaited moment, and we need to celebrate this event with a spirit of gratitude and hope. All of us together thank the good Lord for letting us arrive at this important and historical date!" — Bishop Michael Pfeifer, at the June 30, 2002 groundbreaking

The completed church, along with a full campus built up around it, stands as the product of three decades of setbacks and renewal. By the time this history was written, the parish counted roughly 600 families and, in a single recent year, celebrated 1,002 baptisms, 85 weddings, and 71 quinceañeras figures its own pastor points to in calling St. Stephen's the largest parish in the Diocese of San Angelo, first in service to the poor, in sacraments celebrated, and in weekly offertory giving.

Alongside the church itself, the campus grew to include an office building, a Ballroom and Parish Hall, a Youth Center, a new Sacristy, and a Prayer Garden furnished with marble statuary gathered from around the world, all built, notably, without incurring debt.

"There is something very courageous about the 600 families who have chosen St. Stephen's as their church home. At a time when economic conditions are less than favorable, their sacrifices built, for the honor and glory of God, one of the most beautiful churches in all of Midland. May God bless them richly!" — Fr. James P. Bridges

Fr. Bridges frames the 1979–1980 delay not as a dead end but as the hinge that made several other Permian Basin ministries possible. As he put it: "If St. Stephen's had not been put on hold in its painful beginning, the restoration of St. Joseph's church in Fort Stockton as well as Catholic Charities, West Texas Foodbank, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish all in Odessa and San Miguel Arcangel Parish and Helping Hands in Midland most likely would never have happened." The chain of institutions traced back to that one setback includes:

Reflecting on the whole arc, Fr. Bridges closed one account with: "Aren't you glad God can bring forth out of ruins what is needed to build His Kingdom while using sinners like you and me to make it happen!"