Bethel - Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
Bethel is located in southwest Alaska along the banks of the Kuskokwim River on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta about 60 miles from the Bering Sea.
The Yup'ik people of the Bethel region were first Christianized by Moravian Missionaries in 1885. Catholic presence began in the 1890's when Jesuit missionaries stopped in Bethel while traveling between Holy Cross and Tununak. No permanent mission station was established until the early 1940's. Church records mark the event by stating: "Fr. Menager, S.J., leaves for Bethel to open a new mission there." In 1943, Fr. Menager became the first to build a permanent Catholic Church described as: "a small cabin next to honey bucket lake." He celebrated the first Mass upon its completion. From Bethel, pioneer Fr. Menager commuted by dogsled to the mission stations in villages such as Kalskag, Sleetmute and McGrath.
The majority of the successors to Fr. Menager's mission in Bethel were from the Order of the Society of Jesus. One notable Jesuit was Segundo Llorente, S.J. In 1960, Fr. Llorente, while pastor at Alakanuk, served two terms as Representative in the newly established Alaska Legislature. He was elected on a write-in ballot and was the first Catholic clergyman to have been elected to a public office in the United States. During his tenure at Bethel and among his myriad spiritual ministrations, he purchased two quonset huts for "living and storage." Later Jesuits who served Immaculate Conception parish after Fr. Llorente, were: Frs. Norman Donohue, Henry Hargreaves, Paul Mueller, Neil Murphy, John Gurr, Robert Corrigal, Thomas Gallagher, Charles Peterson and Richard McCaffrey. Diocesan priests John Hinsvark and Andrew D'Arco also served at Bethel.
Under Fr. Donohue's administration (1956-1959), the old church building was replaced by another structure. During his tenure, Fr. McCaffrey built the third Immaculate Conception Church at Bethel. The new church design tastefully incorporated the stained glass windows from the old church in the shape of a cross with lovely effect, favorably creating a sense of continuity. Immaculate Conception Church was dedicated on April 5,1995.