Kotzebue - Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church
Kotzebue is an Inupiat Eskimo village about 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwest shore of the Baldwin Peninsula in Kotzebue Sound. Kotzebue's location had been used in the early days by the indigenous people as a fish camp and later, as a place for the establishment of a reindeer herd. The Quaker Society were the first Christians to arrive in Kotzebue and founded a mission in 1899.
Before 1929 no Roman Catholic presence existed north of the arctic circle. Fr. William Walsh, a diocesan priest from Oakland, California and Fr. Phillip Delon, S.J., a French born priest, who came to Alaska in 1915, were the first Catholic clergymen to arrive in Kotzebue that year. These two ambitious pioneers began building a church, community hall and living quarters that first year. "The church had a spire and bronze bell," according to Fr. Segundo Llorente, S.J. On October 12, 1930, Frs. Delon and Walsh were both killed in an airplane crash along with pilot, Ralph Wein. It should be noted that the airplane involved in the fatalities was called the "Marquette Missionary," a donation from the Marquette League of New York, and was the first airplane owned by the Diocese of Fairbanks. Brother George Feltes, S.J., was its designated pilot though not in the plane at the time of the fatal crash. Fr. Bellarmine Lafortune, S.J., replaced the crash victims as priest at Saint Xavier Mission.
The Catholic Community of Kotzebue has been served since its beginning and, until recently, by the Society of Jesus. Space will not allow mentioning all of the Jesuits who served the Saint Francis Xavier community. Some of these, however, are: Fr. Thomas Cunningham (1952-1954), Fr. Michael Kaniecki (1967-1975) who served as auxiliary chaplain to the Air Force site at Kotzebue and later became Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks from 1985 until 2000. Fr. John Gurr (1975-1980), Fr. Thomas Carlin (1987-1995).