Father Charles J. Donohoe

CHARLES J. DONOHOE, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church at Davenport, was the first and has been the only pastor of this parish, and its prosperity and upbuilding are the reflection of his earnest and zealous work since coming to Davenport twenty years ago.Davenport has been a very congenial field for him, not only because his work has prospered, but because he has found there working fellowship with the people of his own creed and all classes and denominations.Father Donohoe is a native of Iowa, born on a farm near Holbrook in Iowa County, October 4, 1873.
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When Rev. Charles J. Donohoe was ten years of age his parents moved to Iowa City, where he attended public schools.Later he was a student in St. Ambrose College at Davenport and completed his theological education in St. Paul's Seminary at Saint Paul, Minnesota.He was ordained in 1899, after which he continued his studies for a year in the Catholic University of America at Washington.Father Donohoe for several years was a member of the teaching faculty of St. Ambrose College.In the fall of 1909 he accepted the assignment of Bishop Davis to form and build up the parish of St. Paul the Apostle.Bishop Davis several months earlier had secured the property at Tremont Avenue and Rusholme Street as the site of a church.A new congregation was to embrace all the territory north of Locust Street and east of Harrison Street.Father Donohoe accomplished his difficult task promptly and celebrated mass for the first time in the new church on December 12, 1909.St. Paul's Church was dedicated June 18, 1911.Then followed some busy years, attended by rapid growth in the parish, so that in 1915 the church was enlarged to more than twice its original size.St. Paul's now has a seating capacity of 650, and other provisions have been added to give the church opportunity for its full service in the parish.Its parochial school is one of the model school buildings of the city, and a convent has been built adjoining the school.In addition to the heavy responsibilities of building up the parish Father Donohoe has for a number of years been a director and secretary-treasurer of the St. Vincent's Orphanage Home.During the World war he was s four-minute speaker, assisting in the Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives.He is a member of the Kiwanis Club.October 20, 1929, he was made a domestic prelate, with the title of monsignor, by his Holiness, Pope Pius XI.