Our history as a Catholic faith community, under the patronage of St. Richard of Chichester, began in 1998. We were formed from five Racine south side parishes blending nearly five hundred years of faith and tradition into our parish.
St. Richard's church, rectory, and former school building were once part of Holy Name Parish, which was founded in 1894 to serve Racine's German community. The original church was replaced in 1914 by the current structure. The rectory was built in 1926, and the school building was constructed in 1956. Merging at the 15th Street and Grand Avenue location were four other south side parishes: St. Rose of Lima Parish (1886) founded by the Irish Catholics; St. Stanislaus Parish, which was organized by Polish immigrants in 1904; the Congregation of St. Casimir (1910) serving the Lithuanian community; and Holy Trinity Parish formed in 1914 by Racine's Slovak Catholics.
When the name of our parish was announced as St. Richard, it became the first parish in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to be so named. We are continually challenged by naming this parish after Saint Richard of Chichester, England (1197-1253) who was a man of great holiness and compassion. At a time in history when many individuals were not, he was a man of immense integrity. He was a capable administrator, known to be kindly, accessible, compassionate towards sinners, generous to the poor, and above moral reproach.
In addition to Richard of Chichester, the parish is honored to also be named for another model bishop, Richard J. Sklba, retired Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Bishop Sklba grew up on Racine's south side where he and his family were members of the former Holy Trinity Parish. The love and concern for his "home parish" of St. Richard's continues to this day.
Since we came together as one faith family. There have been several improvements to the infrastructure of our church building, Vogel Hall, rectory, parking lot, and school building. All this amazing work has been completed thanks to the generosity of the amazing parishioners of Saint Richard. We are committed to act as good stewards of the heritage that our brothers and sisters in Christ left us. We are proud of our history. We are also very hopeful for our future. The vibrancy of our community comes from the diversity of our people. For the last 25 years, we have worked hard in being “the Parish that feels like a family”. We believe that our faith invites us to live a life in community. In our parish we pray, worship, sing, serve, party, and work together for the betterment of our community of faith and the city of Racine.
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we, the faith community of Saint Richard’s, are more committed than ever to serve others guided by our mission to know Christ more clearly, to love Christ more dearly, and to follow Christ more nearly. We do all this as a family in Christ to keep our doors open to those who wish to be part of our family of faith.