Mary, Mother of the Church was established on September 7, 1965, by Archbishop Leo Binz. Father Donald Burns was named founding Pastor. The Church is located on 22 acres of former farmland, twenty of which were once owned by parishioner Joe Kennelly. The parish began with 550 charter households.
In 1966, thirty parishioners planted the 900 evergreen trees along the south border of the Mary Mother parish grounds. Today, many parishioners plant seeds of faith in giving their time and sharing their gifts in numerous ways. The first Sunday masses were held in the gymnasium of Cedar School in Eagan. All other religious activities were conducted at the former rectory located on North River Hills Drive.
In 1967 a Building and Finance Committee was formed and an architect commissioned for the construction of the church and the original Parish Center. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on March 9, 1969. Formal dedication followed on May 18th, with Archbishop Leo Binz presiding.
By the mid-1970s, the parish was serving 1,645 households. To accommodate this growth and expanding program needs, an addition to the Parish Center was built in 1976.
In 1986, the Parish Pastoral Council formed a Long Range Planning Committee to study and make recommendations for future needs in the areas of staffing, services, facilities, and finance. After thorough review, the existing Parish Center was renovated to maximize use of existing space, and construction of a new 18,000 square foot addition was built. The project was completed in November of 1988.
Mary Mother has grown and matured over the years and will begin celebrating its 50th anniversary in the fall of 2015. We are a parish with generous portions of both young and old. From our peak growth of 3,200 families and 10,000 people, we have since stabilized at about 2,000 families.
