Sacred Heart Catholic Church - Cordia

Sacred Heart Catholic Church was founded by members of the Liebenthal parish.  The church property consisted of five acres donated by Adam Jacobs. Sacred Heart Church was completed on 1 October 1921, and the first service was held there on 15 October 1921. The new edifice was dedicated by Rt. Rev. Aug. J. Schwertner, Bishop of Wichita, on 15 November 1921. A rectory was built in 1922.

In 1922, St. Michaels Parish of LaCrosse became a mission of the Cordia church. By 1929, the Sacred Heart Parish had dwindled to the point where the Rt. Rev. August J. Schwertner, Bishop of Wichita, decided to move Rev. Fr. Hard, resident Priest in Cordia, to LaCrosse where the contregation was growing. The residents of Cordia agreed to sell their rectory to LaCrosse and it was moved there in 1929. It was used there until being dismantled in the mid-1960s.

Eventually, the Cordia congregation disbanded and in 1943 the church building was moved to LaCrosse. It served the congregation of St. Michaels Parish until being razed in the late 1970s.

Today, all that remains of Cordia is the cemetery located east of the former church site.

Pastors & Priests: 

Sacred Heart parish was served by the following priests:

J. J. Steines
Father Hard

Sources: 

- Transcript of The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas, 1926.
- Penka, Bradley R., Cordia, Kansas - A Roman Catholic Settlement. LaCrosse, KS, 2008.
- Reynolds, Judith, et al., Rush County, Kansas: 125 Years in Story & Pictures, Rush County Historical Society, LaCrosse, Kansas, 1999.
- The Lost Village of Cordia, Kansas (Rush County Historical Society)

Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Rectory in Cordia, Kansas.
Source: The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas.