Our Parish History

Fr. Enke at St Brigid Church Dedication, 1991

Bishop James A. Griffin officially established St. Brigid of Kildare Parish on July 18, 1987. With only fifteen acres of land and no place of worship to call their own, 600 pioneers, led by Father Paul Enke, set out on a journey of faith. During the first year, our neighbors from Muirfield Village Golf Club, Indian Run United Methodist Church and Scottish Corners Elementary School graciously opened their doors to us for our weekend masses. On Christmas Eve in 1987, our young parish celebrated its first Mass on the new land. Held in the horse stable and surrounded by animals, parishioners sat on bales of hay and children hung from the rafters. The setting for this Christmas Vigil gave parishioners a special appreciation for the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This stable, formally called Our Lady of the Gael Chapel, is now Monsignor Enke Hall, our parish-gathering place

With the community growing by leaps and bounds, our parish focused its energy on providing a facility in which to worship. Our church building was dedicated August 15, 1991, on the Feast of the Assumption. Bishop Griffin again provided a vision for the community by proclaiming his vision of a Catholic School on the parish grounds. The parish not only accepted the challenge but also expended it and built the Parish Education Center, which was dedicated on October 5, 1996. The Center brings all of our Catholic education, ministries and community under one roof.

Our parish has grown tenfold in its short history. Under the leadership of Monsignor Joseph Hendricks, our current pastor and Monsignor Paul Enke, our founding pastor, St. Brigid Parish has never lost the spirit of our patroness. A call for help never goes 

                                        unanswered. Indeed, our history is a testament to the Lord’s many and frequent blessings.