About Holy Rosary-Santo Rosario · Minneapolis, Minnesota
Holy Rosary-Santo Rosario is the historic Dominican mission parish in Minneapolis's Phillips neighborhood, founded in 1878 to serve successive waves of immigrants. The current church and attached priory were built in 1888 at 2424 18th Ave S, and the parish was long served by Dominican friars and Sinsinawa Dominican sisters. In 2022 it merged with nearby St. Stephen to form the unified parish of St. Stephen–Holy Rosary, with St. Stephen as the central campus and parish office, while Holy Rosary continues to host Masses in English and Spanish for the surrounding largely Latino community.
- Established
- 1878
- Patron
- Our Lady of the Rosary (Nuestra Señora del Rosario)
- Rector
- Father James Stiles (Pastor of the merged St. Stephen–Holy Rosary parish)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Why belong here
St. Stephen–Holy Rosary is a bilingual (English and Spanish) urban mission parish with deep roots in Minneapolis's Phillips neighborhood and a 140+-year history of welcoming immigrants — Irish at its founding, and today mostly Latino families from across the Americas. The merged parish combines the vibrancy of two historic communities, offering daily and Sunday Masses in both languages, weekly Eucharistic Adoration, sacramental preparation, faith formation, and concrete outreach through Centro Guadalupano, ESL classes, food distributions, and a long-standing sister-parish relationship with St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Worshippers find a parish that preaches social justice, stands with immigrant families, and lives out the Dominican call to preach the Gospel to the poor.
Mass times at Holy Rosary-Santo Rosario
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM at the Holy Rosary campus (with Adoration)
Adoration times
- Eucharistic Adoration is offered at the St. Stephen campus (not at Holy Rosary): Monday and Tuesday 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM; Wednesday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Friday 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM; Saturday 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM; Sunday 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Parish History and Dominican Heritage
Holy Rosary was founded in 1878 near Cedar Avenue and Hiawatha Avenue by the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great as the sixth Catholic parish in what is now Minneapolis. Its founding pastor, Father Thomas Power, recruited his sister's Sinsinawa Dominican congregation to staff the school, and the parish was served continuously by Dominican friars and sisters for the next 142 years. The current church and attached priory were built in 1888, the school grew to serve grades K-12, and Holy Rosary became a landing place for immigrant communities — Irish at first, then Germans, Italians, Hmong, Vietnamese, Native Americans, Somalis, and today mostly Latino families.
- Founded 1878 by the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great
- Sixth Catholic parish established in Minneapolis
- First pastor: Father Thomas Power, O.P. (Irish immigrant)
- Sinsinawa Dominican sisters arrived summer 1879 to staff the school
- Current church and priory built 1888
- Holy Rosary School (K–12) closed 1993; consolidated into Risen Christ School
- Sinsinawa Dominican sisters continued serving the parish until 2015
- Dominican Friars departed in 2020 (last pastor: Father Jerry Stookey, O.P.)
- Merged with St. Stephen parish on July 1, 2022 to form St. Stephen–Holy Rosary
The Holy Rosary Campus
The Holy Rosary church sits in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis at 2424 18th Ave S, between Cedar Avenue and 17th Avenue South. The light-stone exterior, blackened for decades by soot from the adjacent rail yard, was sandblasted clean in the 1970s. Today the campus continues to host Sunday Masses in English and Spanish, a Saturday evening Spanish Mass, and a weekly Wednesday evening Spanish Mass, alongside Saturday confessions and Centro Guadalupano's weekday ESL program.
- Address: 2424 18th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404-4006
- Located in the East Phillips / Phillips neighborhood
- Handicap-accessible from parking lot at 17th Ave S and 24th Street
- 1888 church building with attached Dominican priory
Masses and Liturgy
The merged parish offers Masses in both English and Spanish across its two campuses. At the Holy Rosary campus, Masses are celebrated on Sunday morning in English, Sunday late morning in Spanish, Wednesday evening in Spanish, and Saturday evening in Spanish. The St. Stephen campus hosts additional Sunday Masses and the parish's daily Spanish Masses (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at noon and Friday at 8 PM), plus the main schedule of Eucharistic Adoration and Friday confessions.
- Holy Rosary – Sunday 9:00 AM (English)
- Holy Rosary – Sunday 11:30 AM (Spanish)
- Holy Rosary – Wednesday 7:00 PM (Spanish)
- Holy Rosary – Saturday 6:00 PM (Spanish)
- St. Stephen – Sunday 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM
- St. Stephen – Daily Spanish Mass Tue/Wed/Thu 12:00 PM, Fri 8:00 PM
Centro Guadalupano and Outreach to Immigrants
Centro Guadalupano, based at the Holy Rosary campus, is a long-running ministry that serves immigrant families in the Phillips neighborhood. It offers free drop-in English (ESL) classes four mornings a week, along with casework-style help with rent, food, and family needs. During the 2025 federal 'Operation Metro Surge' enforcement operation, the parish — pastored by Father James Stiles — partnered with sister parish St. Bartholomew in Wayzata to distribute hundreds of pounds of food to roughly 165 immigrant families and to organize lay teams willing to bring holy Communion to parishioners afraid to leave their homes.
- Free drop-in ESL classes Mon–Thu 9:30–11:30 AM
- Family services and emergency assistance
- Saturday meals for the Native American community
- Food distribution and rent assistance during periods of immigration enforcement
- Lay Communion-visitation teams for homebound parishioners
- Sister-parish relationship with St. Bartholomew in Wayzata
Faith Formation and Sacraments
Faith Formation at the parish is led by Director Maria de la Luz Hernandez and prepares parishioners of all ages for the sacraments and ongoing discipleship, with special attention to Latino ministry, family and youth ministry, marriage preparation, and small Christian communities. Sacramental preparation is offered for Baptism, First Reconciliation and First Communion, Confirmation, Matrimony, and Anointing of the Sick.
- Director of Faith Formation: Maria de la Luz Hernandez
- Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation preparation
- Marriage preparation (Matrimonio)
- Anointing of the Sick
- Family & youth ministry
- Small Christian Communities (grupos pequeños)
- Discipleship and Vocations support
Parish Leadership and Clergy
The unified parish of St. Stephen–Holy Rosary is led by Father James Stiles as pastor, with Father Randy Skeate serving as parochial vicar (ordained 2025 through the Companions of Christ and a former Totus Tuus missionary). The parish's Latino ministry is supported in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis's Office of Latino Ministry, directed by Estela Villagrán Manancero.
- Pastor: Father James Stiles
- Parochial Vicar: Father Randy Skeate (ordained 2025)
- Director of Faith Formation: Maria de la Luz Hernandez
- Centro Guadalupano contact: [email protected] / 612-767-2437
- Archdiocesan Latino Ministry liaison: Estela Villagrán Manancero
Contact and Visiting
The Holy Rosary campus can be reached directly at 2424 18th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404 (phone 612-724-3651). The central parish office is at the St. Stephen campus, 2211 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404 (phone 612-767-2430). The pastor's email is [email protected], and the unified parish website is https://www.sts-hr.org/.
- Holy Rosary address: 2424 18th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404
- Parish office (St. Stephen): 2211 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404
- Parish phone: 612-767-2430
- Holy Rosary phone: 612-724-3651
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.sts-hr.org/
- Handicap-accessible parking at 17th Ave S and 24th Street
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Thomas Power, O.P.1878–
Founding pastor; Irish immigrant who asked his sister, Sinsinawa Dominican Prioress Emily Power, to send Dominican sisters to the new parish.
- Father Jerry Stookey, O.P.July 2018 – June 30, 2020
Last Dominican pastor of Holy Rosary before the friars' departure; his leaving marked the end of 142 years of Dominican leadership.
- Father James Stiles2022–present
Pastor of the merged St. Stephen–Holy Rosary parish following the July 1, 2022 merger; leads ministry to the largely Latino immigrant community.