We are a people of the plains, a people of the mountains and a people of the West. We are a people of North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, but above all, we are the people of God, His family, members of Christ’s one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, striving to live our faith as a vibrant stewardship parish, loving God with all our hearts and strength, and loving one another as ourselves, as Jesus taught us.
We strive to help each other live our faith in charity, in fidelity to Jesus Christ and His Gospel, assisted by His grace made abundantly available to us through our worship, the worthy and frequent reception of the Sacraments He instituted, by our prayer, both individual and as a community, and by embracing and living the virtues Jesus taught and modeled for us.
We invoke the special protection and care of St. Anthony of Padua, chosen to be our parish patron, as we seek to imitate his love for the Child Jesus, his humility, his knowledge of the Word of God, and his generosity in serving others.
We remain ever grateful to our parish forefathers and their families, many of whom were Irish shepherd immigrants, who settled on the plains of the old west and established St Anthony of Padua parish in 1921, as the first Catholic parish in Casper.
Casper was the crossroads for many wagon train trails that intersected here, taking settlers out west in the 1800’s.
St. Anthony Parish, too, became the crossroads for people of various cultures, but of one Faith, allowing them to settle and help make the parish grow and thrive on the wind-swept prairie. This included, the Scottish, the English, Italians, Slavs, Germans and Native Americans, to name just a few. St. Anthony’s Church offered them a Faith community and a spiritual home, that allowed them to support each other in practicing their Faith, helping them to remain focused on their ultimate goal to reach the heavenly Kingdom, by persevering together through the challenges of pioneer living.
From such steadfast love and devotion to their Catholic Faith, two additional parishes, a school and a hospital sprang forth: St Patrick’s Parish on the east side of the city, Our Lady of Fatima Parish on the west side, St Anthony’s Tri-Parish School, and the first hospital in Casper which later became Wyoming Medical Center.
At St. Anthony of Padua Parish we remain a people of the plains, the mountains, and the west. But we are grateful that our congregation now embraces parishioners from all parts of the world with many cultural backgrounds. And although we may be cattlemen, shepherds, oil and gas people, coal miners, bankers, doctors, lawyers, police and firemen, business owners, people of the land and laborers, we are above all, “A PEOPLE OF FAITH,” striving to live out the Gospel mandate given to us by Jesus Christ, to love God with all our hearts and minds and strength, and to “love one another as He loved us.”
The people of St. Anthony of Padua Parish welcome you to our faith family, and invite all to become a part of our legacy of being faithful members of the universal Catholic Church.