About Immaculate Conception
Welcome to our community! Our Mission Statement: “We the people of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church are called to be holy and to serve all people faithfully with compassion and respect.” Our motto: “Diversitas intra Unitatum” which means “Diversity within Unity.”
Our history
1904
Fr. Thomas J. Horgan, a young priest from Ireland, lays the foundation for the original church on Pyramid Way and F Street in Sparks, Nevada. For the next 63 years, Immaculate Conception will be the only Catholic parish in Sparks.
1930
Original church burns down from candles left lighted on the altar. Fr. Patrick Meehan serves the needs of Catholics by celebrating Mass in the local Engineers’ Hall until the church can be rebuilt.
1932
After two years of construction, Bishop Thomas Gorman dedicates the new $20,000 church. The Catholic Herald of Sacramento calls it “a gem of Romanesque architecture.”
1941
Immaculate Conception purchases and installs the bell from a firehouse located on the Virginia City and Gold Hill divide. The bell is estimated to have been cast in the early 1800’s. The same bell rings in the present-day church.
1970
As a part of an interior renovation, 21 beautiful stained-glass windows are installed. These windows will remain in the Immaculate Conception community to the present day.
2001
Father Norman King becomes pastor. Shortly afterwards, construction begins on a large new church on Pyramid Way and North McCarran Boulevard. Construction will take three years to complete.
2004
Construction of the new church is completed.
2006
Construction begins on the new Faith Formation building on the east end of the campus. Construction completed in 2007.
2015
After 14 years, Father Norman King retires. Father Philip George becomes pastor.