Mary Queen of Peace
Louisville - Cane Run Road Location
Established 1916
Registrations: 295
(Formerly St. Basil and St. Denis. Note: record books are kept at St. Denis.)

RECTORY
4205 Cane Run Rd., Louisville, Ky. 40216
Phone: (502) 448-2961
FAX: (502) 448-3656
E-mail: jshew287@aol.com   

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CLERGY
Pastor: Rev. Thomas E. Gentile
Permanent Deacon: Robert M. Kampschaefer

MASS SCHEDULE  
Sundays — Sat. eve: 4 p.m.
Holy Days — Holy Day: See Bulletin.
Daily — M, Tu: 8 a.m.

SCHOOL  
Notre Dame Academy
1927 Lewiston Dr., Louisville, Ky. 40216
Phone: (502) 447-3155
FAX: (502) 447-5515
Principal: Bernice Scherr
Web Site: www.ndasaints.org

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HISTORY

Cane Run Road Location/Formerly Saint Denis Parish

Until 1916, the few Catholic families along the Ohio River southwest of Louisville attended St. Peter Church and later St. Helen Church in Shively, both at an inconvenient distance. That July they took the first steps to organize a parish for families in the Cane Run Road area.

About thirty-seven families erected a little frame church and pastoral residence, guided by Bishop Denis O’Donaghue. The church was blessed and dedicated under the patronage of Saint Denis, early French bishop and martyr, on Christmas Eve, 1916. A school opened in January 1917 and was entrusted to the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph. Father Andrew Zoeller was the first pastor.

Parish growth during World War I necessitated a larger church, which was built and dedicated in 1923. The twenty-nine-year pastorate of Father Joseph Neeson, who arrived in 1928, saw St. Denis grow from a small country parish to one of the largest in the Archdiocese, in what had become a commercial setting. The school was expanded several times. The present church was built in 1970.

Between 1995 and 1998, parishioners of St. Denis and St. Basil and archdiocesan leaders engaged in extensive talks which led to a “new parish” merging members of both. In 2003 St. Denis School closed and joined with St. Helen and St. Lawrence to form Notre Dame Academy.

St. Denis celebrates its diverse mix of people, with a membership of about 700 parishioners. Its secure financial status is a testimony to the parish’s strong support and leadership, yet its location makes growth difficult, a significant need for an intergenerational community with many aging members.

Despite these challenges, parishioners have committed themselves to outreach, especially to the unchurched and alienated.