Father Joseph Sia presides at a blessing and dedication in front of the St. Carlo Acutis Center in Ottumwa, about a block away from St. Mary of the Visitation Catholic Church. St. Joseph Parish, which includes St. Mary and St. Patrick churches in Ottumwa, purchased the property earlier this year.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
OTTUMWA — The newest addition to the St. Mary of the Visitation Catholic Church complex honors one of the newest saints while giving new life to a historic building.
St. Joseph Parish, which includes St. Mary of the Visitation and St. Patrick churches in Ottumwa, celebrated the opening of the St. Carlo Acutis Center with a blessing and dedication earlier this month. It currently serves as a gathering space for the youth group, and could possibly be used to expand Seton Catholic School’s preschool program in the future, said Father Joseph Sia, the parish’s pastor.
The parish recently purchased the property at 220 N. Court Street, about a block away from the church. The Mediterranean revival-style building, built in 1929, served as a funeral home for many years and, most recently, as an event center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The property was listed for about $750,000 in May 2025, according to iowarealty.com, and was on the market for about a year before St. Joseph Parish purchased it in April for about $250,000. The finished main floor includes two gathering spaces, bathrooms and a few smaller rooms.
The parish’s history with the property predates the nearly century-old building, Father Sia serendipitously discovered after the purchase. “I happened to be reading an old directory,” and learned that the parish school was once located on the lot. After tearing down the school and building a new one elsewhere, the parish sold the lot to Jay Funeral Home in 1926. “Now, 100 years later, we’ve purchased it back,” the pastor said.
Volunteers spent the summer cleaning up the property and main floor, which the previous owner had renovated and modernized. The parish asked the faithful to donate furniture for the youth group room, and received several chairs and couches along with a pool table and ping-pong table. “People were very generous,” Father Sia said. “They stepped up.”
The pastor thought it would be fitting to name the building after St. Carlo Acutis, patron saint of the Internet, computer programmers, and the youth. Known as the Millennial saint, he died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15. The parish liked the name suggestion, and helped design a banner to place in front of the building.
The blessing and dedication took place two days after St. Carlo Acutis’s feast day. “After much work and prayer by so many members of our parish, we gather now to bless and dedicate this St. Carlo Acutis Center,” Father Sia said during the liturgy. “Here, the young will learn their Catholic faith, and adults will deepen their commitment to living as Christ has taught us. We pray that the word of God will always echo from its walls.”
After the liturgy, the congregation explored the youth group room and enjoyed refreshments in the second gathering space, which includes a portrait of the young saint above a working fireplace.
Father Sia hopes the designated youth group area will give teens a “third space” to build connections and grow in faith. “It’s not home, not church, but another place where they can meet and hang out,” he said. “Especially nowadays, people need personal connections aside from their phones.” The space includes a nook for private prayer, he added.
The second floor, formerly used as an apartment, must be renovated before it can be used by the parish, Father Sia said, but the possibilities for the first-floor space are just beginning to be realized. “It’s just an exciting time for the parish.”
