The Church of the Annunciation began as the Kearney-Holt Catholic Community in August, 1980 with the hope of building a church and becoming a parish. The first Mass was held in the Middle School gym with Fr. William Dineen, C.PP.S. of Liberty, Mo., offering Mass on a weekly basis. At the end of the first year, there were 80 registered families. In 1981, the community moved to Trinity Lutheran Church for weekend liturgies and Fr. Kenneth Criqui was appointed the first pastor of the church. The parish was assigned as a mission of Smithville. In January, 1983, a 10 acre tract of land was purchased where the church is now located. In October of 1983, Fr. Bernard Branson was assigned pastor.
In 1984 near the Feast of the Annunciation it was announced that the church was officially named the Church of the Annunciation. The church was completed and dedicated in January, 1986.In May, 1993, Sister Collette Baldwin, RSM, was appointed Pastoral Administrator by Bishop John J. Sullivan. Sister was the first religious and second woman to be appointed to such a position in the diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph. This appointment was the preliminary step toward full canonical parish status. On July 1, 1994, the Church of the Annunciation was canonically established as a parish.
On June 30, 1995, Fr Thomas Conway, C.PP.S. from the Society of the Most Precious Blood was assigned pastor. Fr. Aloys Ebach, C.PP.S. joined us on September, 2002, as Parochial Administrator. On August 1, 2003, we welcomed Fr. John Wolf, C.PP.S. as Pastor.
The parish has grown since 1996 by 42% bringing us to over 450 families and growing!
2009: The parish has grown to over 500 families. Due to this continued growth, the parish entered into a purchase agreement for the Knights of Columbus Hall along with 5 acres of land, and ground was broken in July of 2007 to add a new addition to the church. This was a long awaited result of the campaign, “Building Our Vision Together,” which began in 2002. The doors opened to our newly renovated church to celebrate Palm Sunday in 2008. In March of 2009 we began our 3 year campaign, “Growing in Faith Together,” to reduce our debt and help us accomplish a few projects. These projects consist of improving the church parking lot, getting a new floor in our Community Center, purchasing a new church organ, and creating a prayer path between the church and Community Center. Please join us as we “Grow in Faith Together.”