Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 119: William LaBarthe Steele Part 14: More on Steele and the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City

In 2001 a book called Fronties of Faith, by Richard J. Roder was published about the history of the Sioux City Catholic Diocese as well as in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the diocese. In the book there is mention of William L Steele and his relationship with Bishop Philip J Garrigan, Sioux City's first Bishop as well as Steele's continueing work after Bishop Garrigan died.

On page 233 it is mentioned about the recommendation of Steele to the priests of the diocese who were contemplating new churches. It states Steele designed many churches in the diocese and lists the names. Digital scan of the page;


Page 245 talks about Bishop Garrigan's death, the concecration of the second Bishop of Sioux City, Bishop Heelan. It also states that William L. Steele was President of the Rotary Club in Sioux City and he acted as Master of Ceremonies during in regards to Bishop Garrigan's passing. Page 246 mentiones Steele was a pallbearer at Bishop Garrigan's funeral. Digital scans of the pages;



Page 250 talks about William L. Steele continueing his work with the diocese under the leadership of Bishop Heelan. Digital scan of the page;


Page 256 talks about William L. Steele designing the Blessed Sacrament buildings used as a church and school. Digital scan of page;


Page 265 talks about a church in Milford, Iowa Steele designed. The priest sent the plans back and asked for a larger building as he was planning for future expansion of the area. It is a good thing he did. That area of Iowa, known as the Great Lakes region of the state is one of Iowa's top tourist attractions year round. They are very busy and people need a place to worship. Digital scan;


William L. Steele designed buildings in more then just the immediate Sioux City area as you can tell by looking at the scans of the book Frontiers of Faith. When I can I will photograph and post about the buildings outside of Sioux City.

Sioux City History and Culture Part 118: William LaBarthe Steele Part 13: Letter from Bishop Garrigan to William L Steele

Please read this letter first:



This letter was sent from Bishop Garrigan to William L. Steele on March 24, 1915. It was in response to a letter sent by Steele to the Bishop on March 23, 1915 that included some sort of inclosure that was returned back to Steele by the Bishop. As indicated in this section of the letter;

“I have your good note of yesterday with inclosure and I must ask your pardon if I return you that inclosure.”

The question is what was the inclosure and why was it sent to the Bishop? I showed a co-worker of mine the copy of the letter and asked his opinion. He stated and I agree that the inclosure was likely money. That caused even more questions. Was it a donation to the church? Some sort of stipend paid to Bishop Garrigan? Some sort of payment to the Bishop for services rendered by him? Was it a donation made to the diocese itself? I had always thought that donations made to the diocese or church are kept and used as such. If it was a payment to the Bishop directly, whether stipend or otherwise, perhaps that is why it was returned. Then again why didn’t he then donate the money to the diocese? The fact is we honestly do not know and may never know.

This section of the letter states;

“But to accept it would change the main element of my humble act, and deprive me of much pleasure.”

To me this says the Bishop did indeed perform some sort of service for Steele, whether personally or otherwise, and Steele felt compelled to pay the Bishop for it and Bishop Garrigan may have felt guilty if he had accepted the money or payment and to keep his conscience clear he returned it. It also tell me Bishop Garrigan got more satisfaction and much pleasure for doing humble acts, as he states, out of doing something for Steele and his only payment is the personal satisfaction of doing so. Catholic Priests, Bishops, Arch Bishops, Cardinals, the Pope, etc are humble by nature, or at least they are supposed to be, this indicates some of them are honorable as well. The behavior of one can and does reflect on the rest.

The next section of the letter states;

“Let me, in this instance, be the unrewarded instrument of Lod’s light and strength to you, as your business will be for the honor of the church and all of our people. Believe me.”

I think this further reinforces Bishop Garrigan’s humbleness and not wanting to be rewarded in the manner he was by Steele. He is asking Steele to please let him be unrewarded in the manner Steele attempted to award him and that as an instrument of God Bishop Garrigan is there to provide strength and support to him as he likely did for all of his parishioners. He further endorses Steele with stating his business will for the honor of the church and the people of the diocese.

There is also the question of why Steele paid the Bishop. Perhaps it was for some sort of personal service the Bishop performed for Steele. But what? Maybe the Bishop personally baptized one of Steeles children or perhaps some other sort of personal favor. We do not know and may never find out.

This is my educated theory of this letter based on the opinion of one of my co-workers. This is how I interpret the letter. I could be mistaken and will continue to do research on this matter between Steele and Bishop Garrigan and post any updates I find.

Letter is courtesy of the Pearl Rsearch Center. It is a photo copy of their copy that I digitally scanned with my flat bed scanner.