Rev. Patrick McInerney is pastor of the Assumption Catholic Church of Topeka. Reared and trained for the duties of the priesthood abroad, he has been in the ministry of the church in America for the past eighteen years, and all that time has been spent in Kansas. He is an able priest, devoted to the cause, and has an important record of constructive work in the various parishes where he has served.
One of the eleven children of Patrick and Bridget (Purcell) McInerney, he was born in Ireland March 6, 1876. He attended the local schools of Ireland and the college at Ennis, County Clare, and afterwards pursued his studies in Belgium. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Langevin of St. Boniface, Canada, and in October, 1898, came to Kansas to serve as assistant priest at the Cathedral in Leavenworth. In February, 1900, he was sent to Olathe, Kansas, as pastor of St. Paul’s Church, and remained there until October, 1907. He afterwards was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church at Kansas City, Kansas, and was at St. Peter’s Church in that city from 1909 to June, 1911. He was at St. Thomas, Kansas, for three years, and in October, 1914, assumed his present duties as pastor of the Assumption Church at Topeka. Father McInerney has one assistant clergyman under him, and the parochial schools of the Assumption parish are directed by ten teachers.