Laporte area Catholics attended services at the churches of Walker on Cass Lake. Around 1918, Masses were offered locally in the railroad depot, hotel or private homes. Bemidji pastor, Fr. John Philippe, or his associate, Fr. E.J. Powers, made the trip to Laporte for Mass.

In 1921, Fr. Philippe bought a village lot for $200 and planned a church using a Catholic Extension Society grant of $1,000. He was transferred to Warroad before the project got off the ground. The building project fell to Fr. Joseph Fraling. Much of the labor was donated by parishioners; Laporte residents were ecumenically-minded. The Baptist Church hosted the Catholic Masses until St. Theodore’s was constructed.

St. Theodore’s Parish became a mission to Bemidji for 25 years. The unique nail keg seats in the church were replaced by regular pews in 1926. The parish was detached from Bemidji in 1947 and made the responsibility of the Park Rapids hospital chaplain. The Servants of the Paraclete Fathers of Two Inlets received the Laporte mission shortly afterwards before returning to Park Rapids care in 1958.

Ground was broken for a new church and hall in 1986, two days before the sudden death of Fr. Frank Ringwelski. Parishioners pledged $10,000 and received a $50,000 Extension Society Loan. Richard Schwieters donated the blueprints and others donated labor. The two trustees, Jo-Ann Lampert-O’Connell and Milt Jones, comprised the building committee that pulled together ideas for the church, hall and religious education space. The former church lacked a hall, plumbing or bathroom facilities. The church was complete in 1987 and dedicated by Bishop Victor Balke in 1988.

Laporte and St. Lawrence Parish, Gutherie, were missions of the Akeley parish in 1971. The Gutherie church was closed in 1972, St. Theodore’s Catholic Church (STC) was then clustered with the parishes of Akeley and Nevis, until those two parishes were merged into one parish in 2002 under the patronage of Our Lady of the Pines Church, Nevis.

Fr. Tony Fernando is our present pastor and our parish office is at: 205 Main Street West, PO Box 378, Nevis, MN.