Although our parish building is relatively new, our parish began in 1951 as the chapel for College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande (later changed to University of Albuquerque in 1966). It was a Catholic liberal arts college owned by the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. St. Joseph Chapel was there before Coors Boulevard was established as a road in the late 1950’s.  Beginning in the 1970's, local families began coming to masses and then later asked the sisters if they could be part of the campus ministry. This was the seed for our parish.

During this time, the families and the sisters would host several events for the community such as weekend flea markets that helped support students enrolled in the college who were in need of assistance with tuition as well as the community with Christmas baskets for needy families and Easter egg hunts for children. The Stations of the Cross would begin down by the river and process up the hill, which was a wonderful time of reflection for the sisters and the new members of the congregation.

Because of financial problems, the University closed its doors in 1986. Due to the buildings being renovated for St. Pius X High School to move in, the chapel was no longer available for use. In 1986, we were chartered as a diocesan parish with 125 families and received permission to use Stage 2 (seating capacity 335) of the Fine Arts Center (now called St. Cecelia) with religious education classes being moved to the second floor of Lourdes. In 1989, Stage 1 of St. Cecelia was remodeled to better accommodate our growing congregation – it could seat around 600 parishioners. In 1991, religious education classes were moved to St. Clare.