Catholic parish life started very early at Ellendale, but did not follow an even path of growth. The earliest settlers put up a primitive frame church seating 125 persons. The original church was built entirely with volunteer labor, which may have meant a few rough corners, but it also gave everyone a sense of ownership in the parish. Before 1889, priests from South Dakota sometimes came to Ellendale for services.
 
In 1889, Fr. William Dillon arrived as the first resident pastor of St. Helena. The parish built him a rectory in 1896. Fr. Dillon worked in Ellendale for most of the decade of the 19th century.
 
Another early pastor was Fr. John Duffy (1906-1915). And then, for some reason, Ellendale did not have a parish priest for about twenty years (1921-1940). During that period, Fr. Victor Long and his assistants from Edgeley served the parish.
 
For a few years, there was a Catholic church at Forbes (St. Joseph’s: 1922-1928), but the people eventually joined Ellendale. Fr. Charles Veach became the pastor of Ellendale in 1943 and from that point on, parish life took a definite upswing. Fr. Veach was a man of the soil (“the farmer-priest”), and he stayed at St. Helena’s for almost his entire ministry (1943-1979). No doubt the culmination of Fr. Veach’s work at Ellendale was the completion of a new parish plant, consisting of church, rectory and catechetical center (1979).