He was a Jesuit priest who came into Dawson City, from Forty Mile, Yukon, with the beginning of the gold rush. Judge himself made the altar and the ornamental work was done with a pen knife. This church was described as “the first Roman Catholic Church of Dawson City, a large structure of logs at the north extremity of the town.” The seats were rough boards placed on stumps. At first there was no glass for windows, and heavy white muslin was tacked to the frames. The first church burned down and was replaced by a larger more commodious one. The first Catholic churches were located along the river, just north of down town, more below the big scar on the north hillside, called Moosehide. When the first church burnt down Fr. Judge received a large sum of money from big Alex MacDonald for the rebuilding. Alex was a Nova Scotian, who was eventually called King of the Klondike. Judge died in Dawson, January, 1899. It was a terribly cold day in which all of Dawson City stopped to bury him. A marker was place on his grave in the church. This marker is still on his grave by the river because the church has moved but his grave is still at the same spot. The Oblates took over from the Jesuits in 1898. The first Oblate superior in the area was Fr. Edmond Gendreau, OMI. It was his responsibility to build a house as an Oblate dwelling. This he did on King Street. In 1902, he built the church with a school building. The teachers of that first school were the missionary Sisters of St. Ann from Victoria, BC. These sisters had several missions in Alaska before coming across to Dawson to work. The school closed permanently in 1959.
