History:

St. Joseph Church Honey Creek became a parish in 1876. Founded by German settlers and serviced by a circuit riding priest for many years, the first church, a log chapel, was dedicated on August 20, 1876. A frame church was built in 1892; and then in 1898, Fr. Virgilius Draessel, a Franciscan priest arrived as pastor. Fr. Draessel remained pastor until his death at Honey Creek on October 9, 1933. He is buried under the center aisle of the old church. The old stone church was constructed by the parishioners between 1910 and 1913. The parish family stayed relatively small until the late 1980's. By 1994 the parish consisted of 450 families and was still rapidly growing. As the year 2000 approached the parish recognized and accepted the need to build a new church building. The Pastoral Council announced in February 2000 that the building process for a new church building had begun. A Building Committee was organized and a Consulting Firm, RSI, was selected to help the parish in raising the funds to build the new church. The slogan "Building for A Faithful Future" was developed and used for both Phase I and Phase II of the Capital Campaign efforts.

During the early phases of the process, the Building Committee spent long hours in preparation. They took field trips to see newly constructed churches and they studied the Church documents outlining requirements for building a new church. The committee made a series of decisions and several experts talked with the committee. Following a detailed search, the committee selected Mark Morkovsky as the Architect. Dr. Dolores Martinez, the Director of the Office of Worship, came to give an information session on building a new church. Ben Eastman, a Liturgical Consultant, led the parish in Building Block Workshops. The workshops facilitated the development of Ten Principles to guide the parish in design and function of the new church building. Among these principles: The new church would blend with the existing church and the Texas Hill Country; its design and layout would facilitate and promote full, conscious and active participation by all the faithful in the liturgy (#14 CSL ); and the new church would provide ample space for the rites and rituals of the Sacred Liturgy.

Once the pastor and building committee adopted the parish plan, the Keller-Martin Construction Company was selected to build the church. Fugro Consultants surveyed the church property and the John Stuart Site Company began the site excavation work in late 2004. Finally, the parish broke ground on February 27, 2005 during an outdoor Mass and ceremony. Throughout the construction process, the Building Committee continued to work through sub-committees that made decisions on paint, landscaping, religious art, pews, furnishings and other important matters.