History of St. Joseph catholic church

Beginnings. The beginning was small but the commitment and dedication were grand. During the 1920s the Catholic community that was to become the parish of Starkville consisted of the Ed Lucke and Sam Phillips families and about 50 students from the near-by Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. A small lot was purchased on Maxwell Street in 1929 to build a very modest, frame chapel. The congregation was organized as a mission of the Church of the Annunciation of Columbus, MS, and Sunday Mass was celebrated at 7:00 a.m. by Father Vincent Haigle, O.S.B., who drove from Columbus to Starkville on Saturday evening and slept on a cot in the back of the chapel. Father Haigle celebrated the first Mass in the new chapel in November,1929 and it was dedicated by Bishop Gerow on May 4, 1930. The chapel building still stands on Maxwell Street, recognizable as a “church” but now used for other purposes.

The history of the Catholic community in Starkville and the “College”, renamed Mississippi State College in 1923, is marked by the commitment and dedication at its humble beginnings to a vision of what the Church needed to be to serve the multiple needs of a small town and university based congregation. Milton Robelot, a lay apostle, was assigned to the Mississippi State College (Mississippi State University, “MSU”, since 1958) for well attended weekly devotional services. During the World War II years, the number of Catholic students increased sharply as many military-related studies and programs at MSU brought in young men from the large urban areas throughout the country. Mass was celebrated Sunday mornings in MSU’s Lee Hall Auditorium by Father Clarence Meyer, O.S.B. On-campus Mass continued in MSU’s Chapel of Memories until February 1999.

As the country, Starkville, and MSU adjusted to the peaceful years following World War II, St. Joseph Church, the Starkville mission of Columbus’s Church of the Annunciation, was assigned its first resident priest. Father John T. Martin, a diocesan priest and assistant to the Columbus pastor, took up residence in Starkville on November 5, 1946. Since the congregation was fast outgrowing the small Maxwell Street chapel, one of Father Martin’s priority tasks was location of an appropriate site for a larger, “parish” church. During his first year (1947) in Starkville, Father Martin found a suitable lot with a standing house for sale on University Drive, the site of the previous and present St. Joseph Churches. The lot and house were purchased May 31, 1947 for $15,000. The house became the rectory and services continued at the Maxwell Street chapel.

St. Joseph Becomes a Parish Church The congregation continued to grow and organize. The Altar Society was formed in November, 1946, and a Newman Club for MSU’s Catholic students in 1947. Decisions and events during the next five years completed the transformation of the Starkville/Campus Catholic community and St. Joseph church from a mission with inadequate facilities on a side street to a full-fledged parish with a spacious and beautiful new church in a favored location. The parish of Starkville was established August 28, 1948, comprising all of Oktibbeha and Webster counties and part of Choctaw county. Work began on the new church on the University Drive property with much ceremony on December 11, 1949. The church cost $60,000 and was dedicated by Bishop Gerow. Father Martin celebrated St. Joseph’s first midnight Mass on Christmas, 1951, and Bishop Gerow administered the Sacrament of Confirmation for the first time in April 1952. The ceremony was followed by another event, which while non-sacramental, was immensely satisfying to Bishop Gerow, Father Martin, and the congregation—the burning of the parish mortgages on its properties!

Father Edward L. Cratin assistant pastor of St. Peter’s in Jackson and an MSU engineering graduate, was installed as the second pastor of St. Joseph in 1953. In the same year the parish was expanded to include Clay county as well as Oktibbeha, Webster, and Choctaw counties and the sanctuary of the new church was enhanced with the installation of beautiful stained glass windows provided by Mrs. Florence Brink in memory of her husband and brother. Three Sisters of Mercy conducted the first religious vacation bible school, jointly with West Point, in the summer of 1954. A Holy Name Society was organized in 1959.

The 60s and 70s: Growth and Maturation. The CYO was organized in 1961. Father Joseph Koury was named third pastor of St. Joseph in March 1963 and by September of that year, Father John Scanlon succeeded him as the fourth pastor. The need for a Parish Center was realized in 1966 with the purchase of the Midway Tea Room, a very convenient next-door property, for $52,000. The Midway Tea Room was quickly converted and put to use as a meeting place for CCD classes, CYO meetings, and various adult groups.

Father Thomas Delaney became St. Joseph’s fifth pastor in 1967, and Father Charles Van Duren was named chaplain for MSU students. St. Joseph became, in effect, a two pastor church! Later in the year the cycle came full turn: St. Joseph which began as a chapel serving a small mission congregation adopted Noxubee County as a mission and Sunday Mass began to be celebrated in Macon, MS. The Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Macon continues as St. Joseph’s mission to the present day.

Father John Egan was appointed the sixth pastor of St. Joseph in 1968 and was soon involved in a full time schedule of renovations and construction to meet the needs of the growing congregation. In 1969 the old rectory was converted to a community day care center, a new rectory was constructed and dedicated by Bishop Brunini, the church was air conditioned as a memorial to the parents of Mr. and Mrs. McInvale, and Father Bernard Farrell joined the parish as associate pastor. The interior of the church was extensively remodeled in 1971 into a strikingly austere and contemplative hall for worship. During this period Msgr. Paul Canonici took up residence to undertake graduate studies at MSU. He earned a doctorate and served as a much loved assistant in many of the parish’s sacramental, educational and social activities. Father Meyrl Schmit was named St. Joseph’s seventh pastor in September, 1973, and in January, 1974, Father Jack Smith was appointed associate pastor. A Moller pipe organ was purchased in August 1975. In connection with our country’s Bicentennial Celebration in 1976 a copy of the 1976-77 St. Joseph Directory was placed in a time capsule at the county courthouse to be opened in 2076.

Father Charles Bucciantini was assigned in September 1978 as associate pastor of St. Joseph parish which then comprised Oktibbeha County (Starkville and MSU campus) and the Macon mission in Noxubee county. ON December 10, 1978, Father John T. Martin, the founding pastor of St. Joseph, died in retirement.

The present Parish Center was constructed on the site of the old center west of the Rectory in 1981 following successful funding drives during the period of 1978-80 and the award of a substantial grant from the Catholic Church Extension Society. The cost was $189,679. The new center was dedicated by Bishop Brunini in December 1981 following a Mass celebrated by Father Meyrl Schmit, Father Charles Bucciantini and Father Tony Smyth.

Father Henry Shelton was assigned as St. Joseph’s eighth pastor in January 1983. During his tenure the parish continued to grow with increases in the population of Starkville, the enrollment in MSU, and the diversity of the townsfolk, faculty and students. By 1987 the parish which began as a small Catholic community consisting of the Ed Lucke and Sam Phillips families and about 50 college students had grown to 274 families (801 men, women and children) and 1000 MSU students. Masses were nearly always crowded and overflowed during the Easter and Christmas seasons. CCD, CYO other youth and adult activities filled the Parish Center and spilled-over into the Rectory. Discussions on expansion of the Church were initiated and various plans began to be considered. Father Bucciantini left St. Joseph in 1986 for assignment in Leland MS.

The 90s: Plans, Sadness, Renewal and FulfillmentThe path that led to the fulfillment realized in the last years of the 90’s was set in 1989 with the appointment of Father Mike O’Brien as St. Joseph’s ninth pastor. Father Gerry Hurley joined St. Joseph in January 1990 as associate pastor and left in 1993 to take up duties as the pastor of Annunciation Catholic Church in nearby Columbus, MS. A long range planning committee was established in 1993, and after much study and discussion culminating in an open parish meeting, the decision to build a new church was made in 1994. Initial plans were to build the new church behind (north of) the rectory and existing church. These plans were dropped with recognition that the new church would be essentially hidden by the existing structures. Decision was taken to demolish the Rectory and position the new church between the old church, which would be converted into a parish hall, and the Parish Center. Two financial campaigns, 1993-96 and 1996-99, obtained pledges of more than $1.1 million demonstrating a strong desire and commitment to provide the parish with an adequate physical plant for its sacramental, educational, and social activities. A house conveniently located north of St. Joseph, which was purchased in 1987, was renovated in 1996 to serve as the Rectory.

Plans for the new church were developed by architect Skip Wyatt and intern architect David Burt. David had just graduated from MSU and had been an active member of the CSA. Sneed Construction was awarded the construction contract. Work on the new church began in the spring of 1997 with the leveling of the Rectory on Holy Thursday, March 27th. Very early (12:30 A.M.) on March 28th, Good Friday morning, disaster struck the 46 year old St. Joseph Church. The church burned beyond salvaging. Everything was lost. The entire parish and community were shocked and saddened. Subsequent investigations discovered that the fire was caused by a defective electrical cord found on the refrigerator in the Sanctuary. Following the fire, St. Joseph parish was invited to take up temporary quarters in the old movie theater in downtown Starkville and Masses were celebrated there for the next year and a half.

The plans for the new church were then revised and expanded to take into account the space available on the site of the old church. The old church was completely demolished and construction begun of the new church. The new St. Joseph Catholic Church was completed in the fall of 1998 and dedicated by Bishop William R. Houck on November 8, 1998. The new church building is in cruciform—the ancient and most sacred of Christian symbols—with ample space for gathering, worship, celebration of sacraments, and reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. The total cost of the church was approximately $1.6 million. Since the old church intended to serve as a Parish Hall was completely lost, construction of a new Parish Hall financed with approximately $0.5 million payment from the insurance on the old church was begun in September, 1998 and completed in the summer of 1999.

In January of 2001: There have been and continue to be other events and milestones in the parish that contributed to the fulfillment realized in the last years of the 90’s and prepared the church and congregation for this new millennium. The congregation has continued to grow in number and involvement. In January of 2001 Fr. Mike O’Brien was reassigned to Assumption Church in Natchez, MS. We were excited to welcome Father Jeffrey Waldrep, a native of West Point, MS as our tenth pastor in January of 2001. Fr. Waldrep, along with Fran Lavelle Youth/Campus Minister and Gerry Orgler Office Manager/Coordinator of Religious Education are working hard to lead St. Joseph Parish into the new millennium. Their leadership, along with many other parishioners are helping St. Joseph Parish and our Catholic MSU students to continue to grow. We now have a congregation of over 400 families continually witnessing the faith in our many ministry opportunities. Examples include 32 CCD teachers committed weekly to over 160 students. There are approximately 140 lay people that rotate on a weekly basis to provide ministry assistance to both our Church and extended community. We have approximately 20 people entering the Church through RCIA yearly. Over 500 students, 48% of our Catholic MSU students, are active at St. Joseph. The High School and Jr. High School programs are expanding. All exciting ways, through the intercession of St. Joseph, that we are able to meet the challenges both spiritually and socially for this new millennium.