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Parish History
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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 (now Mississippi State University). 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.
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.
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. In the same year the parish was expanded to include Clay county as well as Oktibbeha, Webster, and Choctaw counties. 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 CYO was organized in 1961. 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. Later in the year, St. Joseph 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.
In 1976 the Knights of Columbus Council #6765 was founded with 33 Knights from the Golden Triangle area.
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.
In 1994, the decision to build a new church was made. The Rectory was to be demolished, and the new church would be positioned between the old church and the Parish Center.The old church would be converted into a parish hall. 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 plantfor 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.
Work on the new church began in the spring of 1997 with the leveling of the Rectory on Holy Thursday, March 27th. However, 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.
The congregation has continued to grow in number and involvement. Since 2001, Fathers Waldrep, Mattingly, Bohn, Vargas, and currently Johnston, along with deacons Artigues and McGinley, 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. This web site provides a glimpse of the current scope of the St. Joseph's Parish activities.
In the fall of 2005, as St. Joseph Parish was reaching out to Katrina victims, there was also local cause being examined. Based on work at other locations in the state, our pastor challenged us to put together a food pantry. Currently, acting as an agency of the Mississippi Food Network, the St. Joseph's Food Pantry distributes over 20 tons of food anually, serving about 3000 families in the Oktibbeha county.