From a Log Church in 1841 to a Parish of 530 Families
Settled by German immigrants, St. Joseph Parish sits about eight miles northwest of Evansville on St. Joseph Road, where a brick church built in 1851 and rebuilt in 1888 still anchors the campus. The community grew out of missionary work: in 1836 a Redemptorist priest named Father Czackart celebrated the area's first Mass in the house of the Widow Weiss. Four years later, in April 1840, the newly ordained Father Roman Weinzapfel arrived to organize the faithful, and by 1841 fifteen families had built a two-story log church whose second floor served as a worship space and whose first floor housed a school and a primitive residence for visiting missionaries. The parish was an official mission of the Diocese of Vincennes, and its descendants trace their lineage through more than 162 years of continuous Catholic life.
The brick church that stands today was dedicated on November 17, 1888, replacing an earlier structure destroyed by fire on September 11, 1886, when there was no insurance to cover the loss. The current building measures 80 by 125 feet and continues to serve the parish, complete with bells, statues, stations of the cross and other appointments added over more than a century. From one-room schools with wood stoves and privies standing several yards behind, to gas lighting in 1916, electricity in 1930 and a telephone in 1932, the parish has steadily grown. By 1958 a new school was constructed at a cost of $237,000, and the post-Vatican II era brought English into the liturgy in 1967 for the first time. Major building campaigns in 1997, 2003 and 2008 added classrooms, a multi-purpose facility, a science lab, a library, a computer lab, a new roof and air conditioning. After a tornado tore the church roof off in 2023, the parish responded with a sweeping $1.8 million renovation that included a new roof, sealed brick exterior, new carpet, repainted interior, an accessible ramp, a new columbarium for cremation burials, parking lot repairs, classroom cabinets and a major wastewater treatment plant upgrade. The German immigrants who once made up the congregation have been joined by people from every corner of the world; today, some 530 families call St. Joseph their parish, and many still earn their living as farmers, fine craftsmen and craftswomen.
Sunday Mass, Weekday Mass and Confession
The Celebration of the Eucharist is the most important thing the parish does. Weekend Mass is offered on Saturday evening at 5:00 pm and on Sunday morning at 8:00 am and 10:30 am. Weekday Mass is celebrated on Monday evening at 6:30 pm, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:30 am, and on Holy Day eves at 6:00 pm followed by a 7:30 am Holy Day morning Mass. Mass intentions for deceased relatives and friends may be submitted at no charge through the parish office, and each week's bulletin lists the names of those being remembered alongside the Mass schedule; parishioners have been remembered from as far back as 1858.
Confessions are heard each Saturday from 4:00 pm until shortly before the Vigil Mass. Other arrangements can always be made by contacting the pastor. Penance Services are celebrated during Advent and Lent, and children in second grade experience a special celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation as part of their preparation. The parish also offers Eucharistic Adoration as part of its prayer life.
Liturgical Ministries: Cantors, Choir, Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers and Altar Servers
Every Mass at the parish is supported by parishioners who serve as liturgical ministers. Cantors lead the congregation in singing at weekend and Holy Day Masses, and the parish choir accompanies the 8:00 am Sunday Mass throughout the year, with additional music for Christmas and Holy Week. The choir rehearses on Tuesday evenings and welcomes anyone regardless of musical ability, with organ and other instruments joining as available; players of guitar, bass, keyboard and other instruments are especially welcome. Lectors proclaim the Word of God at weekend and Holy Day Masses and receive training. Eucharistic Ministers distribute Holy Communion at weekend and Holy Day Masses, with new ministers trained and commissioned. Altar Servers assist the celebrant at all weekend and Holy Day Masses; servers may be boys or girls, are usually in Grades 4 through 8, and are trained each year, with high school students also invited to serve or to take on lector or Eucharistic Minister roles.
Parishioners interested in any of these ministries are encouraged to reach out to Father Gene Schroeder, the pastor, or Kristan Gilles, the Director of Liturgy.
Faith Formation from Kindergarten Through High School
The parish considers parents to be the first and best teachers of their children in the ways of faith and works to assist them with that sacred duty. Religious formation is offered on several tracks. Children in Kindergarten through 8th grade meet for Sunday morning religious education classes held in conjunction with Resurrection Parish on the campus of Resurrection Parish. These classes are primarily intended for children who attend public school, and second graders gather for extra weekly meetings to prepare for First Communion as the time approaches.
During the 10:30 am Sunday Mass, children ages four through second grade are invited to gather with a catechist for Children's Liturgy of the Word, a separate setting where the Sunday readings are shared and explained at their level. First Reconciliation and First Communion are celebrated with children as part of this formation, and high school faith formation continues to be offered for public school students. The Sacrament of Confirmation is celebrated during the sophomore year of high school, with preparation woven into religion classes and Confirmation-specific sessions over the high school years. Each summer, usually in June, the parish joins with several other area parishes to offer Vacation Bible School for pre-school through fourth grade students.
Adults who have not been baptized or who wish to come into full communion with the Catholic Church are welcomed through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. RCIA meets each Sunday morning after the 8:00 am Mass with members of the parish's RCIA team, and candidates are received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Infant baptisms are normally celebrated during one of the weekend Masses after parents contact the pastor.
St. Joseph School on the Same Campus
Educating the young has been at the heart of the parish since 1841, when children gathered in the church to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. That effort grew under the tutelage of the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, who arrived to teach in 1875 and who helped build the first dedicated school in 1879. The school has been educating children of all faiths ever since; today it offers a fully accredited Catholic education centered in prayer, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 12 to 1, a 95 percent-plus passage rate for ILearn and IRead, scholarship assistance, tuition vouchers and SGO grants, plus preschool and pre-K programs for younger learners.
The school's motto, "Enter to Learn. Go Forth to Serve," frames an education that aims at the spiritual, academic, social, emotional and physical development of each child. Highlights include a House Leadership Program, an Innovative Dog Therapy Reading Program, and a full-service salad bar served twice a week as part of the National School Lunch Program. Lunches are available for $3.54, with milk, juice and water offered for an additional cost.
The preschool welcomes children who are three years old on or before August 1 and are fully toilet trained, with classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:15 to 10:15 am or 11:15 am to 2:04 pm. The pre-kindergarten program is for children who are four years old on or before August 1, with classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Both programs offer before- and after-class childcare and all-day options on alternate schedules.
The Haiti Mission: A 35-Year Partnership with St. James Parish
In 1988 the pastor of St. Joseph and a parishioner-deacon named Gilbert Fehrenbacher visited St. James Parish in Plaine du Nord, Haiti, beginning a partnership that continues to shape the life of the parish. Today the Haiti Outreach Committee oversees a wide range of support: a yearly shipment of school supplies, athletic equipment, clinic supplies and parish materials sent through the Parish Twining Program of the Americas; a general fund; medical clinic support; student sponsorships; higher education endowments; mission trips; and special projects.
For a contribution of $360 a year, parishioners can sponsor a young Haitian child through primary or secondary school, providing tuition, uniforms, school supplies and a daily hot meal. More than two hundred children are currently sponsored, along with students in colleges and technical schools. Several parishioners have also brought Haitian students to the United States to continue their education, with the goal of having them return to Plaine du Nord with technical expertise to serve their home community. Four endowments currently support the Haiti Ministry: the Estelle and Jerome Schneider Haiti Endowment, the Leroy and Marilyn Jochum Haiti Student Endowment, the Haiti Higher Education Endowment and the James and Ida Greenwell Haiti Student Endowment.
Mission trips are generally offered twice a year, in spring and fall. Each trip lasts seven or eight days; the group flies from Evansville to Fort Lauderdale and on to Cap-Haïtien, then travels about forty minutes by ground to Plaine du Nord. Trips include work on planned projects and staffing the medical clinic, with church services most mornings and on Sunday. Travelers stay at the rectory within the church compound, sharing meals prepared in the rectory dining room. The average total trip cost per person is $1,300, covering airfare, lodging in Fort Lauderdale, food, lodging, international travel insurance and the Haiti entrance tax; a passport is required, as are hepatitis A and B, tetanus and prophylactic malaria medications.
Local Outreach, the Needy Fund and the Food Pantry
Working with the St. Vincent de Paul Coordinator's Office, the parish provides financial assistance to people within its parish boundaries who need help with rent, utilities, food and medicine. Money for this comes from the Parish Needy Fund, which draws from the Sunday collection, online giving and special fundraisers like spaghetti dinners and barbecue sales. The Mother Teresa Endowment for the Needy provides additional support.
The parish also collects canned and perishable food items each week for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at 819 N. Lafayette Avenue in Evansville, the largest of its kind in the tri-state area, and supports its clearing-house role in helping people throughout the city with utility bills, medicine, rent and other requests. School and religious education students contribute to these food collections as well. Parishioners are also invited to volunteer at area homeless shelters, including the Ozanam Family Shelter, House of Bread and Peace, the United Caring Shelter and the Evansville Rescue Mission.
Additional outreach includes Habitat for Humanity builds, periodic blood drives, the Diaper Bag Express, the Right to Life ministry, special diocesan collections, and a longstanding friendship with Mary Mother of God Parish in Russia.
Cemetery, Columbarium and the Carpenter Society
St. Joseph Cemetery has been the parish's sacred resting place since 1841. All parishioners, as well as former parishioners, have the opportunity to be buried in the cemetery, which now includes a columbarium for cremation burials added as part of the recent renovation campaign. Maintenance is overseen by the Cemetery Board, and a long tradition of volunteer mowing crews keeps the grounds during the April through October season; five different crews rotate the work, with all equipment provided.
Members of the Carpenter Society honor the parish's past with financial gifts to assure its future, taking inspiration from the patron saint, St. Joseph, the carpenter who devoted his life to caring for Mary and the child Jesus and who allowed God to serve as his guide. Gifts can be made through a will, as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, through a charitable remainder trust, by donating personal property subject to a life estate, or by establishing a charitable gift annuity. The Carpenter Society currently stewards more than three dozen endowments supporting the parish, school, cemetery, Haiti ministry, religious education, school kitchen, liturgy, youth ministry, the Marian Day Program for Children with Special Needs and more. Contributions are invested with the Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana.
Parish Life: Organizations, Fellowship and Fundraisers
A wide range of organizations and groups give the parish its rhythm of fellowship and service. The St. Anne Altar Society, the parish women's group, raises funds for altar and liturgical needs, hosts a Christmas dinner and a Spring Dinner, and gathers on the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm for a short business meeting followed by food and fellowship. The St. Joe Men's Club meets on the third Monday of the month in the cafeteria for food and fellowship, sponsoring an annual burgoo and sausage-making sale as well as other fundraisers. The Knights of St. John meet on the second Monday of each month and host a booth at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival, with proceeds benefiting the Marian Day Program for Children with Special Needs, parish needs and other charities. The St. Joe Senior Citizens, for parishioners 60 and older, gather on the first Friday of the month at 1:00 pm in church for prayers, followed by a social gathering and dinner with bingo, card games and conversation.
Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts are supported through several troops on the west side of Evansville. The Parent Teacher Organization, with all school parents as automatic members, meets twice each year and supports school fundraisers, classroom volunteers and technology purchases. The St. Joe Athletic Committee oversees wrestling, basketball, volleyball, track, soccer and cheerleading for the school's students.
The parish's largest single fundraiser is the Summer Social on the last Sunday in July, featuring a grand raffle and a carryout fried chicken dinner. Lenten fish fries on two Fridays each year offer another opportunity to gather and to support the parish. The parish also welcomes hands-on volunteers for maintenance of buildings and grounds, given the long tradition of parishioners offering trades like electrical, plumbing, air-conditioning, landscaping, bricklaying and carpentry.
Faith sharing groups meet regularly for those who have participated in a Cursillo weekend, for Bible study and for the That Man is You program. Other spiritual opportunities include TEC (Teens Encounter Christ), Engaged Encounter for marriage preparation, retreats, the rosary, Eucharistic adoration, spiritual companionship and a prayer chain network.
Saint Joseph Parish is a community of the Diocese of Evansville, served by Father Gene Schroeder, pastor; Kristan Gilles, Director of Liturgy; Jessica Reckelhoff, Director of Religious Education; and Kelsey Meier, School Principal. The parish office is at 6202 West St. Joseph Road; the school office is at 6130 West St. Joseph Road.