St. Joseph

St. Joseph through the years

Catholicism has a long history in Columbia County. By the mid-1880's intrepid Jesuits were traversing the area, ministering to Catholic settlers wherever they could find them. The first resident priest was Fr. P. Van Holderbeke who served from 1888-1893. Fr. Patrick Flavin (the "builder priest") came to the area in 1908 or 1909 and constructed a church in Dayton (St. Joseph), Waitsburg (St. Mark), and Prescott (St. Catherine). Fr. J. L. Campion arrived in 1916 and became the first canonical pastor of St. Joseph in Dayton when the 1917 Code of Canon Law was promulgated by Bishop A. F. Schinner, the first Bishop of Spokane.

Over the years, St. Joseph’s has been served by resident priests as well as by priests residing in Walla Walla or Pomeroy. In 1946, Fr. Ralph Schwemin arrived and built a rectory and parish hall. The congregation eventually outgrew the 1916 church building, so, in 1987, it was expanded. In the early 2000s, the rectory was renovated by parishioners, and, in 2012, under the direction of Fr. Robert Turner, a renovation of the parish kitchen and hall were completed.

After World War II, the Green Giant Plant introduced crops that required field workers, and the first families from Texas and Mexico began to arrive in the parish. A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe outside the church was dedicated in 2012 and is a reminder of the blessings that Hispanic members have brought to the parish.

In the 1990s, under the leadership Fr. Paul Wood, the parish was instrumental in starting two charities: Project Timothy (an ecumenical social outreach) and the St. Vincent de Paul Store (which was recently incorporated as All Saints Thrift Store). In addition to providing for those in need, both these charities unite volunteers from many backgrounds.

St. Joseph’s has an active Altar Society: they clean and decorate the church, serve at funeral dinners, and organize a monthly parish potluck after Mass during the school year. It also has Secular Franciscans who meet monthly as well as members of a Knights of Columbus roundtable group.