About Sacred Heart · Wilburton, Oklahoma
Sacred Heart Parish in Wilburton, Oklahoma is a small Roman Catholic community serving Latimer County in the rolling hills of southeastern Oklahoma. The parish worships in a 1912 simplified Gothic Revival church built by coal miners and their families on land donated by mine owners James Degnan and James McConnell of the Eastern Coal and Mining Company. Today it is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, pastored by Rev. Bryan Ketterer, who also serves St. Catherine in Talihina and the Diocesan Office of Rural Outreach.
- Established
- 1912
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Rector
- Rev. Bryan Ketterer
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa
Why belong here
Sacred Heart is a century-old parish in a close-knit, rural southeastern Oklahoma community where Mass is celebrated in English each Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. As a National Register-listed landmark built by the immigrant coal-mining families of Latimer County, it carries a distinctive story that parishioners help keep alive, while remaining a small, welcoming Catholic presence in an area the Diocese of Tulsa specifically supports through its Office of Rural Outreach.
Mass times at Sacred Heart
Weekly Mass schedule
A Coal-Country Catholic Heritage
Sacred Heart Parish was born of the early-1900s coal boom that put Wilburton on the map of southeastern Oklahoma. In 1912, with the mines of the Eastern Coal and Mining Company humming, mine owners James Degnan and James McConnell donated land on Center Point Road and recruited Father Glynn, a New York missionary, to be the first pastor. The miners themselves built the church and rectory on their own time after long shifts underground, creating a sanctuary that has served their families for more than a century. That heritage is part of a wider story of immigration and industry in Latimer County. Many of the miners and their families came from Western Europe, and Italians formed a large portion of the workforce — a tradition that still shapes the community today. The parish sits squarely within the Latimer County Coal Mining Thematic Resources recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
- Built 1912 at the height of the Latimer County coal boom
- Land donated by Degnan and McConnell (Eastern Coal and Mining Company)
- First pastor: Father Glynn, a missionary from New York
- Miners provided much of the labor after their regular shifts
The School Run by the Sisters of Mercy
From its earliest years Sacred Heart was more than a worship site — it was also a school. Father Glynn operated a school serving grades 1 through 12, with the Sisters of Mercy as staff, continuing until the late 1920s as the mining economy began to falter. The school gave the children of mining families a Catholic education alongside the public schools of Wilburton, including the large 1911 schoolhouse on the town's north hill and the Oklahoma School of Mines and Metallurgy (later Eastern Oklahoma State College).
- Grades 1–12 parish school
- Staffed by the Sisters of Mercy
- Operated until the late 1920s
The Church and Rectory Buildings
The church is a simplified Gothic Revival building, 48 feet by 90 feet, topped with a small steeple and lit by eleven stained-glass windows (nine along the north and south walls, two in the front wall). It sits with its rectory on a one-acre lot in the middle of Wilburton, between the historic mine sites on the east side and Eastern Oklahoma State College on the west end of town. Both structures remain in fair to good condition and in active parish use, with their exteriors largely unaltered.
- Architectural style: simplified Gothic Revival
- Footprint: 48 ft × 90 ft
- Eleven stained-glass windows (9 side, 2 front)
- Site: one acre in central Wilburton
The Rectory: A Home and an Orphanage
Next to the church stands a three-story frame rectory whose interior is largely unchanged, with original woodwork and floors still intact. A porch runs along its north and east sides. Notably, the third story was originally used to house children who were orphans of miners — a quietly powerful reminder of how deeply the parish was woven into the lives of the mining community it served.
- Three-story frame building with original woodwork and floors
- Porch along the north and east sides
- Third story once housed orphans of miners
Surviving Fire and Storm
Sacred Heart has been tested by two disasters in its history. A fire in the 1930s damaged the church's roof and steeple, and a 1975 tornado again damaged the roof, steeple, and the exterior of the rectory. Each time the parish community rallied and the buildings were repaired and returned to service — testimony to how much this small church means to Wilburton's Catholics.
- 1930s fire damaged roof and steeple
- 1975 tornado damaged roof, steeple, and rectory exterior
- Buildings fully repaired both times and still in use
National Register of Historic Places
On November 6, 1980, Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Rectory was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP #80003272) as part of the Latimer County Coal Mining Thematic Resources nomination. The Register recognized the site's significance in architecture, industry, religion, and social/humanitarian history — the physical evidence of how coal mining shaped every part of life in southeastern Oklahoma.
- NRHP reference No. 80003272
- Listed November 6, 1980
- Multiple Listing: Latimer County Coal Mining TR
- Significant dates: 1903–1922; built 1912
Parish Life Today
After the coal boom faded, the parish settled into its current size, typically serving about 75 to 80 parishioners. Mass is offered in English on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM and on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 PM, in keeping with its role as the principal Catholic parish in Wilburton. The parish is also connected to San Juan Diego Mission in Stilwell as a satellite community of faith.
- Typical congregation: 75–80 people
- Sunday Mass: 9:00 AM (English)
- Wednesday Mass: 5:30 PM (English)
- Connected mission: San Juan Diego Mission, Stilwell
Pastor and Diocesan Connection
Sacred Heart is pastored by Rev. Bryan Ketterer, ordained May 31, 2014, who also serves as pastor of St. Catherine Parish in Talihina and as the Diocesan Coordinator for Rural Outreach for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa. His dual role reflects the Diocese's commitment, established with the creation of the Office of Rural Outreach in 2016, to support evangelization, discipleship, and pastoral care across the 51 rural parishes of eastern Oklahoma, with Bishop David Konderla actively shaping the vision of that ministry.
- Rev. Bryan Ketterer, ordained May 31, 2014
- Also pastor of St. Catherine, Talihina
- Diocesan Coordinator for Rural Outreach
- Diocese of Tulsa — 51 rural parishes supported through the Office of Rural Outreach
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Glynncirca 1912 – late 1920s
Missionary from New York recruited by mine owners Degnan and McConnell as the parish's first pastor; also ran a grades 1–12 school staffed by the Sisters of Mercy until the late 1920s.