About Saint Brendan · Leon, Iowa
Saint Brendan Parish is a small Roman Catholic parish in Leon, Iowa, seat of Decatur County in south-central Iowa. Founded in 1865 by Irish Catholic farming families who had settled the area, the parish belongs to the Diocese of Des Moines and today is served from neighboring Sacred Heart Parish in Chariton by Pastor Rev. Remigius (Remi) Okere, C.S.Sp. Its current Sunday Mass is at 8:00 a.m., and a half-hour of Reconciliation is offered before Mass. The parish's mailing address is 1001 NW Church Street, Leon, IA 50144, with the parish phone at (641) 446-4789.
- Established
- 1865
- Patron
- Saint Brendan the Navigator
- Rector
- Rev. Remigius (Remi) Okere, C.S.Sp.
- Diocese
- Diocese of Des Moines
Why belong here
St. Brendan is a tight-knit country parish at the heart of Decatur County's historic Irish-Catholic farming community. Sunday Mass at 8:00 a.m., a half-hour of Reconciliation beforehand, and a weekday Mass on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. give parishioners a steady rhythm of worship, while shared ministry with Sacred Heart in Chariton brings extra pastoral and sacramental support. Joining St. Brendan means becoming part of a community whose roots reach back to the 1860s pioneer families who first built a log church southeast of Leon, then erected the current St. Brendan's in 1917 — and whose care for that heritage is still the spiritual heartbeat of the parish today.
Mass times at Saint Brendan
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: 7:15–7:45 a.m. (per Diocese of Des Moines 2025–26 parish directory); some published guides also list 7:30–7:50 a.m.
Parish Identity & Contact
Saint Brendan Parish is a Catholic community of faith at 1001 NW Church Street, Leon, Iowa 50144, in Decatur County. It belongs to the Diocese of Des Moines and is presently served by Rev. Remigius (Remi) Okere, C.S.Sp., a member of the Holy Ghost Fathers. The parish mailing and phone contacts are (641) 446-4789 and [email protected]; for diocesan-level information the parish is listed at dmdiocese.org. Day-to-day administration is supported by bookkeeper Kim Downey (406-253-6210).
- Address: 1001 NW Church Street, Leon, IA 50144
- Phone: (641) 446-4789
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocesan website: dmdiocese.org
- Pastor: Rev. Remi Okere, C.S.Sp.
- Bookkeeper: Kim Downey
History of St. Brendan Parish
St. Brendan Parish has its origins in the Irish-Catholic settlement of Decatur County in the 1850s. Pioneer families — the Groghans, Mullins, Daughtons, Barretts, Griffins, Hannons, Wallaces, Owens and others — bought land in Woodland Township and built a farming community they called 'Ireland.' A log church, St. Mary's at New Ireland, was erected in 1860, and the parish was formally founded in Leon in 1865. Mass in those early years was sometimes offered in farmhouses by visiting priests from Ottumwa. The community was reorganized and expanded in 1916–1917 under Father J.C. Maher, who built the present St. Brendan's Church in Leon to serve the county seat; the old country church was torn down in 1927. St. Brendan's has been a parish of the Diocese of Des Moines (and its predecessors) ever since.
- 1865: Parish founded in Leon, Iowa.
- 1916: Pastor Fr. J.C. Maher appointed; parish incorporated September 22, 1916.
- 1917: New St. Brendan's Church built in Leon.
- 1927: Old St. Mary's at Ireland demolished.
- 1971: Bishop Maurice Dingman formed a regional 'team ministry' including St. Brendan.
Worship Schedule & Sacraments
According to the Diocese of Des Moines 2025–26 parish directory, St. Brendan offers a single weekend Mass and one weekday Mass, consistent with its status as a small rural parish served from Chariton. Confessions are heard immediately before Sunday Mass. Because the parish shares a pastor with Sacred Heart in Chariton and St. Francis in Corydon, parishioners can also attend those parishes' Mass and Reconciliation schedules, which include Saturday Vigil and additional weekday options.
- Sunday Mass: 8:00 a.m.
- Weekday Mass: Thursday 9:00 a.m.
- Reconciliation: Sunday 7:15–7:45 a.m. (and as listed by some online directories, 7:30–7:50 a.m.)
Decatur County Catholic Heritage
The broader Irish-Catholic story of Decatur County — captured in Rev. Edward J. Harkin's 1956 history — frames St. Brendan's. Pioneer families traveled by ox-team and covered wagon from the east in the 1850s and '60s, cleared their land, and built log churches and country cemeteries that still define the area. One of the most poignant stories from Harkin's history is the death of Father Terence Molloy in January 1892, who gave his own raincoat to a mother at a burial in the Ireland Cemetery in cold rain, caught pneumonia and died three days later.
- St. Mary's (New Ireland) Cemetery: oldest legible headstone, BARTHALEMEW MULLINS, died Oct. 9, 1862, age 5.
- Property at Section 19, Woodland Township, conveyed to the Catholic Church on Sept. 22, 1863 for $1.
- Father J.C. Maher built St. Brendan's in Leon in 1917 to give the community a parish church in town.
Regional Team Ministry (1971–Present)
St. Brendan is one of a cluster of small rural parishes in south-central and southwest Iowa that have been served together as a 'team ministry' since 1971, when Bishop Maurice Dingman grouped them under a single pastoral team. The grouping includes parishes at Grand River, Mount Ayr, Osceola, Maloy, Corydon and Woodburn, and was joined in 1978 by Sacred Heart, Chariton. Today that grouping is led by Father Remi Okere, C.S.Sp., whose pastoral residence is Sacred Heart, Chariton, and who serves St. Brendan, Leon and St. Francis, Corydon in addition to his home parish.
- Team ministry parishes: St. Patrick, Grand River; St. Joseph, Mount Ayr; St. Bernard, Osceola; Immaculate Conception, Maloy; parishes in Corydon and Woodburn; (since 1978) Sacred Heart, Chariton.
- Current pastor for the group: Rev. Remi Okere, C.S.Sp., based at Sacred Heart, Chariton (407 N. Main St., Chariton, IA 50049).
- Companion parishes under same pastor: Sacred Heart, Chariton; St. Francis, Corydon; St. Brendan, Leon.
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. J.C. Maher1916–
Appointed pastor of Leon in summer 1916; oversaw the building of the new St. Brendan's Church in 1917.
- Rev. Edward J. Harkin
Pastor of Decatur County parishes who compiled 'A History of the Catholic Church, Decatur County, Iowa' in 1956.