About St. Anthony · Pineville, Kentucky
St. Anthony is a small Catholic mission church in Pineville, Kentucky, the county seat of Bell County in the southeastern Appalachian mountains. It is one of the oldest Catholic communities in the Cumberland Plateau region, founded in 1889 to serve immigrant Catholic laborers and their families who came to work in the area's coal mines and railroads. Today it functions as a mission of St. Julian Parish in Middlesboro, within the Mountain West Deanery of the Diocese of Lexington, and serves roughly 26 households in and around Pineville.
- Established
- 1889
- Patron
- St. Anthony (of Padua)
- Rector
- Vacant (administered from St. Julian, Middlesboro)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lexington (Mountain West Deanery)
Why belong here
St. Anthony offers a tight-knit Catholic community in the heart of Appalachian Kentucky, where weekday and Sunday Masses are celebrated in an intimate setting convenient to Bell County residents. As a mission attached to St. Julian in Middlesboro, it connects parishioners to a wider diocesan family while preserving its own local identity and lay leadership through its parish council and finance committees. For Catholics in Pineville and the surrounding mountains, it is a place to keep the faith alive in one of the oldest Catholic mission communities in the region.
Mass times at St. Anthony
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- By appointment (per diocesan directory)
- Sunday 8:00 – 8:30 AM (per third-party listing)
About St. Anthony Mission
St. Anthony is a Catholic mission church in Pineville, the seat of Bell County in southeastern Kentucky. The parish is part of the Diocese of Lexington and is administered as a mission of St. Julian Parish in Middlesboro. With roughly 26 registered households, it is one of the smallest Catholic communities in the diocese but also one of its oldest, tracing its origins to 1889. Mass is offered in the church weekly, and the parish is sustained by an active parish council and finance committee made up of local lay faithful.
- Type: Catholic Mission
- Deanery: Mountain West
- Parent parish: St. Julian, Middlesboro
- Approximate size: 26 households
- Languages: English (Roman Rite)
History
St. Anthony's was founded in 1889 as one of the small mountain-mission Catholic churches planted across the coal-producing counties of eastern Kentucky during the great Appalachian mining boom of the late 19th century. The mission was originally part of the Diocese of Covington, which then covered most of Kentucky. In 1899, pastoral responsibility for Bell, Knox, and Whitley counties was entrusted to the Benedictine Fathers of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, who placed resident priests at nearby Middlesboro and Jellico and from there shepherded St. Anthony's faithful for generations. When the Diocese of Lexington was created in 1988, St. Anthony continued as a mission of St. Julian's in Middlesboro.
- 1889 — St. Anthony's established at Pineville during the coal/railroad boom around Cumberland Gap.
- 1899 — Diocese of Covington hands Bell, Knox, and Whitley counties over to Benedictine Fathers of St. Bernard Abbey (Cullman, AL).
- 1988 — Erected as part of the new Diocese of Lexington; continues as mission of St. Julian, Middlesboro.
Parish Staff & Leadership
The parish is currently shown without a resident pastor in the 2023 diocesan directory and is administered from St. Julian Parish in Middlesboro. Day-to-day parish life is led by a small team of lay volunteers.
- Pastor: Vacant (administered from St. Julian, Middlesboro)
- Fr. John Moriarty — listed as Pastor on independent directories
- Elizabeth Evans — Secretary
- Mary Steele — Parish Council Chairperson
- David Combs — Finance Chairperson
- Jeanne Kelemen — Councils Secretary
Parish Councils
Lay leadership is the backbone of this small mission. A Parish Council and a Finance Council share governance and stewardship duties, supported by a councils secretary.
- Parish Council — chaired by Mary Steele
- Finance Council — chaired by David Combs
- Councils Secretary — Jeanne Kelemen
Mission of St. Julian, Middlesboro
Since the diocesan reorganization, St. Anthony has been served as a mission from St. Julian Parish in nearby Middlesboro, also in Bell County. Parish records, mail, and sacramental administration flow through the St. Julian rectory.
- Parent parish: St. Julian Catholic Church, 118 E. Chester Ave., Middlesboro, KY 40965
- Parent parish phone: (606) 248-2068
- Diocesan deanery: Mountain West
Visiting St. Anthony
The mission church stands at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Laurel Street in Pineville, a small mountain town along the Cumberland River and U.S. 25E just south of Middlesboro. The mailing address for parish business is the St. Julian rectory in Middlesboro.
- Street address: 209 Virginia Ave., Pineville, KY 40977
- Corner: Laurel St. & Virginia Ave.
- Mailing address: 118 E. Chester Ave., Middlesboro, KY 40965
- Phone: (606) 248-2068