About St. Catherine · Nowata, Oklahoma
St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church is a small Catholic mission parish serving the town of Nowata in northeastern Oklahoma. It belongs to the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma and is cared for by Rev. Leonard H. Higgins, who also serves the nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission in Dewey. The parish offers Sunday and weekday Mass in English from its church on West Modoc Avenue, continuing the Catholic presence that has ministered to this rural corner of Oklahoma for well over a century. As one of the two missions in a diocese of roughly seventy-seven parishes, St. Catherine is a close-knit community of faith for Catholics in Nowata County.
- Patron
- St. Catherine of Alexandria
- Rector
- Rev. Leonard H. Higgins
- Diocese
- Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma
Why belong here
St. Catherine of Alexandria offers a faithful Catholic home for Catholics in Nowata County with three weekly Masses — Sunday morning and two weekday noon Masses — celebrated in English. It is a small mission parish in the Diocese of Tulsa where parishioners know one another and are served by a long-priesthooded pastor, Fr. Leonard Higgins. Visitors and parishioners are welcomed into a worship life anchored in the regular celebration of the Eucharist, with religious education and music ministry supported by dedicated lay staff.
Mass times at St. Catherine
Weekly Mass schedule
About St. Catherine of Alexandria
St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church is a Roman-Latin rite mission of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, located in the small town of Nowata in northeastern Oklahoma. The parish shares the patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria, an early Christian martyr widely venerated for her learning and witness. As a mission parish it is served by one priest and a small team of dedicated lay staff who keep the regular sacramental life of the parish going.
History of the Parish
Catholic life in the Nowata area grew out of the broader missionary effort in Indian Territory that began with the Benedictine arrival in 1875 and the establishment of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Indian Territory. St. Catherine's also served, for a time, as the custodian of sacred furnishings from the nearby 1896 St. Mathias Catholic Church built by the Seneca-Cayuga leader Mathias Splitlog — the Belgian-cast bell and original altar now rest again at the Cayuga Splitlog Mission Church, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Part of the historic Catholic missions of Indian Territory (est. 1876)
- Former keeper of the bell and altar from 1896 St. Mathias Catholic Church (Cayuga Splitlog Mission)
- Now part of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, established 1973
Clergy and Staff
The parish is pastored by Rev. Leonard H. Higgins, a priest of the Diocese of Tulsa ordained on August 6, 1982. He is assigned jointly to Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission in Dewey and St. Catherine in Nowata. Lay staff keep the parish's religious education and music programs running week to week.
- Pastor: Rev. Leonard H. Higgins
- Religious Education: Chris Ann Trusedell
- Music Director: Connie Tallman
Ministries and Faith Formation
Even as a small mission, St. Catherine of Alexandria maintains core parish programs in faith formation and music, which sustain both its liturgical life and the catechesis of its children. The parish website lists Religious Education and a Music Director among its named ministries, indicating an active program of Catholic formation under the direction of the pastor.
- Religious Education under Chris Ann Trusedell
- Music ministry under Music Director Connie Tallman
Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma
St. Catherine Parish belongs to the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, led today by Bishop David Konderla, who was ordained and installed as the fourth Bishop of Tulsa on June 29, 2016. The diocese comprises seventy-seven parishes and two missions across the eastern third of Oklahoma, an area containing roughly 60,000 Catholics among more than a million and a half residents. St. Catherine is one of only two missions in the diocese.
- Bishop of Tulsa: Most Rev. David A. Konderla (since 2016)
- Chancery located in Broken Arrow
- Diocese established February 7, 1973
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Leonard H. HigginsAugust 1, 2019 – present
Pastored St. John in McAlester before being assigned pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dewey and St. Catherine in Nowata on August 1, 2019; previously ordained August 6, 1982.