About St. Elizabeth Mission · Fashing, Texas
St. Elizabeth Mission is a small Catholic mission church located at 13270 FM 99 in the unincorporated rural community of Fashing, Texas (Atascosa/Karnes County border area), within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Antonio. It is served as a satellite mission of St. Cornelius Catholic Church in neighboring Karnes City, sharing the same pastor, deacon, and parish staff. The stone church was built in 1934 by community volunteers on land donated by the local Henke family, and it continues to offer a single Sunday Mass in English for the surrounding ranching and farming families of eastern Atascosa and northern Karnes counties.
- Established
- 1934
- Patron
- St. Elizabeth (of Hungary)
- Rector
- Fr. Kuriacose Ouseph
- Diocese
- Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Antonio (Floresville Deanery)
Why belong here
St. Elizabeth Mission offers a small, intimate worship experience in a historic stone chapel that has served this rural South Texas community since 1934. Families in Fashing and the surrounding ranchland of Atascosa and Karnes counties gather here for a single Sunday Mass celebrated in English, with the pastoral care, sacraments, and faith formation resources of the larger St. Cornelius parish in Karnes City readily available. It is a place where generations of the same farm and ranch families still worship together, rooted in the same stone walls their great-grandparents helped raise.
Mass times at St. Elizabeth Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- 30 minutes prior to daily Mass at St. Cornelius, Karnes City
- Saturdays 5:00–5:45 PM at St. Cornelius (or by appointment)
About St. Elizabeth Mission
St. Elizabeth Mission is a small Catholic mission church in the rural community of Fashing, Texas, located on FM 99 a few miles west-southwest of Karnes City. It is a mission of St. Cornelius Catholic Church in Karnes City and is served by the same pastor, deacon, and parish staff. The mission falls within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Antonio and is one of several rural missions in the Floresville Deanery. Mass is celebrated in English for the farming and ranching families of the surrounding countryside.
History of the Mission
The mission was established in 1934, according to GCatholic's canonical record (14 October 1934). The Texas Historical Commission marker for the Town of Fashing notes that 'In 1934, St. Elizabeth Catholic Church was built.' It was constructed from locally quarried stone on land donated by the Henke family, and the work was carried out with the help of community volunteers during the depths of the Great Depression. The mission was created to bring the sacraments closer to the scattered Catholic families of eastern Atascosa and northern Karnes counties, who otherwise had to travel into Karnes City to worship.
- 1934: Stone chapel built by community volunteers on Henke-donated land
- Long-standing mission status under St. Cornelius Parish, Karnes City
- Jointly administered today with St. Cornelius
Patron Saint
The mission is named after St. Elizabeth, patroness of Catholic charities, the Franciscan Third Order, and bakers. Her feast day is celebrated on November 17.
- St. Elizabeth of Hungary
- Feast day: November 17
Pastoral Team & Staff
The mission shares its clergy and staff with St. Cornelius Catholic Church in Karnes City. The current pastor is Fr. Kuriacose Ouseph, assisted by Deacon Ralph Guerra. Parish administrative duties are handled by Brittany Casanova. Inquiries about baptisms, marriages, funerals, and other parish business are routed through the St. Cornelius parish office.
- Pastor: Fr. Kuriacose Ouseph
- Deacon: Ralph Guerra
- Administrative Assistant: Brittany Casanova
Other Devotions
On Thursdays, when there is no weekday Mass at St. Cornelius, the community gathers for a recited Rosary at 6:00 PM. Other devotions and novenas are scheduled through the parish bulletin and announced from the pulpit.
- Thursday Rosary at 6:00 PM at St. Cornelius (no Mass that day)
Sacraments
Baptism registration, marriage preparation, First Communion, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, and funeral arrangements are all coordinated through the St. Cornelius parish office in Karnes City. The mission works together with the parish to bring these sacraments to the families of Fashing and the surrounding ranchland.
- Baptism
- Marriage
- First Communion & Confirmation
- Anointing of the Sick
- Funeral liturgies
Contact & Online Presence
The parish is administered jointly with St. Cornelius Catholic Church in Karnes City. Phone calls, emails, and bulletin requests are handled through the St. Cornelius office. The mission shares a Facebook page with St. Cornelius, which carries weekly bulletins, Mass announcements, and parish news.
- Phone: (830) 780-3947
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://stcorneliuschurch.com/
- Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064251626877 (St. Cornelius Catholic Church together with St. Elizabeth Mission)
Community & Heritage
Fashing itself is a small rural community platted in 1915 (originally as 'Hickok,' later renamed after a 'Fashion' tobacco tag). It grew in the 1920s with German-heritage farm families from the New Braunfels area. St. Elizabeth Mission has been the spiritual home of those families and their descendants for nearly a century, and it is listed on the Texas Historical Commission marker for the Town of Fashing as a defining institution of the community.
- 1934 community-built stone chapel
- Featured on THC Town of Fashing historical marker (Atlas #5013001576)
- Long-serving mission for German-heritage ranching and farming families
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Stanislaw P. Marciniak
Listed as pastor on older parish directories (predecessor to the current pastor)