About St. John-Assumpton · Belle Plaine, Minnesota
The Church of St. John-Assumption is a former Roman Catholic parish in rural Faxon Township, near Belle Plaine, Minnesota, in the Diocese of New Ulm. The parish was born from two 19th-century Irish farming congregations — St. John's (built 1859) and the Church of the Assumption (built ca. 1863) — that together served scattered Irish-Catholic families across Sibley County for more than 160 years. From the 1880s to 1921 the two churches shared one resident priest living at Assumption; over time the pair became known as St. John-Assumption and were clustered into the Corpus Christi Area Faith Community alongside parishes in Arlington, Henderson, Gaylord, Green Isle and Glencoe. After generations of use, dwindling rural membership and a shrinking congregation prompted Bishop Chad Zielinski to suppress the parish; St. John-Assumption celebrated its final Mass on Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 9 a.m.
- Established
- 1859 (St. John's) / ca. 1863 (Assumption); paired as St. John-Assumption by the late 19th century
- Patron
- St. John the Baptist (St. John's) and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Assumption)
- Rector
- Fr. Samuel Perez (listed as pastor at the time of closure, November 2023)
- Diocese
- Diocese of New Ulm
Why belong here
St. John-Assumption can no longer be visited as a worshipping parish — its final Mass was celebrated on November 5, 2023, after which Bishop Chad Zielinski suppressed it as part of the Diocese of New Ulm's restructuring. Catholics from the Faxon Township area are now served by the broader Corpus Christi Area Faith Community, which gathers the faithful of Arlington, Henderson, Gaylord, Green Isle, Jessenland and Glencoe under one pastoral team at www.corpuschristiafc.org. Visitors interested in the parish's pioneer-era history can still see the rural setting on 200th Street that members like the Fahey family tended for five generations.
History of St. John-Assumption
The parish traces its origins to the wave of Irish Catholic farmers who settled the Minnesota River Valley in the 1850s. After St. Thomas was organized in 1855 as the mother church of the Sibley County Irish settlement, a second church — St. John's — was built five miles to the northeast in Faxon Township in 1859, and the Church of the Assumption followed at the other end of Washington Lake Township about 1863. Father Venn, the area's first resident pastor beginning in 1869, oversaw the building campaign that included the present St. Thomas church in 1870. A brick St. John's was constructed in 1883 under Father Kennedy at an estimated $6,000, and the Assumption — which had burned in 1938 — was rebuilt and dedicated in August 1939. Across the 20th century St. John-Assumption served scattered rural families, sharing one resident priest from the 1880s until 1921. Membership still numbered about 380 in 2005, but by 2023 only around 30 worshippers were attending Sunday Mass, and the Diocese of New Ulm suppressed the parish alongside St. Joseph's in Henderson. The closing Mass was held at 9:00 a.m. on November 5, 2023.
- 1854 — Father McManus and Father Somereisen minister to early Faxon/Jessenland settlers
- 1859 — St. John's Church built in Faxon Township
- ca. 1863 — Church of the Assumption built
- 1869 — Father Venn becomes first resident pastor
- 1883 — St. John's rebuilt in brick under Father Kennedy ($6,000)
- 1880s–1921 — St. John's and Assumption share one priest at the Assumption rectory
- Oct. 27, 1938 — Assumption church burns
- Aug. 27, 1939 — Rebuilt Assumption dedicated
- 2005 — Parish membership still ~380
- Nov. 5, 2023 — Final Mass at 9 a.m.; parish suppressed
Irish Settlement in Sibley County
The four rural Irish parishes — St. Thomas (Jessenland), St. John's (Faxon), the Assumption (Washington Lake) and Green Isle — were each roughly six miles apart and served as the religious and social centers of an Irish farming belt that historians identify as the earliest Irish agrarian community in Minnesota. The settlers built notched log cabins with thatched or hand-made shingle roofs, and by the early 1870s had replaced log with frame construction and shifted to wheat as the principal crop. The Catholic press in the eastern United States had called on Irish families to leave city poverty for Minnesota farmland, and the 1850s arrivals included the Doheny brothers, who landed at what became known as Doheny's Landing on the Minnesota River in 1853.
- Mother parish: St. Thomas, Jessenland Township (organized 1855)
- Daughter parishes: St. John's (1859), Assumption (ca. 1863), Green Isle (ca. 1863)
- St. Thomas Church is on the National Register of Historic Places
Diocese of New Ulm
St. John-Assumption belongs to the Diocese of New Ulm, a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis that covers a largely rural swath of south-central and southwestern Minnesota. Deanery 1 of the diocese grouped St. John-Assumption with other Corpus Christi AFC parishes for pastoral coordination. Bishop Chad Zielinski announced in 2023 that both St. John-Assumption and St. Joseph's in Henderson would close, citing dwindling rural populations and the desire to consolidate pastoral resources.
- Diocese of New Ulm, Deanery 1
- Bishop Chad Zielinski presided over the 2023 closures
Corpus Christi Area Faith Community
In its final decades the parish was clustered into the Corpus Christi Area Faith Community (AFC), a multi-parish collaboration that shared clergy, religious-education programs and sacramental schedules. The AFC links St. John-Assumption (Faxon Twp.), St. Joseph (Henderson), St. Mary (Arlington), St. Michael (Gaylord), St. Brendan (Green Isle), St. Thomas (Jessenland) and St. Pius X (Glencoe) under a single pastoral team. The AFC's website at corpuschristiafc.org now publishes the consolidated Sunday and weekday Mass schedule, daily and perpetual adoration times, and confession times for all member parishes.
- Member parishes: St. John-Assumption (Faxon), St. Joseph (Henderson), St. Mary (Arlington), St. Michael (Gaylord), St. Brendan (Green Isle), St. Thomas (Jessenland), St. Pius X (Glencoe)
- Pastoral offices: P.O. Box 427, Henderson, MN 56044
- Shared website: corpuschristiafc.org
- Spanish Mass offered Sundays at noon at St. Pius X, Glencoe
Worship Schedule (Corpus Christi AFC, 2023–2024)
The Corpus Christi AFC publishes a combined Mass, confession and adoration schedule for all member parishes on its website. The current AFC schedule does not list a Sunday or weekday Mass at St. John-Assumption itself — reflecting the parish's 2023 closure — but it does show regular Mass at St. Michael (Gaylord), St. Mary (Arlington) and St. Pius X (Glencoe), with a Spanish Mass at noon on Sundays at St. Pius X.
- Saturday 5:00 PM — St. Michael, Gaylord (English)
- Sunday 8:00 AM — St. Mary, Arlington (English)
- Sunday 10:00 AM — St. Pius X, Glencoe (English)
- Sunday 12:00 PM — St. Pius X, Glencoe (Spanish)
- Tuesday 5:30 PM — St. Pius X, Glencoe (weekday)
- Thursday 9:30 AM — St. Michael, Gaylord (weekday)
- Friday 9:30 AM — St. Mary, Arlington (weekday)
Buildings and Grounds
The Faxon Township site, set in a rural farming landscape along 200th Street about five miles northeast of St. Thomas in Jessenland Township, retains the open country setting that defined the original 19th-century Irish settlement. St. John's stands as an 1883 brick church built under Father Kennedy. The Assumption, rebuilt after an October 27, 1938 fire, was dedicated August 27, 1939. Both churches sat alongside the family cemeteries that anchored the scattered Catholic community of the township.
- 1883 brick St. John's church
- 1939 rebuilt Assumption church
- Rural setting along 200th Street, Faxon Township
- Adjacent parish cemeteries
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father McManus (visiting)as early as 1854
Irish-born visiting priest who served the Jessenland/Faxon Township Catholics.
- Father Somereisen (visiting)as early as 1854
German-born visiting priest.
- Father Vennfrom 1869
First resident pastor of the area parishes; oversaw construction of St. Thomas Church in 1870.
- Father Kennedyby June 1882
Brought forth the proposal to build a new brick St. John's, completed in 1883.