About St. John the Baptist · Grass Valley, Oregon
St. John the Baptist is a small Catholic mission church in the rural wheat-and-cattle town of Grass Valley, Sherman County, Oregon, in the Diocese of Baker. It is one of only a handful of Catholic churches in Sherman County and is currently served as a mission of St. Alphonsus Parish in Dufur, with weekend Mass celebrated on a seasonal schedule (Sunday morning in summer, Saturday evening in winter). The parish traces its origins to 1928, when a dedicated church was built in Grass Valley for the area's largely German-settler Catholic families, and it continues to serve scattered ranching and farming households across north-central Oregon.
- Established
- 1928
- Patron
- St. John the Baptist
- Rector
- Father Augustine Okwuzu
- Diocese
- Diocese of Baker
Why belong here
St. John the Baptist offers Catholics in the sparsely settled, wheat-and-cattle country of north-central Oregon a place to worship together in the centuries-old tradition of the Diocese of Baker's mission churches. With weekend Mass, scheduled confessions and a parish life shared with neighboring missions, it is a small but committed community descended from founding families such as the Buethers, von Borstels, Sharps, Macnabs and Woodersons, and continued today by ranching, farming and railroad families who keep the faith alive across the high desert of Sherman County.
Mass times at St. John the Baptist
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 9:30 AM – 9:55 AM (April 1 – September 30), or by appointment
- Saturday 4:30 PM – 4:55 PM (October 1 – March 31), or by appointment
History of St. John the Baptist, Grass Valley
The Catholic community in Sherman County grew out of the missionary circuit-rider tradition that served early EuroAmerican settlers along the Columbia and Deschutes Rivers. A second Catholic church in the county was dedicated in Grass Valley in 1928, organized around the Buether and von Borstel German-settler families and joined by the Holmes, Simon and Bird households. The parish was given the name St. John the Baptist and its supporting families eventually included the Irzyk, Johnson, Moreau, Mulick, Sharp, Shipley and Wooderson households. In the late 1930s, after the original Wasco church was abandoned, Mass in the cluster was celebrated in an old print shop on Fulton Street. In the early 1950s the current St. John the Baptist church was completed with the financial help of the Catholic Extension Society. Father Martin Quigley was named the first resident pastor of the Sherman County churches in 1954, and the mission has continued under the shared pastoral care of the Diocese of Baker ever since.
- Dedicated in 1928 as the second Catholic church in Sherman County
- Founding families: Buether, von Borstel, Holmes, Simon and Bird
- Later supporting families: Irzyk, Johnson, Moreau, Mulick, Sharp, Shipley and Wooderson
- Present church built in the early 1950s with help from the Catholic Extension Society
- First resident pastor: Father Martin Quigley (1954)
Catholic Life in Sherman County
St. John the Baptist is one of a small cluster of Catholic churches in Sherman County, Oregon, the state's least-populated county. The cluster has historically included St. Mary in Wasco (the parish church since 1954), St. John the Baptist in Grass Valley (mission), and St. Mary in Antelope (mission, disbanded in the 1960s). Together these communities trace their lineage to missionary circuit riders who celebrated Mass once or twice a month in parishioners' homes, before the first Wasco church was built in 1904. Today the parish hall in Wasco, also built with Extension Society help in the early 1960s, anchors the pastoral cluster.
- St. Mary, Wasco — parish church since 1954
- St. John the Baptist, Grass Valley — mission church
- St. Mary, Antelope — mission, disbanded in the 1960s
Clergy and Pastoral Care
Pastoral care for St. John the Baptist has long been shared with neighboring Sherman County missions. The first resident pastor, Father Martin Quigley, was assigned in 1954, and was followed in residence by Fathers Beard, Began, Condon, Conway, Keating, O'Connor and Vogl. Fathers Albrecht, Anselm, Benedict, Hazen, Kelbel, Stone and Stryzyck served the cluster in visiting capacities. The pastor named in the Sherman County Oregon History article is Father Augustine Okwuzu.
- First resident pastor: Father Martin Quigley (1954)
- Later resident priests: Fathers Beard, Began, Condon, Conway, Keating, O'Connor, Vogl
- Visiting priests: Fathers Albrecht, Anselm, Benedict, Hazen, Kelbel, Stone, Stryzyck
- Current pastor: Father Augustine Okwuzu
Location and Contact
St. John the Baptist sits on Highway 97 on the north end of Grass Valley, a small incorporated town of about 150 people in Sherman County, between the Columbia, John Day and Deschutes Rivers. The parish is administered as part of the Diocese of Baker (headquartered in Redmond, Oregon) and is currently listed as a mission of St. Alphonsus Parish in Dufur. Phone and email contacts route through the diocesan chancellor's office.
- Address: Highway 97, Grass Valley, OR 97029 (Oak St. and Hwy. 97)
- Diocese of Baker phone: 541-442-8560
- Diocesan email: [email protected]
- Alternate phone (parish line): 541-397-0528
Diocese of Baker
The Diocese of Baker covers more than 66,800 square miles of mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes and plains across Eastern and central Oregon — roughly the counties of Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco and Wheeler. It serves approximately 12,500 registered Catholic households spread across 57 parishes and missions, cared for by about 38 dedicated priests. As a mission territory, the diocese has long received assistance from the Catholic Home Missions and the Catholic Extension Society to fund operating costs and the building of mission churches such as St. John the Baptist.
- Diocese of Baker — headquartered in Redmond, Oregon
- Mission territory supported by the Catholic Home Missions and the Catholic Extension Society
- St. John the Baptist is part of the Western Deanery
Parish Identity and Governance
The parish is legally incorporated in Oregon as 'Saint John The Baptist Catholic Church of Grass Valley, Inc.', a Domestic Nonprofit Corporation registered October 8, 2002 with the Oregon Secretary of State. The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Baker is recorded as the entity of record, and the mailing address of record is 402 N Mill St, Grass Valley, OR 97029. Past and present registered officers include Thankachan Joseph, Roy Isac Elavungal and Richard Ficher as Presidents, and Sheri E Sharp, Molly Belshe and Shari Sharp as Secretaries.
- Legal name: Saint John The Baptist Catholic Church of Grass Valley, Inc.
- Registered: October 8, 2002 (Oregon Secretary of State)
- Entity of record: Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Baker
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Martin Quigley1954 (first resident pastor)
Named the first resident pastor of the Sherman County churches (Wasco, Grass Valley, Antelope) when the cluster was formally organized.
- Father Beard
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Began
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Condon
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Conway
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Keating
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father O'Connor
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Vogl
Served in residence in the Sherman County churches.
- Father Augustine Okwuzu
Listed as the current pastor of the Sherman County cluster in the Sherman County Oregon History article.