About St. John the Baptist · Licking, Missouri
St. John the Baptist is a Roman Catholic mission church in Licking, Missouri, in the south-central Ozarks. It is one of three Catholic communities in the Houston–Licking–Roby cluster, currently served from St. Mark Parish in Houston (about 20 miles west) in the Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau. A house on the property was converted into a chapel with furnishings donated by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi who staffed the nearby hospital, and the small mission offers Sunday morning Mass, a Thursday evening Mass, weekend confessions and a monthly Eucharistic Holy Hour.
- Established
- 1960
- Patron
- St. John the Baptist
- Rector
- Fr. Rayappa "Roy" Chinnabathini
- Diocese
- Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau
Why belong here
St. John the Baptist is a small, welcoming rural mission that gives Catholics in the Licking area a place to worship close to home rather than driving across the Ozarks. It is part of an active three-church pastoral cluster led from St. Mark Parish in Houston, with a resident pastor (Fr. Rayappa "Roy" Chinnabathini) and a deacon (Deacon Mike Evers) who travel in for Sunday and Thursday Masses, weekly confessions, and a monthly Eucharistic Adoration hour on the second Friday — making it a quiet, community-sized setting for devotion in the Texas County Ozarks.
Mass times at St. John the Baptist
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 7:30 – 7:45 a.m. (immediately before the 8:00 a.m. Mass)
Adoration times
- Second Friday of the month, 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
History
St. John the Baptist Mission was opened around 1960 by the Resurrectionist Fathers of Sacred Heart Parish in Salem, Missouri, to serve Catholic families in the small Ozarks town of Licking in Texas County. A house on the property was converted into a chapel, with original furnishings donated by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi who ran the hospital in Mountain View. After the diocese reorganized rural missions in the 1970s, pastoral care passed to the newly independent St. Mark Parish in Houston, which today shares a single pastor and deacon among three missions: Houston, Licking and Roby.
- Founded c. 1960 under the Resurrectionist (C.R.) Fathers of Sacred Heart Parish, Salem
- Chapel created by converting a house on the property at 222 W. Highway 32
- Furnishings donated by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (Mountain View hospital staff)
- Pastoral care transferred to St. Mark Parish, Houston, after 1975
Parish Cluster and Pastoral Staff
Because St. John the Baptist is a mission, it does not have a resident priest. The mission belongs to a pastoral cluster that also includes St. Mark Parish in Houston and St. Vincent de Paul Mission in Roby. The pastor travels from Houston to celebrate Masses and the sacraments, and the cluster's deacon assists with parish ministry.
- Pastor: Rev. Rayappa "Roy" Chinnabathini (also Pastor of St. Mark Parish, Houston, and St. Vincent de Paul Mission, Roby)
- Deacon: Mike Evers (St. Mark Parish)
- Cluster office: St. Mark Church, 117 E. South Oak Crest Dr., Houston, MO 65683-1536
- Office hours: Tuesday & Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Cluster phone: (417) 967-3589
Diocese
St. John the Baptist Mission is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau, which covers the southern and southwestern portions of Missouri. The diocese lists the Licking mission under its 'Find a Church' directory and includes it in Deanery 4, sharing a pastor with Houston and Roby.
- Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau
- Deanery 4 (Houston region)
- Listed as one of the diocese's 16 missions
- Diocese address: 601 S. Jefferson Ave., Springfield, MO (website below)
Building and Chapel
The chapel at 222 W. Highway 32 in Licking is a former house that was converted into a worship space when the mission was founded. It is therefore modest and domestic in character, fitted out with sacred furnishings donated by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. The diocese publishes the GPS coordinates for the property — N37° 29.812', W091° 52.045' — for visiting clergy and travelling Catholics.
Sacraments and Devotions
The mission provides the central sacraments — the Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Anointing / pastoral care on request — through the visiting priest. Baptisms, marriages and ongoing sacramental preparation are typically coordinated through St. Mark Parish in Houston. The second-Friday monthly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration is a distinctive devotion for a mission this small.
Community and Outreach
Being a rural mission, most community life for St. John the Baptist revolves around the regular Mass and the small cluster of Catholics in the Licking area. The parish cluster also has a documented prison ministry: diocese publications describe the cluster's priests celebrating Mass for inmates at the Licking correctional facility, and a resident wrote publicly about how that ministry had a profound effect on his Catholic life.
- Sunday Mass brings together local Catholic families
- Cluster-wide outreach coordinated from St. Mark Parish, Houston
- Prison ministry at a correctional facility in the Licking area
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Resurrectionist Fathers of Sacred Heart Parish, Salem1960 (founding) through mid-1970s
The mission was opened by the Congregation of the Resurrection (C.R.), who staffed Sacred Heart Parish in Salem. They cared for St. John the Baptist in Licking together with several other rural missions and summer chapels in Dent and adjoining counties (Joy, Montauk, Bunker).
- Pastors of St. Mark Parish, Houstonfrom 1975 onward
When St. Mark Mission became St. Mark Parish in 1975 under its first resident pastor, Fr. Paul McLoughlin, it was given care of St. John the Baptist Mission in Licking and St. Vincent de Paul Mission in Roby. Successive pastors of St. Mark have continued to shepherd the Licking mission to the present.
- Fr. Paul McLoughlinfrom 1975
First resident pastor of St. Mark Parish in Houston; on taking office received pastoral care of the Licking and Roby missions.
- Fr. Rayappa "Roy" Chinnabathinicurrent (continuing in the diocese's 2025 pastoral assignments)
Pastor of St. Mark Parish, Houston, with pastoral care of St. John the Baptist Mission, Licking, and St. Vincent de Paul Mission, Roby. Ordained in April 2010 (10th anniversary celebrated April 26, 2020) and a former associate pastor of St. Mary Cathedral. Continues to serve the three-church cluster in 2025.