About St. John the Evangelist · Cookson, Oklahoma
St. John the Evangelist is a small Catholic mission parish in the rural community of Cookson, Cherokee County, in eastern Oklahoma's Cookson Hills, near Lake Tenkiller. Classified as a mission within the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, it is shepherded as one of a cluster of mission communities served by the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Sallisaw. Worship is intentionally simple and infrequent — a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6:00 p.m. and a Wednesday noon Mass — offering Catholics across the sparsely populated countryside a regular opportunity for the Eucharist. The mission sits along Highway 82 and is part of the historic Catholic outreach of the former Oklahoma City and Tulsa dioceses to Native American (Cherokee) communities in the Cherokee Nation.
- Established
- 1957
- Patron
- St. John the Evangelist
- Rector
- Rev. Lawrence Nwachukwu
- Diocese
- Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma
Why belong here
St. John the Evangelist offers Catholics in rural Cherokee County and the Lake Tenkiller area a quiet, welcoming place to worship close to home, with Mass celebrated twice a week. As part of the St. Francis Xavier Parish family in Sallisaw, the mission is pastored by an experienced priest — Father Lawrence Nwachukwu — who also serves the neighboring St. Joseph (Webbers Falls), St. Kateri (Roland), and St. Francis Xavier (Sallisaw) communities. Visitors and vacationers to Lake Tenkiller are warmly received alongside the year-round parishioners who keep this small but enduring mission alive.
Mass times at St. John the Evangelist
Weekly Mass schedule
St. John the Evangelist Mission, Cookson
St. John the Evangelist is a small Catholic mission parish in the Cookson community of Cherokee County, Oklahoma, in the wooded Cookson Hills south of Tahlequah and east of Muskogee. Listed in the Diocese of Tulsa's Parish Finder and on GCatholic as Church ID 33266, the mission is classified as a dependent mission rather than an independent parish. Its physical address is 32136 Highway 82, Cookson, OK 74427, with correspondence directed to PO Box 4, Cookson, OK 74427. The mission shares the same telephone line — (918) 775-6217 — and the same pastor as the Sallisaw-area Catholic family of missions.
- Address: 32136 Highway 82, Cookson, OK 74427
- Mailing: PO Box 4, Cookson, OK 74427
- Phone: (918) 775-6217
- Diocese: Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma
History of the Mission
The mission was established in 1957 to minister both to the small Catholic population in and around Cookson and to the seasonal Catholic community drawn to Lake Tenkiller. From 1969 onward it has been tended from St. Francis Xavier in Sallisaw, with sacramental registers for the mission housed there. The St. Francis Xavier parish history explicitly notes that 'St. John had been built in 1957 to serve both local Catholics and the growing number of vacationers around Lake Tenkiller,' and that its inclusion in 1969 as part of the Sallisaw-centered mission territory 'reflected the expanding regional importance of the Sallisaw parish.'
- Built 1957 to serve Cookson Catholics and Lake Tenkiller visitors
- Attached to St. Francis Xavier, Sallisaw, in May 1969
- Sacramental records kept at St. Francis Xavier from 1969 to present
- Listed by Marquette University as Cherokee Nation Catholic outreach
Pastor and Clergy
The mission is currently pastored by Rev. Lawrence Nwachukwu, who also serves as pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Sallisaw, St. Joseph in Webbers Falls, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Roland. Father Lawrence was ordained a priest for the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, on July 24, 1999, and celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 2024. He holds an advanced degree in Patristic Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and taught for ten years at the Seat of Wisdom Seminary in Owerri before coming to the Diocese of Tulsa. He has served in the diocese since 2017 and took up his Sallisaw-area pastorate in July 2018.
- Rev. Lawrence Nwachukwu, Pastor
- Ordained July 24, 1999 (Archdiocese of Owerri, Nigeria)
- Pastoral assignment in Diocese of Tulsa since 2017
- Pastor of St. Francis Xavier (Sallisaw), St. Joseph (Webbers Falls), St. Kateri (Roland), and St. John the Evangelist (Cookson) since July 2018
Sister Churches and the Sallisaw Pastoral Family
Because of the rural geography and limited number of priests in eastern Oklahoma, St. John the Evangelist is not an isolated mission but part of a pastoral cluster centered on St. Francis Xavier in Sallisaw. Together with St. Joseph in Webbers Falls and St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Roland, the Cookson mission shares a pastor, sacramental recordkeeping, and parish identity with the larger Sallisaw parish. This arrangement — what the St. Francis Xavier history calls 'a mother parish for several surrounding missions' — has shaped Catholic life across Sequoyah and Cherokee Counties for decades.
- St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Sallisaw (mother parish)
- St. Joseph Mission, Webbers Falls
- St. Kateri Tekakwitha Mission, Roland
- St. John the Evangelist Mission, Cookson
Visiting and Contact
The mission sits along State Highway 82 in Cookson, with easy access from the Lake Tenkiller area. Visitors, including seasonal residents and tourists at the lake, are warmly welcomed. Pastoral inquiries and sacramental requests are best directed to Father Lawrence Nwachukwu through the listed email or by calling the mission's phone line, which is shared with St. Francis Xavier in Sallisaw.
- Inquiries: [email protected]
- Phone: (918) 775-6217
- Mailing: PO Box 4, Cookson, OK 74427