About St. Joseph · Clifton City, Missouri
St. Joseph Chapel in Clifton City is a Roman Catholic mission chapel in Cooper County, Missouri, listed by the Diocese of Jefferson City and currently cared for as part of St. Joseph Parish in nearby Pilot Grove. The Diocese of Jefferson City classifies it as a Mission, with St. John the Baptist Chapel in Clear Creek as its associated parish and the Pilot Grove worship site as the parish's main church. Weekend Mass is celebrated at the Clifton City chapel on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM, served from the Pilot Grove parish office at 407 Harris Street. The chapel is associated with St. Joseph Catholic School in Pilot Grove (stjosephcougars.com), founded in 1902, which serves families across the parish family that includes Nelson, Martinsville, Clear Creek, and Clifton City.
- Established
- 1886
- Patron
- St. Joseph (foster father of Jesus Christ; patron saint of the universal Church, fathers, and workers)
- Rector
- Rev. Gregory 'Greg' Oligschlaeger (canonical pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Pilot Grove, with St. John the Baptist Chapel in Clear Creek and St. Joseph Chapel in Clifton City)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Jefferson City (Latin: Dioecesis Civitatis Jeffersoniensis), a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri. The mother church of the diocese is the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Jefferson City; the current bishop is W. Shawn McKnight.
Why belong here
St. Joseph Chapel in Clifton City offers faithful Catholics in rural Cooper County a quiet, community-sized place to worship, with a weekly Saturday Vigil Mass and a Sunday liturgy available at the Pilot Grove mother church minutes away. Worship is shared across a tightly-knit parish family that includes Clear Creek, Nelson, and Martinsville, and is supported by St. Joseph Catholic School — a parish school since 1902 where children of the cluster communities grow up together in faith. Families here have helped build and maintain their own church buildings for more than a century, and the chapel still carries the warmth of that devotion into every Mass.
Mass times at St. Joseph
Weekly Mass schedule
Parish Overview
St. Joseph Chapel, Clifton City is a Roman Catholic mission of St. Joseph Parish, Pilot Grove, in the Diocese of Jefferson City. It sits in rural Cooper County, Missouri, one of several small worship sites that together serve a parish family stretching across Pilot Grove, Clifton City, Clear Creek, Nelson, and Martinsville. Liturgical and pastoral care is administered from the parish office at 407 Harris Street in Pilot Grove.
- Diocese: Jefferson City
- County: Cooper
- Deanery: Southwest
- Associated parishes: Clear Creek (St. John the Baptist Chapel) and Pilot Grove (St. Joseph, parish)
History of the Clifton City Chapel
Catholics in Clifton City built their first church in 1886. That original building was remodeled in 1914 and continued in use until it burned in 1961. A modern replacement was built and dedicated on November 18, 1962, with much of the labor donated by devoted parishioners. In 1970 the chapel was joined with St. Patrick's for pastoral care; in 2003 the bell tower was repaired, new carpet installed, and St. Joseph Clifton City returned to the care of St. Joseph Parish, Pilot Grove. The current Mass schedule (Saturday Vigil, Sunday morning) dates from that 2003 reorganization.
- 1886: First church built in Clifton City
- 1914: Remodeled
- 1961: Original church destroyed by fire
- 1962: New church dedicated November 18
- 1970: Joined to St. Patrick's pastoral care
- 2003: Returned to St. Joseph Pilot Grove; bell tower repaired; new carpet installed
Wider Parish Family & Merged Communities
Today's St. Joseph Parish brings together several smaller historic Catholic communities. According to the diocesan parish history taken from 'Proclaiming the Good News in the Heart of Missouri' (Loretta Pastva, SND), the Pilot Grove area was first settled in 1820, incorporated in 1873, and organized as St. Joseph Catholic Church in 1893 by Father John Conrad from St. John's in Clear Creek. The Nelson, Martinsville, Clear Creek, and Clifton City communities have each contributed to the present parish family, which has worshiped together, with various mergers, for more than 165 years.
- Pilot Grove — the mother parish church (third building, 1952; dedicated May 10, 1956)
- Clear Creek — St. John the Baptist Chapel
- Clifton City — St. Joseph Chapel (this mission)
- Nelson and Martinsville — merged into the cluster over time
Clergy
The cluster is currently served by Fr. Gregory Oligschlaeger as pastor. Fr. Oligschlaeger was ordained by Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe at the Cathedral of St. Joseph on May 8, 1993, and has served many parishes across the Diocese of Jefferson City, including a stint as diocesan vocation director. Before him, Fr. Mark S. Smith, JCL, was appointed to the Pilot Grove / Clifton City / Clear Creek cluster effective July 1, 2021, with newly ordained Fr. Derek Hooper as his associate pastor. Msgr. Marion Makarewicz remains attached to the parish/school as a retired priest.
- Pastor: Rev. Greg Oligschlaeger
- Msgr. Marion Makarewicz (retired, on staff)
- Former pastor (2021–): Rev. Mark S. Smith, JCL
- Former associate (2021): Rev. Derek Hooper
Mass & Worship Schedule
Public schedules published by the Diocese of Jefferson City list a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6:00 PM at St. Joseph, Clifton City. The parent parish in Pilot Grove also offers Mass on Saturday Vigil at 4:00 PM and Sunday at 8:30 AM. (Earlier parish histories also reference a Sunday 9:00 AM Mass and a Spanish Mass at 11:30 AM at the Pilot Grove site.) No public schedule for confessions or adoration was found online for the Clifton City chapel.
- Clifton City: Saturday Vigil 6:00 PM
- Pilot Grove: Saturday Vigil 4:00 PM and Sunday 8:30 AM (per Diocese listing)
St. Joseph Catholic School
The cluster's children attend St. Joseph Catholic School in Pilot Grove (405 Harris Street), which opened in 1902 as a four-grade, two-classroom schoolhouse. The school now serves preschool through 8th grade with a full staff of lay teachers, sharing the mission and 'Cougars' identity of the parish across Cooper County. It is the educational arm of the wider parish family that includes Clifton City.
- Founded 1902
- Preschool–8th grade
- Principal: Mrs. Nichole Watring
- Parish & School Secretary: Mrs. Alicia Gerling
Music & Liturgical Life
Liturgical music at the Pilot Grove Sunday 9:00 AM Mass has been provided since 2003 by the Sunshine Minstrels, a parish ensemble that plays at every one of those Masses. This is one of the few ongoing lay liturgical ministries explicitly named in the cluster's online history.
- Sunshine Minstrels — Sunday 9:00 AM Mass music (since 2003)
Contact & Visiting
Parish business is handled through the school/parish office in Pilot Grove. Office hours run Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The rectory is reached at a separate number from the office fax. The mailing address — 407 Harris Street, Pilot Grove, MO 65276 — is shared across the parish family.
- Office: (660) 834-5600
- Rectory: (660) 834-4251
- Fax: (660) 834-5601
- Office hours: Mon–Fri 7:30 AM–3:30 PM
- Address: 407 Harris St, Pilot Grove, MO 65276
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Philip M. Kanethrough ~2021
Listed as pastor on the Diocese of Jefferson City parish page for St. Joseph Clifton City; reassigned July 1, 2021 to pastor of St. Joseph Martinsburg, Mission of St. John Laddonia, and Sacred Heart Vandalia.
- Rev. Mark S. Smith, JCLJuly 1, 2021 – ~2024/25
Appointed by Bishop McKnight July 1, 2021 as pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Parish Boonville and St. Joseph Parish Pilot Grove (with St. John the Baptist Chapel Clear Creek and St. Joseph Chapel Clifton City), with newly ordained Fr. Derek Hooper as associate pastor.
- Rev. Gregory Oligschlaegercurrent
Current pastor; formerly pastor of Holy Rosary Monroe City and St. Stephen Indian Creek, then St. Peter Fulton and St. Jude Thaddeus Mokane, then St. Joseph Martinsburg and Church of the Resurrection Wellsville; three-year stint as diocesan vocation director (2015); ordained May 8, 1993 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph.