About St. Joseph · Kendall, Wisconsin
St. Joseph Parish is a small rural Catholic parish serving the village of Kendall in Monroe County, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of La Crosse's Tomah Deanery. It is clustered with neighboring St. John the Baptist Parish in Wilton and St. Patrick Parish in Elroy, sharing pastoral ministry across the three communities. The parish gathers for a Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:00 PM and a Sunday morning Mass at 7:30 AM, with Saturday confessions and a monthly First Friday Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration. With deep roots in the farming community since the late 19th century, it remains a faithful, close-knit congregation at 307 Spring Street in Kendall.
- Established
- circa 1880s
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Rev. Balraj Thotta Saminathan (Parochial Administrator, effective July 1, 2026; succeeding Rev. John Ofori-Domah)
- Diocese
- Diocese of La Crosse
Why belong here
St. Joseph is a small, traditional rural parish where Mass is celebrated with reverence twice each week — Saturday Vigil at 4:00 PM and Sunday morning at 7:30 AM — and where the faithful can also receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation every Saturday afternoon or by appointment. The parish hosts a First Friday Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration each month and is part of a tight-knit three-parish cluster with St. John the Baptist in Wilton and St. Patrick in Elroy, sharing priests and supporting one another's communities. For Catholics in Kendall and the surrounding Monroe County farmland, St. Joseph offers a quiet, prayerful home with deep roots going back to the 1880s.
Mass times at St. Joseph
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 3:15 PM – 3:50 PM
- By appointment (call the parish office)
Adoration times
- Friday 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (First Friday Holy Hour)
About St. Joseph Parish
St. Joseph Parish is a Roman Catholic parish in the village of Kendall, Monroe County, Wisconsin. It is part of the Diocese of La Crosse and belongs to the Tomah Deanery. The parish serves the small rural community and surrounding farmland with traditional Latin-rite worship in the English language.
- Diocese: La Crosse
- Deanery: Tomah
- Rite: Roman-Latin
- Cluster: Kendall (St. Joseph) / Wilton (St. John the Baptist) / Elroy (St. Patrick)
History of St. Joseph Parish
Catholic life in Kendall dates to the early 1880s, when the first priest, Rev. Father Kellar, gathered the small community. For its first five years the unfinished church stood with only a roof and sheathing, and Masses were held in private homes and village halls. The church was completed around 1890 and was extended and improved in 1911. By the early twentieth century the parish had grown into the strongest congregation in the village and built a rectory for its pastor. The parish has continued as a mission-style community served by priests shared with neighboring Wilton and Elroy throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
- Founded: early 1880s
- First pastor: Rev. Father Kellar
- Church completed: circa 1890
- Church extended: 1911
- Rectory built: early 1900s (approx. $3,000)
Parish Cluster (Kendall / Wilton / Elroy)
St. Joseph Parish in Kendall shares pastoral ministry with St. John the Baptist Parish in Wilton and St. Patrick Parish in Elroy, forming a three-parish cluster in the Tomah Deanery of the Diocese of La Crosse. The pastor resides at the St. Joseph rectory in Kendall and travels to serve the other two communities, a long-standing arrangement that mirrors the rural missionary origins of Catholic life in Monroe County.
- St. Joseph — Kendall (parish office and pastor's residence)
- St. John the Baptist — Wilton, WI
- St. Patrick — Elroy, WI
Visiting & Contact Information
Parishioners and visitors can reach St. Joseph Parish by mail, phone, or email. The church building and parish office are located on Spring Street in the village of Kendall.
- Physical address: 307 Spring St., Kendall, WI 54638
- Mailing address: PO Box 155, Kendall, WI 54638-0155
- Phone: (608) 463-7120
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocese website: https://diolc.org/parish/st-joseph-parish-7/
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Father Kellar1880s
First pastor of the Kendall Catholic congregation.
- Rev. J. H. Hermanlate 1800s
Resided in Union Center; had pastoral charge of Union Center, Elroy, Kendall, and Wilton.
- Rev. J. H. McAteetcirca 1900–early 1910s
Served Kendall and Wilton for twelve years, originally from Wilton then moved to Kendall; oversaw construction of a $3,000 rectory.
- Rev. Robert W. Nelson1984–1994
Assigned as Pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Kendall and St. John the Baptist Parish in Wilton (ordained 1977; died 2022).
- Rev. John Peter Anthonisamy Chinnappanby 2016–2019
Priest from the Diocese of Vellore, India (ordained April 24, 2006); served as pastor of the Kendall/Elroy/Wilton cluster.
- Rev. John Ofori-Domah2019–2026
Appointed Pastor of St. Joseph (Kendall), St. Patrick (Elroy), and St. John the Baptist (Wilton), residing at St. Joseph rectory.
- Rev. Balraj Thotta Saminathaneffective July 1, 2026
Appointed Parochial Administrator of the three-parish cluster, with residence at St. Joseph rectory.