About St. Joseph · Moorhead, Minnesota
St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic parish located in Moorhead, Minnesota, within the Diocese of Crookston. The parish serves roughly 1,500 families in the Fargo-Moorhead Red River Valley area and shares a long history with the neighboring parishes of St. Francis de Sales and St. John's of Georgetown. St. Joseph's is home to the oldest known Catholic school in the Red River Valley, and offers daily and Sunday Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, faith formation for all ages, youth and young adult ministry, and a range of parish service groups.
- Established
- 1873
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Diocese
- Diocese of Crookston
Why belong here
St. Joseph's is a vibrant, family-friendly parish of about 1,500 households that offers Sunday Mass in English, plus weekday Masses shared with neighboring parishes (St. Francis de Sales, St. John's of Georgetown), weekly Eucharistic Adoration on Tuesdays and Fridays, and regular Reconciliation on Saturdays and Sundays. Parish life is anchored by a long-running Catholic school (the oldest in the Red River Valley), strong youth faith formation and young adult ministry, and service groups that care for the parish campus and broader community — giving newcomers easy ways to encounter Christ and serve others.
Mass times at St. Joseph
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday: 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM
- Sunday: 5:30 PM – 6:15 PM
- By appointment
Adoration times
- Tuesday: 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Adoration Chapel)
- Friday: 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM (Adoration Chapel)
About St. Joseph's Catholic Church
St. Joseph's is a Roman Catholic parish in the Diocese of Crookston serving about 1,500 families in Moorhead, Minnesota. The parish traces its founding to 1873 and is the spiritual home of the oldest known school in the Red River Valley.
- Founded 1873 by Father Jean Baptiste Genin
- Approximately 1,500 parish families
- Part of the Diocese of Crookston
Parish Staff & Leadership
Parish staff support liturgy, faith formation, stewardship, and youth ministry. The parish staff portal hosts maintenance, room reservation, purchase order, hospital-visit, and safe-environment driver forms for volunteers and employees.
- Fr. Nate Brunn — Associate Pastor / MCCM Director ([email protected])
- Melissa Hund-Cerna — Youth Faith Formation / Ministry Coordinator ([email protected])
- Shawn Erickson — Adult Faith Formation and Stewardship ([email protected])
Faith Formation & Religious Education
St. Joseph's runs youth faith formation classes for grades 8–11 on Sunday evenings after the evening Mass, with a substitute catechist program for middle and high school. Adult faith formation is coordinated through the parish office, and the parish welcomes new-member registration online.
- Grades 8–11 youth faith formation (Sunday evenings)
- Catechist / teacher substitute program
- Adult faith formation
- New-member online registration
Young Adult Ministry
The parish's Young Adult Ministry seeks to connect young adults with activities that are social, faith-oriented, and which serve others in the parish and community, providing opportunities to encounter Christ through intergenerational, multicultural, and community-focused engagement.
- Social and service activities
- Faith-formation opportunities for young adults
Parish School — St. Joseph's School
St. Joseph's School, founded in 1880 by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Joseph, Minnesota, is the oldest known school in the Red River Valley. It originally served as the parochial school of St. Joseph's Parish and later became the consolidated school for both St. Joseph's and St. Francis de Sales parishes. The school added grades 7–8 in 2007 with a building expansion that included a science lab, new library, and computer lab, and in 2012 introduced a one-to-one laptop program for grades 6–8. Today it serves preschool through 8th grade.
- Founded 1880 by Benedictine Sisters of St. Joseph, MN
- Oldest known school in the Red River Valley
- Preschool through Grade 8
- Shared by St. Joseph's and St. Francis de Sales parishes
- One-to-one middle-school laptop program since 2012
Service & Outreach
Parishioners can serve the parish community through the St. Joseph's Campus Keepers (trimming, planting, weeding, raking, and litter pickup) and the parish's Hospital Visit ministry, which supports parishioners during hospital stays with prayers, visits, and spiritual care.
- St. Joseph's Campus Keepers — grounds care
- Hospital Visit ministry — prayer, visits, and spiritual care
- Youth Events kitchen helper opportunities
Safe Environment & Diocesan Compliance
As a parish in the Diocese of Crookston, St. Joseph's is committed to providing a safe environment for children and youth. Volunteers who transport minors must complete the diocesan Employee/Volunteer Driver Form, and Safe Environment resources are linked from the parish website.
- Diocese of Crookston Safe Environment program
- Volunteer/Employee Driver Form required for transporting minors
Parish Archives & History
The parish's historical materials — including parish directories from 1978 to 1998, materials relating to Bishop Victor Balke's 2007 visit, a 1957–58 Building Fund Campaign, and a brief history of St. Joseph's School — are preserved at Minnesota State University Moorhead's Northwest Minnesota Historical Center as collection S5090.
- Collection S5090, Northwest Minnesota Historical Center, MSUM
- Parish directories 1978–1998
- Bishop Victor Balke 2007 materials
- 1957–58 Building Fund Campaign records
Getting Involved
Visitors and newcomers can register as parishioners online, attend Mass or Reconciliation, sign up for Eucharistic Adoration, and serve through the parish's ministries — including youth faith formation, young adult ministry, campus care, or the hospital-visit ministry.
- Online parish registration
- Liturgical and formation ministries
- Service and outreach opportunities