About St. Joseph · Paul, Nebraska
St. Joseph Parish in Paul, Nebraska is a small, multi-generational rural Catholic parish of the Diocese of Lincoln, situated on one of the highest points in Otoe County and serving the farming community of southern Otoe County since 1871. The current brick Gothic church, with its two towers and art glass windows imported from Munich, Germany, was dedicated in May 1916 and still anchors the parish campus, which is paired with the St. Bernard mission in Julian. With roughly 48 active families, St. Joseph remains a tightly-knit parish where many of the same family names — Durr, Kreifels, Heng, Schmitz, Ballerman, Carlin, Houlihan, Komma, Reblin, Ress, and Sullivan — have filled the pews for four or five generations.
- Established
- 1871
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Rev. Stephen Graeve
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lincoln
Why belong here
St. Joseph is one of the oldest, smallest, and most tightly-knit rural Catholic parishes in southeast Nebraska, where descendants of the founding Durr, Kreifels, Heng, Schmitz, Ballerman, Carlin, Houlihan, Komma, Reblin, Ress, and Sullivan families still worship together in the same pews their great-grandparents sat in. A parishioner here joins a real farming-community parish with a celebrated 1916 Gothic brick church, art glass windows from Munich, a named four-bell steeple, and a quiet hilltop campus that also serves the mission parish of St. Bernard in Julian.
Mass times at St. Joseph
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 5:00–5:20 p.m.
- Sunday 7:35–7:50 a.m.
History of St. Joseph Parish
St. Joseph was founded on August 19, 1871, when Benedictine missionary Father Anthony Kasper rode up to the hilltop home of settlers Joseph and Catherine Durr in southern Otoe County and celebrated the first Mass the next morning for neighbors who had come on foot and on horseback. The Durrs had moved to Nebraska from Minnesota in 1868 at the urging of Catherine's father, Peter Schmitz, drawn by the rich farmland. Before 1871 the Catholic settlers endured a 20-mile round trip by lumber wagon to St. Benedict Church at Kearney Hill near Nebraska City, a journey kept up for two years. Father Kasper's visit, together with the regular ministry of fellow Benedictine Father Emmanuel Hartig, established the parish, whose first sacramental record is the baptism of Mary Catherine Durr.
- First Mass: August 20, 1871, at the Durr homestead
- First church: 24' x 40' wood-frame, built 1879, cost $1,150
- Founding membership: 34 German families and 5 Irish families
- Rectory built 1889 ($950); first resident pastor arrived 1890
- Two-story Catholic school built during Father Aloys Hahn's pastorate, 1894–1904
- Current brick Gothic church begun 1915, dedicated May 30, 1916 by Bishop J. Henry Tihen
- Cost of the 1916 church with furnishings: $35,000
- 100th anniversary of the church celebrated August 2016 with Mass by Bishop James D. Conley and a parish history book
- 150th anniversary of the first Mass marked August 20, 2021, with Father Stephen Graeve celebrating Mass on the original Durr homestead
The Church Building and Its Treasures
The present church is a 125' x 59' Gothic-style brick building with two towers — one 130 feet high, the other 60 feet — sited on one of the highest points in Otoe County so that its spires have 'been beckoning worshipers' since 1916. Inside, the art glass windows were imported from Munich, Germany, and the steeple holds a four-bell carillon with the named bells Joseph, Paul, Nicholas, and Mary. The original 1879 wood-frame church, outgrown by 1915, has been preserved on the same campus and continues in use as a parish hall.
- Twin towers: 130 ft and 60 ft
- Art glass windows imported from Munich, Germany
- Four named bells: Joseph (original 1879 bell), Paul (smallest, after the village), Nicholas (largest), Mary ('wedding bell,' donated by the young men and women of the parish)
- Original 1879 wood-frame church repurposed as parish hall
Parish Life and the Farming Community
St. Joseph is a small rural parish of roughly 48 families drawn from the surrounding agricultural community, and it shows in the pews: many of the family names from 1871 — Durr, Kreifels, Heng, Schmitz, Ballerman, Carlin, Houlihan, Komma, Reblin, Ress, and Sullivan — are still represented four to five generations later. Longtime member Dale Kreifels has noted that his grandfather Martin Kreifels hauled bricks from the Paul railroad station to help build the 1916 church, and that 'we're passionate about how the families are involved — grandfathers sat in the same pew.' Sacramental milestones — weddings, baptisms, first Communions — are regularly celebrated for descendants of the parish's founders.
- Approximately 48 active families
- St. Joseph sits on a hilltop overlooking farmland for miles, with the parish cemetery immediately across the gravel road east of the church doors
- Multigenerational sacramental life: baptisms, weddings, and first Communions still celebrated for families of the original settlers
- Combined celebrations with mission parish St. Bernard, Julian
Clergy
St. Joseph is served by Rev. Stephen Graeve, who was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Paul and its mission St. Bernard in Julian by the Diocese of Lincoln effective June 15, 2020, while also serving as a teacher at Lourdes Central Catholic Schools and as an Advocate on the Diocesan Tribunal. The parish contact number (402-873-4569) reaches the parish office in Nebraska City.
- Rev. Stephen Graeve — Pastor of St. Joseph, Paul and St. Bernard, Julian (appointed 2020)
- Father Graeve also serves as Advocate on the Diocesan Tribunal and as a teacher at Lourdes Central Catholic Schools
Mission Parish: St. Bernard, Julian
St. Joseph, Paul is paired with St. Bernard Parish in Julian, a small mission church in the same rural deanery. The two parishes celebrate together on the feast of St. Bernard (August 20), which fell exactly 150 years after the founding Mass at the Durr homestead and was chosen for the 2021 anniversary celebration.
- St. Bernard, Julian — mission parish served from St. Joseph, Paul
- Combined celebration on the feast of St. Bernard, August 20
Diocese and Deanery
St. Joseph Parish belongs to the Diocese of Lincoln and is situated in the Plattsmouth Deanery. Its official directory page is maintained on the diocesan website at lincolndiocese.org.
- Diocese of Lincoln
- Plattsmouth Deanery
- Official directory page: lincolndiocese.org/directory/parishes/765-st-joseph-paul
Religious Vocations from the Parish
St. Joseph has produced a steady stream of religious vocations across its 150+ years — testimony, parishioners note, to the faith of the founding farming families and the sacrifices they made to build and sustain the parish.
- 1 diocesan priest
- 2 Ursuline Sisters
- 7 Franciscan Sisters
- 1 Sister of St. Joseph
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Anthony Kasper, O.S.B.1871
Benedictine missionary priest who celebrated the first Mass at the Durr homestead on August 19–20, 1871, founding the parish.
- Father Emmanuel Hartig, O.S.B.1871–early missions
Another pioneer Benedictine priest who, with Father Kasper, made regular visits to the new mission.
- Father Aloys Hahn1894–1904
Pastor during whose tenure the two-story Catholic school was constructed.