St. Joseph

A historic downtown parish rooted in Pensacola's Black and Creole Catholic community

St. Joseph was established in 1891 at the urging of Mrs. Mercedes Sunday Ruby, a daughter of a freed slave who organized the St. Joseph's Society of Black and Creole women at St. Michael's Church. The diocese (then the Diocese of Mobile) created St. Joseph as a separate parish, with Father Robert Fullerton as its first pastor; the first frame church was dedicated in December 1892. The present Gothic Revival brick church replaced it in 1894 and has been in continuous use ever since.

The 1894 Gothic Revival church and parish complex

The 1894 church seats about 600 and was built largely with donations and donated labor. Over time the complex grew to include a wood-frame rectory, a school/orphanage, a convent, and a maternity hospital for Black mothers. The original first church building was demolished in 1938. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and the sanctuary was recently renewed through a roughly $2 million storm-recovery renovation that rebuilt the roof, replaced the ceiling with whitewashed pine, repainted the walls in a creamy yellow, and reinforced the stained-glass windows.

A long tradition of schools and charitable works

Education and service have defined St. Joseph since the beginning. Black and Creole children had been taught by the Sisters of Mercy since 1877; St. Joseph assumed those schools when the parish was founded. In the 1920s the parish built an orphanage for homeless African-American boys, run with the Trinitarian Sisters, and operated a maternity hospital that served Black and Creole mothers who had no other options. The Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth from New Jersey, invited by Father John J. Raleigh, reopened the parish school in 1939, the same year St. Joseph Catholic High School opened — the only Catholic high school for Black Catholics in Florida at the time. After desegregation, the high school closed in the 1970s and the elementary school in the early 1980s.

• Black/Creole schools run by Sisters of Mercy (from 1877) — absorbed into St. Joseph in 1891
• Orphanage for African-American boys (1920s), staffed by the Trinitarian Sisters
• Maternity hospital for Black mothers — the only facility open to them in Pensacola
• Parish elementary school reopened 1939 by Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth (closed early 1980s)
• St. Joseph Catholic High School (1939) — first Catholic high school for Black Catholics in Florida (closed 1970s)

Outreach to the Pensacola community

St. Joseph continues its more-than-century-old mission of serving people in need. Its free medical and dental clinic serves thousands of uninsured, underinsured, and low-income patients each year, and the parish operates a food and clothing pantry along with other community services. This work is the modern continuation of what began with the parish orphanage, school, and maternity hospital in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Free medical and dental clinic
• Food and clothing pantry
• Other parish outreach and charity services

Music and the Sunday Gospel Choir Mass

Music is central to the identity of St. Joseph. The parish's Gospel Choir anchors the 11:00 AM Sunday Mass, drawing members of a multi-racial congregation that today is roughly 60–70% Black and reflects the diversity of downtown Pensacola. Older parishioners describe the parish's atmosphere with the line, "come as a visitor, leave as family."

Clergy and pastoral staff

The parish is currently served by its pastor Rev. Patrick J. LaPointe, who arrived in July following his ordination in May of the same year. Father LaPointe is a widower — his wife Catherine died in 2020 — who was ordained after many years as a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He is 66 years old, and St. Joseph is his first assignment as a parish priest, arriving just as the church's major renovation was underway. The parish office can be reached at (850) 436-6461 or [email protected].

• Pastor: Rev. Patrick J. LaPointe
• Parish phone: (850) 436-6461
• Parish email: [email protected]

Planning a visit

Visitors are warmly welcomed at all liturgies. The church sits in downtown Pensacola at 140 West Government Street, with parking available on the surrounding downtown streets and lots. From I-10, take I-110 south, exit 2, turn right onto Cervantes St., then left onto Spring St. and continue about 0.8 mile to Government St. New parishioners can register through the parish office by phone or email.