About St. Joseph · Perryville, Missouri
St. Joseph is a small Catholic mission church located in Highland, just outside Perryville in Perry County, Missouri. It is one of six worship sites served by the North Perry County Catholic Parishes, a single pastoral cluster administered by the Vincentian Fathers (Congregation of the Mission) of St. Vincent de Paul Parish. The mission does not currently celebrate weekly Mass, but hosts a monthly Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet on the first Tuesday evening. The cluster is pastored by Father Joe Geders, C.M., and falls under the Archdiocese of St. Louis — a legacy of the region's deep Vincentian roots dating to the early 1800s when Catholic settlers and Vincentian missionaries first established the faith in The Barrens settlement.
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Rev. Joseph (Joe) Geders, C.M.
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of St. Louis
Why belong here
St. Joseph is a quiet rural mission in the Highland area that keeps Catholic devotion alive outside the main parish town. Families in the area who wish to belong can register online or call the Parish Center (573-547-4300), and the mission gathers the faithful each First Tuesday at 7:00 pm for the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet — a simple, prayerful way to stay connected to the parish family when weekly Mass is not offered on site. As part of the North Perry County Catholic Parishes, members also have access to the wider sacramental life of the cluster: weekend Masses and reconciliation at nearby St. Vincent de Paul and Christ the Savior, plus Catholic K-12 schooling through St. Vincent Elementary and St. Vincent Junior/Senior High School.
About St. Joseph Mission
St. Joseph is a small mission chapel in the Highland community of Perry County, Missouri, sharing one pastoral team with the rest of the North Perry County Catholic Parishes. The site sits along Highway K and serves rural families who might otherwise be far from the main parish church in Perryville. Because the mission does not currently celebrate weekly Mass, its regular gathering is a monthly devotional hour, and sacramental Masses are received at the other churches in the cluster.
- Type: Mission church (one of six sites in the North Perry County cluster)
- Location: Highland, in the Perryville, MO 63775 area
- Cluster pastor: Father Joe Geders, C.M.
- Servicing parish: St. Vincent de Paul, Perryville
Cluster Parishes (North Perry County Catholic Parishes)
St. Joseph belongs to a single pastoral cluster of six Catholic worship sites in northern Perry County, all served by one pastor and Vincentian team. The cluster shares an online bulletin, an online giving portal, and joint ministry schedules. Below are the sister sites in the same family as St. Joseph.
- St. Vincent de Paul — 1010 Rosati Court, Perryville, MO 63775 (main parish church)
- St. Rose of Lima — 10138 Highway T, Perryville, MO 63775
- St. James — 21694 Highway C, Perryville, MO 63775
- Christ the Savior — 57 Shady Lane, Perryville, MO 63775
- Our Lady of Victory — 172 PCR 920, Perryville, MO 63775
- St. Joseph (this mission) — 2640 Highway K, Perryville, MO 63775
Mass and Service Schedule
St. Joseph mission itself does not celebrate weekly Mass. Its only regular, published service is the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet on the first Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm. Parishioners of St. Joseph attend Mass at one of the sister parishes in the cluster — most commonly St. Vincent de Paul (with daily Mass Monday through Saturday and a Saturday Vigil) or Christ the Savior (Sunday morning).
- Weekly Mass at St. Joseph: Not currently offered
- Rosary & Divine Mercy Chaplet: First Tuesday of every month, 7:00 pm
- Cluster's main Mass schedule (at St. Vincent de Paul): Saturday 4:30 pm Vigil; Sunday 7:00 am & 9:00 am English, 4:00 pm Spanish; Daily Mass Mon–Tue 8:00 am, Wed–Fri 6:00 am & 8:00 am, Saturday 8:00 am
- Reconciliation at St. Vincent de Paul: Wed–Sat after 8:00 am Mass, and Saturday 3:30 pm – 4:10 pm
Clergy & Staff
The North Perry County Catholic Parishes — including St. Joseph — are shepherded by an all-Vincentian pastoral team under the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The priests are members of the Congregation of the Mission (C.M.), the religious order founded by St. Vincent de Paul and brought to Missouri in 1818.
- Rev. Joseph (Joe) Geders, C.M. — Pastor
- Rev. Fredrick Wandera, C.M. — Associate Pastor
- Deacon John Darin — Permanent Deacon
- Deacon Direk Hunt — Permanent Deacon
- Parish Center / office: 573-547-4300 — Fax: 573-547-4145
Becoming a Parishioner & Giving
Those wishing to join St. Joseph or any of the sister parishes are invited to call the Parish Center at 573-547-4300, or to fill out the Membership Form online through the cluster website to expedite the process. The cluster also maintains a safe and simple online giving portal for stewardship and tithing.
- Phone registration: 573-547-4300 (Parish Center)
- Online: Membership Form on svdepaul.org
- Online giving: parish giving portal (cluster-wide)
- Mail: Parish Center at the St. Vincent de Paul campus, 1010 Rosati Ct., Perryville, MO 63775
Sister-Parish Ministries (available to St. Joseph parishioners)
Because St. Joseph is a mission rather than a full parish, parish-wide programs are organized and published at the cluster level through svdepaul.org. The cluster maintains shared schedules for liturgical volunteers and a single weekly bulletin that serves all six churches, including St. Joseph.
- Alter Server Schedule (cluster-wide)
- Lector Schedule (cluster-wide)
- Sunday Bulletin (cluster-wide)
- Roman Catholic Foundation of Eastern Missouri endowment partnership (through St. Vincent de Paul)
- St. Vincent Elementary and St. Vincent Junior/Senior High School Catholic education
History & Heritage of the Region
St. Joseph mission is part of the same Catholic heartland that gave birth to the Archdiocese of St. Louis. In 1817 Catholic settlers in The Barrens (the treeless prairie around present-day Perryville) petitioned Bishop Louis W.V. DuBourg for a permanent priest. He answered by sending Vincentian Fathers Felix De Andreis and Joseph Rosati, who arrived in 1818 and built St. Mary's of the Barrens — the seminary from which the first priests of the St. Louis diocese were formed, and where Father Rosati became the diocese's first bishop in 1826. Rural mission chapels like St. Joseph grew up across Perry County in the 19th and 20th centuries so that scattered farming families could worship without long journeys into town; today those missions are co-pastored as the North Perry County Catholic Parishes.
- 1817 — First English-speaking Catholic settlers petition Bishop DuBourg for a priest
- 1818 — Vincentian Fathers arrive in The Barrens to found St. Mary's of the Barrens
- 1826 — Diocese (later Archdiocese) of St. Louis established; Father Joseph Rosati named first bishop
- 1947 — Vincentians take pastoral responsibility for the merged English- and German-speaking parishes
- 1965 — St. Vincent de Paul Church is built as the new main parish church
- Today — North Perry County Catholic Parishes unite six sites (including St. Joseph) under Vincentian leadership
Contact & Visit
St. Joseph shares all administrative contact information with St. Vincent de Paul Parish. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead for the current schedule, especially since Mass is not offered weekly at the mission chapel. The cluster mailing address and parish center are at the St. Vincent de Paul campus in Perryville.
- Mailing address: 2640 Highway K, Perryville, MO 63775 (mission site) / 1010 Rosati Ct., Perryville, MO 63775 (parish center)
- Phone: 573-547-4300
- Fax: 573-547-4145
- Website: https://svdepaul.org/st-joseph/
- Cluster website: https://svdepaul.org/
- Diocesan listing (parent parish): https://www.archstl.org/parish/st-vincent-de-paul-perryville/