About St. Joseph · Poplarville, Mississippi
St. Joseph is a Catholic mission parish in Poplarville, Mississippi, perched atop a hill just south of the city's limits in Pearl River County. The faith community traces its roots to 1963–1964, when a former medical clinic was donated and converted into St. Joseph Chapel, and has grown from a small downtown chapel into a multi-building campus including a 2009-built church, a parish hall, the Leo A. Weyenberg Faith Formation and Administration Center, and a parish house. Today the mission is served by a pastor from the Diocese of Biloxi and offers Sunday and weekday Mass, CCD religious education, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and regular community outreach including a Lenten canned-food drive, bloodmobiles, and an annual meal prepared in honor of St. Joseph.
- Established
- 1964
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Rev. Fintan J. P. Kilmurray
- Diocese
- Diocese of Biloxi
Why belong here
St. Joseph offers a small, tight-knit Catholic community in Pearl River County where members know one another by name — a sense of community that long-time parishioners describe as one of the parish's greatest strengths. The mission celebrates Mass three times a week (Sunday morning, Thursday morning, and Wednesday evening during the CCD school year), runs CCD religious education for children, and gathers for a volunteer-cooked Sunday breakfast and parish potlucks. Beyond its worship life, the parish actively serves the wider Poplarville community through an annual Lenten canned-food drive, quarterly bloodmobiles, and a meal prepared each year in honor of St. Joseph that is shared with neighbors and donated to local nursing homes.
Mass times at St. Joseph
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM (or by appointment)
History of St. Joseph Catholic Mission
The roots of St. Joseph trace to the early 1960s, when the Bertucci Medical Clinic on Smith Street in downtown Poplarville was donated to Auxiliary Bishop Joseph B. Brunini of the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in 1963. The clinic was converted into St. Joseph Chapel — the seed of today's parish, formally founded in 1964. As the congregation outgrew the downtown chapel in the 1970s, members relocated to the present hilltop site just south of Poplarville.
- 1963: Bertucci Medical Clinic donated to Bishop Brunini
- 1964: St. Joseph Chapel founded (per GCatholic)
- 1970s: Relocated to present hilltop site
- 1980s: Multi-purpose mission building with temporary church added
- 1990s: Parish house, church building, parking, faith formation building
- 2000: Parish house completed
- 2005: Hurricane Katrina damages church building; parish becomes community-outreach hub
- 2009: New church building constructed from the ground up
Leadership & Pastoral Staff
St. Joseph Mission is pastored by Rev. Fintan J. P. Kilmurray, who also serves as Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Lumberton. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Fr. Kilmurray is a retired chaplain of the Mississippi National Guard and began his assignment at St. Joseph around 2014. The parish is also supported by long-time parishioner Darrell Fuller, who has served on numerous parish committees and authored a brochure preserving the parish's history.
- Rev. Fintan J. P. Kilmurray — Pastor (also Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Lumberton)
- Originally from Dublin, Ireland
- Retired from the Mississippi National Guard chaplain corps
Parish Campus & Facilities
The mission sits on roughly 7–8 acres atop a hill just south of Poplarville's city limits, with 4–5 acres currently cleared and plans to develop the rest for outside events.
- Current church building — dedicated 2009
- Parish hall (former multi-purpose building / original 1980s complex, formerly the Bertucci Clinic)
- Parish house — priest's residence, offices, classrooms, meeting space (established 2000)
- Leo A. Weyenberg Faith Formation and Administration Center
- Cry room inside the church for families with small children
Faith Formation & Religious Education
Children's religious education is offered through the parish's CCD program, which meets on Wednesdays during the school year (the same evening as the 6:15 PM Mass). CCD classes are held in the parish house classrooms and the Leo A. Weyenberg Faith Formation and Administration Center.
- CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) program
- Wednesday evening sessions during the school year
- Classes held in parish house and faith formation center
Sacraments
St. Joseph celebrates the major sacraments of initiation and pastoral care for its mission community, with baptisms, weddings, and funerals all available through the parish office.
- Baptisms
- Weddings
- Funerals
Community Outreach & Parish Life
Outreach is a central part of parish identity at St. Joseph, and that role deepened dramatically after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the church became one of Poplarville's main community-outreach hubs. Members volunteer time and food for neighbors and for local nursing homes.
- Annual Lenten canned-food drive
- Quarterly bloodmobile on parish grounds
- Annual meal prepared in honor of St. Joseph — offered to the community, with leftovers donated to local nursing homes
- Sunday breakfast cooked by volunteers and served in the parish hall
- Parish potlucks in the parish hall
Visit, Contact & Directions
The parish office can be reached by phone or email; visitors traveling from I-59 are guided onto Highway 26 through Poplarville, with a right turn at Highway 11 leading about a half-mile to the hilltop church on the right.
- Address: 17 Bilbo Hill Drive, Poplarville, MS 39470
- Phone: (601) 795-9164
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocese: Diocese of Biloxi
- From I-59: take Poplarville Exit → Highway 26 → through town → right on Highway 11 → ~½ mile, church on hill to the right