About St. Joseph Station · Melba, Idaho
St. Joseph Station (also called St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Melba) is a small Catholic mission serving the farming community of Melba, Idaho, about twenty miles southwest of Boise in Canyon County. Founded in 1916 as St. Joseph's Mission, the parish was established to bring the Mass and the sacraments to the Catholic families who settled this stretch of the Snake River plain. It is governed as a mission of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa and is staffed from there; the Diocese of Boise lists St. Joseph's Station among its parishes in the Melba entry. Today the mission gathers the faithful for one Sunday Mass each week and continues a tradition of intimate, close-knit worship that has marked this small Idaho community for more than a century.
- Established
- 1916
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Fr. Justin Brady
- Diocese
- Diocese of Boise
Why belong here
St. Joseph Station is a small, intimate mission parish where Catholic families in the Melba valley come together each Sunday for one well-attended Mass and a real sense of community. Because it is staffed from St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa, parishioners benefit from the full sacramental and formational life of a larger parish while worshipping in the close, traditional setting that has served this rural Idaho community since 1916. Visitors often travel here deliberately for the quiet, personal character of the liturgy — many lifelong Melba Catholics still return for weddings and anniversaries at the same altar their grandparents knew.
Mass times at St. Joseph Station
Weekly Mass schedule
Parish Identity
St. Joseph Station is the Catholic mission church of Melba, Idaho, listed by the Diocese of Boise under its current pastoral name 'St. Joseph's Station.' The parish shares its patron with countless other Catholic churches around the world: St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, whose feast is celebrated on March 19. As a mission of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa, St. Joseph's is pastorally administered from Nampa while retaining its own identity and Sunday worship in Melba.
- Patron: St. Joseph
- Feast day: March 19
- Diocese of Boise
- Mission of St. Paul's Catholic Church, Nampa
History of St. Joseph's Melba
The mission was established in 1916 to serve the Catholic farming families of the Melba valley in Canyon County. Early Masses were celebrated in a small house that was, by local tradition, drafty enough that mice sometimes ate the candles. The present-day church was built in 1963 with assistance from the Catholic Church Extension Society, and over the years the parish has expanded its parking lot to accommodate growing attendance. Many weddings have been celebrated at this small church, including by people who grew up in Melba and still travel back for family sacramental moments.
- Founded 1916 as St. Joseph's Mission
- Original worship site was a private house in Melba
- Current church built in 1963 with an Extension Society grant
- Parking lot expanded as the parish grew
- Many weddings across 100+ years of ministry
Clergy and Pastoral Care
Because St. Joseph's Melba is a mission of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa, sacramental and pastoral ministry is provided through the Nampa parish team. The Diocese of Boise directory lists Fr. Justin Brady as the priest serving the Melba mission, alongside his ministry to St. Paul's. Parishioners needing to reach the mission office use the St. Paul's parish phone line and mailing address in Nampa.
- Fr. Justin Brady — pastor (mission of St. Paul's, Nampa)
- Parish office phone: 208-466-7031
- Mailing address: 1515 8th St. South, Nampa, ID 83651
Location and Visiting
The mission sits at 504 Randolph Street on the north side of Melba, close to the local school grounds. Melba is a small agricultural town in Canyon County in southwestern Idaho, roughly between Nampa and Murphy, and the church has long been the spiritual center of the area's Catholic families. Correspondence for the parish is handled through the St. Paul's Catholic Church office in Nampa.
- 504 Randolph St., Melba, ID 83641
- Mailing address: 1515 8th St. South, Nampa, ID 83651
- Phone: 208-466-7031
Connection to St. Paul's Catholic Church, Nampa
St. Joseph Station is officially a mission of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa, and the two parishes share clergy, office staff, and pastoral resources. Parishioners and visitors are directed to the St. Paul's website, nampacatholic.church, for the latest information about Mass times, faith formation, sacraments, and parish life. This shared structure lets a small rural mission like Melba maintain a consistent Catholic presence while drawing on the wider sacramental and formational programs of the Nampa parish.
- St. Paul's Catholic Church, Nampa — mother parish
- Sister parish and school in Nampa
- Joint parish website: nampacatholic.church/st-joseph-s-melba