About St. Mary · Willow River, Minnesota
St. Mary Catholic Church is a small parish in Willow River, Minnesota (Pine County), part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth. Along with Holy Angels Parish in Moose Lake and the mission church of St. Isidore in Sturgeon Lake, it forms the three-parish Moose Lake Catholic Community, served by a single pastor from a shared website. The parish celebrates Mass weekly and offers seasonal confession and adoration, supporting a Catholic community in the rural logging-country region east of I-35 north of the Twin Cities.
- Patron
- Blessed Virgin Mary (St. Mary)
- Rector
- Fr. Francis Gikinya-wa-Kabiru
- Diocese
- Diocese of Duluth
Why belong here
St. Mary offers a welcoming, intimate Catholic community in rural Pine County with weekly Mass, seasonal confession before Sunday liturgy, and Wednesday Eucharistic Adoration, all within the broader Moose Lake Catholic Community. As a smaller parish it provides a close-knit faith family where parishioners can know their pastor personally, while still enjoying connections to neighboring parishes at Holy Angels in Moose Lake and St. Isidore in Sturgeon Lake.
Mass times at St. Mary
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 7:45 AM – 8:15 AM (seasonal)
Adoration times
- Wednesday 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Parish Identity
St. Mary Catholic Church sits in Willow River, a small town in Pine County in east-central Minnesota. The parish belongs to the Diocese of Duluth and is identified on the diocesan Parish Finder as a recognized Catholic church in that town. Because of the rural setting and shrinking clergy pool, St. Mary worships as part of the wider Moose Lake Catholic Community alongside its sister parishes.
- Diocese of Duluth
- Moose Lake Catholic Community
- Address: 8118 Lake St., Willow River, MN 55795
Moose Lake Catholic Community
St. Mary is one of three worship sites of the Moose Lake Catholic Community, which serves Moose Lake, Sturgeon Lake, and Willow River. The community is led by a single pastor — currently Fr. Francis Gikinya-wa-Kabiru — and publishes a shared website, bulletin, and schedule. Each parish keeps its own parish office with reduced open hours, and St. Isidore (Sturgeon Lake) is formally a mission of St. Mary (Willow River).
- Holy Angels Parish – Moose Lake (Saturday vigil 4:00 PM, Sunday 10:30 AM, weekday Masses Tu/W/F 8:30 AM)
- St. Mary – Willow River (Sunday 8:30 AM, Thursday 8:30 AM)
- St. Isidore Mission – Sturgeon Lake (Sunday 8:30 AM, seasonal)
Pastoral Leadership
A single pastor serves all three sites of the Moose Lake Catholic Community, including St. Mary. The pastor's welcome is featured on the front page of the community website, noting that the site is one of several ways the parishes communicate about programs, schedules, sacramental celebrations, and the weekly bulletin.
- Pastor: Fr. Francis Gikinya-wa-Kabiru
- Parish offices kept open with reduced hours at each site
- Shared phone line: (218) 372-3284
Diocese of Duluth
St. Mary belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth, a Latin-rite diocese of northeastern Minnesota that is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The diocese was erected in 1889, and its mother church is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth. The current diocesan bishop is Daniel Felton, appointed in 2021.
- Diocese erected October 3, 1889 by Pope Leo XIII
- Cathedral: Our Lady of the Rosary, Duluth
- Listed on the diocesan Parish Finder
Visiting and Contact
Visitors and parishioners can reach St. Mary through the shared Moose Lake Catholic Community contacts. The community can be reached by phone at (218) 372-3284, and the shared website publishes the weekly bulletin and schedule information.
- Phone: (218) 372-3284
- Website: http://www.mooselakecatholiccommunity.com/
- Mailing address: 8118 Lake St., Willow River, MN 55795