About St. Peter · Carpenter, Wyoming
St. Peter Catholic Mission is a small Roman Rite mission parish serving the rural farming and ranching community of Carpenter, Wyoming, in the southeast corner of the state near the Colorado border. It is one of two missions (along with St. Joseph in Albin) attended from the Church of St. Paul in nearby Pine Bluffs and falls under the Diocese of Cheyenne. The mission offers one weekly Sunday Mass and is sustained by a close-knit group of parishioners who are deeply involved in maintaining the historic 1908 church building.
- Established
- 1908
- Patron
- Saint Peter the Apostle
- Rector
- Very Rev. Carl Gallinger
- Diocese
- Diocese of Cheyenne
Why belong here
St. Peter is a small, tight-knit Catholic mission rooted in the ranch and farm country of southeast Wyoming. Parishioners take genuine pride and personal stewardship in their historic 1908 church, having recently replaced its siding, doors, windows, flooring, heating, and pews themselves. Weekly Sunday Mass offers a simple, traditional worship experience in a faithful rural setting — an ideal spiritual home for Catholics in the Carpenter, Pine Bluffs, and greater Laramie County area, as well as travelers and seasonal visitors to the high plains.
Mass times at St. Peter
Weekly Mass schedule
About St. Peter Catholic Mission
St. Peter Catholic Mission is a Roman Rite mission parish in Carpenter, Wyoming, in the Diocese of Cheyenne. It is attended from the Church of St. Paul in Pine Bluffs and serves the small farming and ranching community along the Wyoming–Colorado border. A single Sunday Mass is offered each week, drawing a faithful core of local parishioners.
- Location: 316 4th Street, Carpenter, WY 82054
- Diocese: Diocese of Cheyenne
- Status: Mission of Church of St. Paul, Pine Bluffs
- Sunday Mass: 11:15 AM
History of the Parish
St. Peter Catholic Church was built in 1908 in the small unincorporated community of Carpenter, on the high plains of southeast Wyoming about seven miles from the Colorado line. The Diocese of Cheyenne lists the parish as a mission, served historically by priests traveling from Pine Bluffs and Cheyenne. Over more than a century it has remained a small but faithful outpost, sustained by multigenerational farm and ranch families.
- Church built in 1908
- Prairie Gothic architectural style
- Sustained as a mission of St. Paul, Pine Bluffs
- Approximately a dozen parishioners attend weekly Sunday Mass
Recent Building Renovations
Parishioners of St. Peter have actively invested in preserving their historic mission church. In a recent campaign of stewardship, the community replaced the exterior siding, installed new doors and windows, laid a new interior floor, purchased a new heating stove for winter worship, and began refinishing all the wooden pews — work that continues as of the most recent pastoral visit on record.
- New exterior siding
- Replacement doors and windows
- New interior flooring
- New heating stove
- Pews being refinished
Clergy and Pastoral Care
The mission is currently listed in the Diocese of Cheyenne's assignment roster under the care of Very Rev. Carl Gallinger, Vicar General of the diocese and pastor of Holy Trinity in Cheyenne, who also oversees St. Paul in Pine Bluffs and St. Joseph in Albin. Previously, Fr. Kevin Koch, pastor of St. Paul in Pine Bluffs, served as the attending priest for St. Peter and St. Joseph.
- Very Rev. Carl Gallinger — current pastor (also Vicar General, Diocese of Cheyenne)
- Rev. Kevin Koch — former attending priest from St. Paul, Pine Bluffs
Diocese and Affiliations
St. Peter Mission belongs to the Diocese of Cheyenne, the Roman Catholic diocese that covers the entire state of Wyoming. The mission is administered as one of two satellite communities served by the Church of St. Paul in Pine Bluffs, the other being St. Joseph Mission in Albin.
- Diocese: Cheyenne
- Parent parish: Church of St. Paul, Pine Bluffs
- Sister mission: St. Joseph, Albin
Contact
Because the mission is staffed from St. Paul in Pine Bluffs, the most reliable way to reach St. Peter is by phone at the listed parish number. There is no dedicated email or website beyond the diocesan parish finder page.
- Phone: (307) 245-3761
- Mailing address: 316 4th Street, Carpenter, WY 82054
- Diocesan parish-finder listing: dioceseofcheyenne.org/parishfinder
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Kevin Koch
Served St. Peter in Carpenter as one of two missions (along with St. Joseph, Albin) attended out of St. Paul in Pine Bluffs. Documented as pastor circa mid-2010s; diocesan roster now lists Very Rev. Carl Gallinger as the priest caring for the mission.
- Very Rev. Carl Gallinger
Current pastor per the Diocese of Cheyenne assignment roster; also serves as Vicar General of the diocese and pastor of Holy Trinity, Cheyenne, while extending care to St. Paul (Pine Bluffs), St. Joseph (Albin), and St. Peter (Carpenter).