About St. Peter Claver · Iowa, Louisiana
St. Peter Claver Catholic Church is a small mission chapel serving the small town of Iowa, Louisiana, in the Diocese of Lake Charles. It is administered as a mission of St. Joseph Parish in nearby Welsh under the pastoral care of Reverend Prabhakar Kowtiki, M.O.C., and shares that parish's phone line and clergy team. The mission holds a single Sunday morning Mass and a brief period of Eucharistic Adoration before Mass, giving the local Catholic community a regular Sunday celebration of the Eucharist in their own town.
- Patron
- St. Peter Claver, S.J. (patron saint of enslaved peoples, ministry to people of African descent, and racial justice)
- Rector
- Reverend Prabhakar Kowtiki, M.O.C. (Pastor of Our Lady of Seven Dolors / St. Joseph, Welsh, and the mission of St. Peter Claver, Iowa — per diocesan pastoral assignments effective July 1, 2025)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lake Charles
Why belong here
St. Peter Claver is a small, intimate Catholic mission chapel where parishioners in Iowa, Louisiana can worship close to home without traveling to the larger parish church in Welsh. The mission offers a Sunday Mass, the Sacrament of Penance before Mass, and a half hour of Eucharistic Adoration each Sunday morning — a simple but reverent weekly rhythm of Word, Sacrament, and Eucharistic devotion that has served the local Catholic community for many decades.
Mass times at St. Peter Claver
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: 30 minutes before Mass (approximately 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.)
Adoration times
- Sunday: 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (Eucharistic Adoration before Mass)
About St. Peter Claver Mission
St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in Iowa, Louisiana, is a mission chapel of the Diocese of Lake Charles. It is administered as a satellite of St. Joseph Parish in Welsh and shares the pastor and phone line with that parish. The mission provides the small Catholic community of Iowa with a local Sunday Mass and the sacraments, so that worshippers do not have to travel the roughly twenty miles round-trip to Welsh.
- Type: Mission (not an independent parish)
- Parent parish: St. Joseph, Welsh
- Diocese: Lake Charles
- Rite: Roman-Latin (Diocese of Lake Charles)
History of the Mission
The mission chapel was already well established at 503 Second Street by the time the Diocese of Lake Charles published its 2010 directory, and a 2013 diocesan communication confirmed that it was receiving support from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal — a recognition that small, historic mission chapels like St. Peter Claver depend on outside funding to keep their doors open. The chapel's dedication to St. Peter Claver, the Jesuit apostle to enslaved Africans, points to the mission's longstanding identity as a place of worship for African American Catholics in the Iowa area of Calcasieu Parish.
- Listed in diocesan directory by 2010
- Receiving subsidies via the Catholic Home Missions Appeal as of 2013
- Associated historically with ministry to the African American Catholic community of Iowa
Patron Saint: St. Peter Claver
The mission takes its name from St. Peter Claver, S.J. (1580–1654), a Spanish Jesuit priest known as the 'Apostle to the Slaves' for spending roughly 40 years ministering to newly arrived enslaved Africans in the port of Cartagena, in present-day Colombia. He is the patron saint of enslaved peoples, of ministry to people of African descent, and of racial justice. His feast day is celebrated on September 9, and he was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.
- Born 1580 in Verdú, Catalonia, Spain
- Entered the Society of Jesus in 1602
- Ministered to enslaved Africans in Cartagena, Colombia
- Canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888
- Feast day: September 9
Parish Clergy and Pastoral Care
Because St. Peter Claver is a mission, it does not have a resident priest of its own. The chapel is cared for by the pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Welsh, who is also the pastor of Our Lady of Seven Dolors in Welsh.
- Pastor: Reverend Prabhakar Kowtiki, M.O.C. — appointed per diocesan pastoral assignments effective July 1, 2025, as Pastor of Our Lady of Seven Dolors and St. Joseph, Welsh, and the mission of St. Peter Claver, Iowa
- Phone (shared with St. Joseph, Welsh): (337) 734-3673
- Address (parish office): 310 North Sarah Street, Welsh, LA
Visiting and Contacting the Mission
Visitors and parishioners are encouraged to call the parent parish office in Welsh before traveling, especially for weekday needs, weddings, baptisms, or other sacramental requests. The diocesan parish directory page on the Diocese of Lake Charles website is the published online point of contact for the mission.
- Address: 503 West Second Street, Iowa, LA 70647
- Phone: (337) 734-3673 (St. Joseph Parish, Welsh)
- Diocesan listing: http://www.lcdiocese.org/diocesan-parishes/841-st-peter-claver-catholic-church-iowa