About St. Rita · Kellogg, Idaho
St. Rita Catholic Church is a small Roman Catholic parish serving Kellogg, Idaho, and the surrounding Silver Valley communities of Shoshone County in the Idaho panhandle. Part of the Diocese of Boise, the parish gathers weekly for a single Sunday Mass at 9:00 a.m. and serves the historic mining families of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. The present church building was completed in 1972, making it the newest of the three Catholic churches still active in the Silver Valley, and it is named in honor of St. Rita of Cascia.
- Patron
- St. Rita of Cascia
- Rector
- Fr. Jerome L. Montez, OSB
- Diocese
- Diocese of Boise
Why belong here
St. Rita's is the Catholic home for families throughout the Silver Valley, gathering mining-town faithful for a steady weekly Sunday Mass in an intimate, mountain-town parish. Visitors are welcomed into a close-knit community that prays the rosary together before Mass, keeps votive candles burning before the image of St. Rita of Cascia, and supports one another across the small but tight Catholic population of Kellogg and Shoshone County.
Mass times at St. Rita
Weekly Mass schedule
Parish Identity and Patron
St. Rita Catholic Church is named for St. Rita of Cascia (1381–1457), the Italian Augustinian nun long invoked as patron of impossible causes and beloved by mining-country communities. Her image stands near the votive-candle rack in the narthex, a place where parishioners stop to pray before and after Mass.
- Patron: St. Rita of Cascia
- Feast day: May 22
- Rite: Roman-Latin (Diocese of Boise)
The Church Building
The present St. Rita's was built in 1972, making it the youngest of the three Catholic church buildings still standing in Idaho's Silver Valley. The brick-walled sanctuary is laid out auditorium-style, with two center sections of pews and angled side sections all pointing toward the altar on a sloped floor. A narrow narthex runs the length of the church, holding bulletins, Catholic literature, free rosaries, and a votive-candle rack under the image of St. Rita of Cascia.
- Built in 1972
- Youngest Catholic church building in the Silver Valley
- Brick-walled auditorium-style sanctuary
- Sloped floor with center and angled side pew sections
Mass and Liturgical Life
As a small mountain parish, St. Rita's offers one Mass each Sunday at 9:00 a.m., year-round. Parishioners commonly gather in the sanctuary about 15 minutes before Mass to pray the rosary together, and votive candles burn throughout the week in the narthex. On a typical Sunday the church fills nearly to capacity, a reminder of how compact but devoted the Catholic community of Kellogg remains.
- Sunday Mass at 9:00 AM, year-round
- Pre-Mass rosary prayed in the sanctuary
- Votive candles offered before the image of St. Rita of Cascia
Clergy
St. Rita's is pastored by a Benedictine priest of the Diocese of Boise. The Diocese of Boise's parish directory lists Fr. Jerome L. Montez, OSB, as the priest assigned to St. Rita's in Kellogg.
- Pastor: Fr. Jerome L. Montez, OSB
Diocese of Boise and the Silver Valley
St. Rita's belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, the statewide Latin-rite diocese serving the Catholics of Idaho. Across the Silver Valley the diocese maintains three active Catholic churches — St. Rita's in Kellogg, St. Alphonsus in Wallace, and a third — together forming the small network of parishes that serve Shoshone County's historic mining communities. The valley's deeper Catholic roots reach back to the 1840s Jesuit missions of Father Pierre Jean De Smet, including the nearby Cataldo Mission (Sacred Heart), the oldest standing building in Idaho.
- Part of the Diocese of Boise
- Sister parish: St. Alphonsus, Wallace
- Historic Catholic presence traces to Jesuit missions of the 1840s
Visiting St. Rita's
Parishioners and visitors are warmly welcomed. Sunday Mass at 9:00 a.m. is the central gathering of the week, and arriving a little early is a good way to join the rosary prayed in the sanctuary beforehand. The parish office can be reached at the address and phone number below for inquiries about baptisms, marriages, anointing of the sick, or funeral arrangements.
- Address: 27 Kellogg Ave., Kellogg, ID 83837
- Phone: (208) 784-7361
- Sunday Mass: 9:00 AM