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St. Joseph's Catholic Church
44°56′28″N 123°01′53″W / 44.940995°N 123.031522°W / 44.940995; -123.031522
Location	Salem, Oregon
Country	United States
Denomination	Catholic
Website	www.stjosephchurch.com
Administration
Diocese	Archdiocese of Portland

St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic parish in Salem, Oregon. It currently serves some 3,500 families and conducts services in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Latin. The parish school staff has been recognized for excellence in education as recently as 2005.

History

St. Joseph's was founded in 1853 when Father James Croke rented a two-story building on the corner of Church and Chemeketa streets that had been a Masonic hall. Father Croke, an Irish priest (brother of Archbishop Thomas Croke) has been described as "the ubiquitous apostle of Western Oregon".

The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, a Roman Catholic teaching religious institute arrived in 1863 and bought the building. It became the Sacred Heart Academy dedicated on August 22, 1863 and opened with 80 students on September 7. A church historian has noted that the then pastor Leopold Dieleman, "threw enough holy water on the building to put out a fire" and quotes Father Dieleman as saying, "The devil that day had danced his last polka in the building". The following year St. John Evangelist Church opened on a rise of ground known locally as "Piety Hill".

In 1873, the sisters completed a new academy building on the corner of Center and Cottage Streets. A new church was erected on the corner of Chemeketa and Cottage Streets and was named St. Joseph Church (per the archdiocese history of Oregon the name change was possibly to avoid confusion with another parish named St. John's ) and opened in 1889. The parish's current church was dedicated in 1953. A new parish center was completed in 1999. The church was extensively damaged by a fire on August 31, 2023.

References

1. Salem Online History St. Vincent de Paul Second parish formed from St. Joseph's and Brooks parishes
2. NCEA
3. Schoenberg, Wilfrid S.J. A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743 - 1983, The Pastoral Press Washington D.C. 1987 pp. 140-142 ISBN 0-912405-25-2
4. Schoenberg, Wilfrid S.J. A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743 - 1983, The Pastoral Press Washington D.C. 1987 p. 188 ISBN 0-912405-25-2
5. ^ St Joseph Church Salem Online History.net
6. ^ History of St. Josephs
7. ' Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon: 150th Anniversary 1846 - 1996 Editions Du Signe 1996 p. 58 ISBN 2-87718-360-2
8. "Early morning fire damages St. Joseph's Catholic Church downtown". Statesman Journal. August 31, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.

External links

• Picture of former church building

v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
Ordinaries	Archbishops of Oregon City François Norbert Blanchet Charles John Seghers William Hickley Gross Alexander Christie Archbishops of Portland Edward Howard Robert Joseph Dwyer Cornelius Michael Power William Levada Francis George John George Vlazny Alexander King Sample
Auxiliary bishops	Paul E. Waldschmidt Kenneth Steiner Peter Leslie Smith
Churches	List List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Cathedral St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Abbeys Mount Angel Abbey Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey Parishes Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Cottage Grove St. Mary's Church, Mount Angel St. Patrick's Church, Portland St. Paul's Church, St. Paul St. Joseph's Church, Salem St. Boniface Church, Sublimity Former churches St. Patrick's Church, Independence St. John the Evangelist Church, Zigzag
Education	Higher education University of Portland Marylhurst University High schools Blanchet Catholic School, Salem Central Catholic High School, Portland De La Salle North Catholic High School, Portland Jesuit High School, Portland La Salle High School, Milwaukie Marist Catholic High School, Eugene Regis High School, Stayton St. Mary's Academy, Portland St. Mary's High School, Medford Valley Catholic School, Beaverton
Priests	Liam Cary Francis Peter Leipzig Edward John O'Dea Edwin Vincent O'Hara Charles Joseph O'Reilly
Miscellany	Catholic Sentinel Oregon Catholic Press Monastery of Our Lady of Jordan Monastery of the Precious Blood The Grotto
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