Catholic Church Communities

St. Joseph - Waverly

*Check the bulletin for any Mass time changes*

Mass Times	Sunday	8:00am
	Wednesday	6:00pm
Adoration	Wednesday	9:00am - 6:00pm
Confession	Wednesday	5:30pm - 5:50pm
	Sunday	7:30am - 7:50am

St. Joseph / St. Patrick - Religious Education / CCD

Religious Education Classes for the 2025-26 school year have concluded.  We will see you again in September! 

Please contact Lindsay Bartlett or Jessica Jones for more information about classes in the fall. 

NOTE:  Volunteer teachers and substitutes will need to be Virtus Trained.  Contact the office for more information about training or transferring your bulletin updates to the parish. Thank you. 

Young Adult Ministry

Young Adult Ministry is an outreach for all those members of our parishes that are between the ages of 18 and 30.  If you know a young adult that we can get in touch with, please contact the office and we can add them to our mailing list and outreach contacts.  If you would like to volunteer to be a part of this ministry, please contact Angela in the office.  God Bless you all!

Pastoral Council Members

The Pastoral Council are the elected members of the parish that help advise Father on the needs of the parishioners, parish structures and help plan parish events. We welcome the newest members to the pastoral council: Marcus Stice, Perry Chapman, Lisa Litch and we give a huge thank you to those rotating off: John Lichtenauer, Liz Collins, Terry Arb.  We appreciate all of you and your stewardship to Father, the parishioners and the greater parish.

Mailed Contributions

If you wish to contribute to our parish upkeep during this time, please send to the church office as follows:

4 Parish Church Office
c/o  St. Joseph 
214 Juniatta
Burlington, KS  66839

Thank you for the continued support of our parish. 

History of St. Joseph Parish

Among the first settlers of Waverly were several Catholic families. In 1881 or 1882, Father Luke LaGierse, a Carmelite from Scipio, then Pastor of Emerald, made an effort to organize the scattered Catholic people around Waverly. He occasionally said Holy Mass for these families in the home of Michael Madden, located 3 and one-half miles northeast of town, and later in the home of John Carney in Waverly.

The first written record of the St. Joseph Parish began with the month of June 1886. Father Joseph Walsh of Scipio, and resident pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Emerald, took a lively interest in the Waverly Catholic fold and organized them solidly. There were about 20 families whose names we find on the first pages of the book of financial records: Dennis Brynes, John E. O'Neil, Cornelius O'Neil, Ma. Scholefer, Michael Schneider, Michael Dore, Sylvester Harndon, John Doyle, John Holohan J. Prodt, Daniel McManus, and Henry Doyster, Tom Gorsuch, William Hardy, Michael Madden, Edmund McCarthy, George Schlueter, Bush Harrington, Patrick McGrath, Michael McGrath, Jerry Egan, Dan Tompkins, and John Carney.

The first church was built in 1886 on land, donated by the McFaddens, a few blocks west of where the same church now stands. The cost of the new church was $1591.75 and a loan in the sum of $448 was needed to complete the building. The loan carried a 12% and interest rate and was paid off in 1896. From June 1887 to 1890 the Franciscan Fathers of Emporia were in charge of the St. Joseph Parish and Masses were held here only once a month for which they were paid $25 it is not clear how often they received the stipend.

Our parish was served as a mission of St. Francis Xavier, Burlington from 1890 to 1908. The first resident pastor of Waverly, Fr. John Haefele, was appointed in January of 1908. He also had the appointment of Homewood as a mission parish at this time. The property on Pearson Ave., where the church now stands, was purchased between 1909 and 1913. There was a home on the property that was used for the priest residence. The church was moved in October 1915 and a tower and bell were added and the house was made modern with electricity. A garage was added in 1921. The Center Valley rural school building was moved onto the property during the time Fr. Michael Morarity was pastor and it served as the parish hall until a new building was completed in 2009. The cost of the new building was $93,515.37 and was paid in full upon completion.

We celebrated 125 years as a parish in 2011. A crucifix, flanked with the statue of St. Joseph and a reflection bench, was added in our cemetery east of town. The priests who have served our parish our Fathers: Luke LaGierse, Joseph or John Walsh, Father Buechler, F.J. Herberichs, Robert Lehrer, J.H. Schulze, A.J. Domann, John A. Haefele, John Hurley, David C. Hall, M.J. McManus, Father Bathrow, Partlance, Karnowski, Malloy, Sylvester, William Landwher, Albert Wetharn, Harry Imhoff, John Walters, Charles Brink, Donald Goens, Michael Morarity, William Kaufman, George Klasinski, Jacob, Mauer, Lawrence Kelly, Leonard Moran, Norbert Lickteig, Joseph Dearborn, Earl Dekat, Ken Kelly, Francis Hund, Ken Kelly, Michael Hawkins, and Marianand Mendem.