St. Joseph Catholic Church began as a mission of Danville in 1938. Father Brennan would travel weekly to Martinsville to say Mass in the homes of some of the parishioners. Eventually, a hall over a bakery on Bridge St. was rented to hold Catholic liturgies and celebrations. Many priests served our mission parish such as, Fathers McKeon, Connelly, Wingler, Rea and McLean.
In the 1940's with the opening of the DuPont Company, the number of Catholics in Martinsville/Henry Co. area grew. St. Joseph finally became a church in 1948 and was housed in the Rives Theater. Rev. Robert O'Kane was assigned as our first pastor in 1949. This new parish was home to about 125 Catholics when property was purchased on Myrtle Rd to serve as our church building. This home later became the parish rectory.
A more permanent home was purchased in 1952 on the corner of Booker Rd. and Church St. This former Baptist Church became St. Joseph Catholic Church and remained so for the next 50 years. At that site, the parish continued to flourish and grew to more than 300 families. Also growing were the number of Catholic Hispanics in our area. So, in December of 1996, the parish began a monthly Mass in Spanish. In 2001, the Spanish Mass became a weekly celebration that continues today.
At the turn of the century, plans were being made to build a new Catholic Church to replace the current building which was in need of costly repairs. In 1999, a five acre tract of land off of Spruce St. in Martinsville was purchased and construction began. On November 25, 2001, our current church building was dedicated by Bishop Walter Sullivan. And in 2011, we were clustered with St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount, VA. As we continued to grow in numbers and in spirituality, we added on to the current church building and expanded the parking lot in 2015.
Our parish is a diverse, spiritual, devoted family of faith. We continue to be active in many social, spiritual and outreach programs in our parish and in the Martinsville/Henry Co. area. We invite all visitors,new residents of the area, and anyone curious about our Catholic faith to stop by and visit us! God Bless you!
History of Pastors:
Robert O'Kane - 1949-1953
Albert Campbell - 1953-1955
Harris Findlay 1955-1959
Julius Cilinski 1959-1961
John Bannon 1961-1965
Charles Ryan 1965-1970
Vincent Campi 1970-1971
John Munley 1971-1975
Jim Bonomo 1975-1980
Paul Duff 1980-1982
Paul Maier 1982-1994
Martin Lavin 1994-2001
Jim Fosnot 2001-2003
Joseph Torretto 2003-2011
Mark White 2011 - 2015
Nicholas Mammi 2015- 2017
Mark White 2017-2020
Kevin Segerblom 5/6/2020 - 8/16/2020
Carlos Lerma 2020-8/11/2023
Fr. Salvador Añonuevo 8/11/2023- Present (Administrator)
Fr. Santos Ramirez 1/6/2024- Present (Administrator)