St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, also known as “The Pearl on the Prairie,” was built by German immigrants in 1901.  The 125-year-old church inspired by Roman and Gothic architecture rises over the Kansas fields and prairies as a church home to many of the community’s founding families as well as new Catholic families who seek to make their home in the surrounding countryside.  The local Rock Creek School district is one of the fastest growing school districts in Kansas and because of this, the church congregation has experienced tremendous growth in the last 10 years. The parish also has an active youth population as young families make St. Joseph’s their parish home.   Designed with symbolic imagery and Catholic tradition woven into every detail of the building’s interior and exterior, the arches of the church tower and the gargoyles adorning the gables and steeple showcase the Medieval inspired Gothic architecture.  The sanctuary boasts of statues and murals of church angels and saints. Golden highlights to Roman columns and arches accentuate the interior; inspiring beauty and providing structural support. Gothic stained-glass windows depicting images of patron saints and Biblical events remind visitors of the holiness of the space. 

In the fall of 2024, volunteers of the parish were tasked with evaluating the needs of the church and its parish members.  Findings of the investigation included addressing needs to meet the growing church attendance and most importantly, addressing the aging structural and outdated mechanical concerns for the 125-year-old building.  The scope of the project was to divide the project into two phases.  Phase I addresses the structural repair and remodeling of the church.  Phase II focuses on updates to spaces to accommodate the growth in the religious education classes and parish activities. While most of the funds for Phase I of this project have been collected through pledged contributions from parishioners, immediate help is still needed for funding to begin the project in 2027. Most of the pledges are set to be collected over three years and the collection of immediate capital is limited by the demographics of the families of the parish.  Most families can make a monthly contribution over time, but not able to support a large upfront investment.  Some of the immediate repairs to the physical and mechanical structures of the church are critical to preserve the continued use of the building. The members of St. Joseph’s are asking for $100,000 to assist their capital campaign and to close the gap in immediate funds required to begin the project.