St. Joseph Catholic Church resides atop a hill just outside Poplarville’s city limits. The church has a deep rooted history in Pearl River County. Last year, parish members celebrated its 50^th anniversary and already have big plans for the next 50 years.

Darrell Fuller has been a long-time parish member. He’s been involved in numerous church committees and recently wrote a brochure to preserve the church’s vast history in Pearl River County.

“Over the years, our church has gone through a lot,” Fuller said. “We’ve grown as a congregation and about two-thirds of our members are actually from New Orleans.”

The church’s roots began to grow in the early 1960’s. It was originally known as the Bertucci Medical Clinic, which was owned by Dr. Emile A. Bertucci Jr. and his wife Shirley Bertucci. In 1963, they donated the clinic to Joseph B. Brunini, who was the auxilary Bishop of Natchez-Jackson, in hopes of creating a mission church. As they had hoped, the clinic was converted into the St. Joseph Chapel, which at the time was located on Smith Street in downtown Poplarville, Fuller said.

In the 1970’s, the chapel became too small for their growing congregation. In order to provide space for everyone, the church was moved to the present location just south of Poplarville, Fuller said.

Parish members began transitioning to their new home in the 1980’s. They established the St. Joseph Catholic Mission, which served as the multi-purpose building and included a temporary church, a parish hall with classrooms and a kitchen, Fuller said.

The building is now known as the parish hall and continues to serve as a multi-purpose room. Members use the hall for potlucks and Sunday breakfast cooked by volunteers.

“We normally have food lined down the tables,” Fuller said. “The building was designed so people could sit and talk with friends. It helps with sense of community.”

Many changes affected the church community during the 1990’s. They decided to build various buildings and lots on property, including a parish house, a large church building, parking lots and a faith formation building, Fuller said.

The parish house was established in 2000 and continues to serve as the living quarters for the priest, church offices, classrooms and a general meeting facility. The faith formation center is still known today as the Leo A. Weyenberg Faith Formation and Administration Center, Fuller said.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, including the area of Poplarville. The church building was hit the hardest, suffering structural damage. After the storm passed, the church became one of the centers of community outreach in Poplarville, Fuller said.

Years later, parishioners decided it was time to build a new church building from the ground up. The new church was established in 2009, Fuller said.

The church currently provides mass, baptisms, weddings, funerals and a cry room, where families with small children can watch mass inside a soundproof room.

Throughout the years, the church has experienced the leadership of many pastors. The current pastor is Fr. Fintan Kilmurray who began last year. He’s originally from Dublin, Ireland and retired from the Mississippi National Guard after serving in the chaplain court, Fuller said.

Under his leadership, the church continues to offer community outreach programs. They hold a canned food drive annually on Lent, bring out bloodmobiles every four months and volunteers prepare food annually in honor of St. Joseph. The food is offered to community members and what’s left over is donated to local nursing homes, Fuller said.

There are plans to continue the growth by expanding on their property.

“Right now we have four or five acres cleared, but we have about seven to eight acres on the whole property,” Fuller said. “We’d love to get more land cleared so we can hold outside events.”

The church is located at 17 Bilbo Hill Dr. Mass begins at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 8:15 a.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. on Sunday. For more information, contact church staff at (601) 795-9164.