Holy Family Catholic Church

Holy Family Catholic Church. . Early area Catholic families had to travel to Houston to attend mass. Occasionally a visiting priest would say mass in the home of a local family. In 1913, a wooden structure, St. Patrick's, was built at Fifth and Orchard Streets in Missouri City on land bought by founding priest Father George Montreuil through parishioner donations. The 1915 hurricane heavily damaged the church. Repaired, it became a chapel for visiting priests to conduct services. Bishop Christopher E. Byrne visited the mission church in 1928 and ordered it closed. Again, local Catholics traveled to Houston for mass., In 1932, with an increase of parishioners, land and a former dance hall/theatre building were donated in Stafford for a new church named Holy Family. As most parishioners were of Italian descent, the Bishop assigned Father Nunzio La Rocca, an Italian immigrant fluent in Italian and Spanish, to serve as pastor. During world war two, the Oblate Fathers of Immaculate Conception parish in Houston ministered to the congregation. With an increase in the Spanish-speaking population, the Oblate Fathers requested help in religious instruction from the Nuns of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence. In 1948, land was donated for a new brick church in Stafford. Holy Family finally attained the designation of parish in 1969., Due to rapid growth, the parish needed a larger facility and returned to its original site in Missouri City. The new church was dedicated on December 30, 1979, the Feast of the Holy Family. Father Robert Hall, CSB, Pastor from 1967-1980, led the parish through the construction, started a parish library, and expanded religious education and social service programs. In 2007, Holy Family came under the direction of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart. Active in many of the cultural and charitable activities in the area, Holy Family is one of the most culturally diverse parishes in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.