Sunday  Closed   Monday  8:00am - 3:00pm   Tuesday  8:00am - 3:00pm   Wednesday  8:00am - 3:00pm   Thursday  8:00am - 3:00pm   Friday  8:00am - 3:00pm   Saturday  Closed   Parish Office Hours: 8am to 3pm Monday thru Friday

The history of St. Joseph is an integral part of the story of Catholic Christianity in Kentucky, and the circa 1859 parish provides its own thread of beauty and diversity to the colorful tapestry that is Bowling Green-Warren County history. Kentucky, the fifteenth colony, was the first western star in the American flag when it entered the Union in 1792. Catholic settlers began arriving in Kentucky in 1775, emigrating chiefly from Maryland. By 1808, the number of frontier Catholics had grown so steadily that a bishop, Benedict Joseph Flaget, had been consecrated, and the oldest inland American diocese, the Diocese of Bardstown, was underway. Bishop Flaget and his priests rode horseback over 800 miles to minister to the Catholic flock. In 1841 the headquarters of the Diocese of Bardstown was moved to Louisville, a much larger and growing river port. A little later, Louisville also became the railhead of one of the major railroad lines of the nation. It was this same railroad that in 1856 began the construction of a bridge over the Barren River. Bowling Green became a scene of great activity as many German and Irish Catholic laborers were drawn to the area. They urgently requested a priest from then Bishop of Louisville, Martin John Spalding. He appointed Rev. Joseph DeVries as missionary pastor of the southern Kentucky counties. Rev. DeVries was born in Gerwen, Holland on June 30, 1831, had come to Kentucky in May 1853, and was ordained a priest in 1855. In 1859, Fr. DeVries was asked to organize a parish and build a church in Bowling Green.