St. Joseph Roman Catholic Parish, located at 1927 S.W. Green Oaks Blvd. in Arlington, Texas, a member of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, was established in 1988. That year, Fr. James R. Miller gathered his parishioners at Bebensee Elementary School, which is outside parish boundaries. In 1994, the current Community Center building was completed and "Mass in the gym" began. Although never a true athletic gym, the atmosphere of the parish hall led to the labeling. By 1997, the parish's needs and opportunities grew and prompted a Capital Campaign for the parish. By 2000, parishioners raised enough to build the current 1,600-seat church and cover renovations and additions to the Community Center. In 2016, St. Joseph began its second capital campaign, which would establish a Facilities Endowment, improvements to the lighting system in the church building and finally establish a Catholic School Endowment Fund for parishioners. Since 2012, the Mass attendance has grown by nearly 6 percent. In 2016, there were 2,753 registered families and 9,849 members.
Not only has the parish grown through the years, but the diversity is apparent. Our parish's Hispanic community flourishes with both bilingual and Spanish-only Masses and celebrations; we host a weekly Ghana Mass; a quarterly Mass for Africa for the DFW area; and support a growing Nigerian population; as well as Filipino and other Asian groups. When COVID-19 forced so many events to go virtual, the parish invested in equipment to allow for Live Streams of all Masses and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to offer a spiritual connection with the community.
Our Needs
Through weekly, monthly and quarterly contributions, the parish supports a Food Pantry organized by the Marshall O. Whitecotton Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society; house builds through Trinity Habitat for Humanity; mission trips to Guatemala; financial assistance for St. Joseph Catholic School; monthly meals for the Arlington Life Shelter; sponsorships for Bolivia and Mulanda, Uganda missions; and many more. In addition, we established two endowed funds to provide for maintenance upgrades and for Catholic school education.