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Here we are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Word, Worship and Service. Our Sunday celebration helps us to praise God, build a community of disciples, and become food for the world with the nourishment we receive from the Eucharist.
We are called to a ministry of the Word, which includes a Catholic school education from pre-school through grade eight and a religious formation program through grade eleven. We have a strong youth ministry program for middle and high school students. We are called to witness to justice in our community and our world, and to a new evangelization, proclaiming a Gospel of Life in the Catholic tradition.
The History of St. Philip's
Bemidji in the late 1890’s to the early 1900’s was a logging boom town, with people of many faith’s (or no faith) coming into the area. Catholics in the area were first ministered to by Fr. Philip Murphy of Crookston who celebrated Mass with them at Nangle’s store and city hall. Fr. Murphy became the first resident pastor when the original church was built in 1899. St. Philip’s was Fr. Murphy’s base as he made the circuit of missions at Cass Lake, Nary, Ada, Felton, Bagley and Solway.
The original wooden church was sold to the city and Catholics celebrated Mass in the post office until 1907 brick church was completed. Several expansion projects kept pace with the increasing membership.
In 1898 the Benedictine Sisters of Duluth began operating St. Anthony Hospital in Bemidji. The area lumberjacks provided a steady stream of patients. The sisters sold subscriptions for a dollar that worked like an insurance policy; it allowed the lumberjacks to find needed respite and healing at the hospital. The venture expanded for a quarter century, but it was later sold and the sisters returned to Duluth for reassignment.
A new church facility was dedicated in 1991 located on the same site as the church that was completed in 1907. New liturgical space, social hall, expansion and renovations of the grade school “was designed to build a faith community as much as a church,” according to the diocesan newspaper. The 450 seat church features a continuous flow baptismal font and a smaller forty seat chapel for daily Mass and adoration.
In 2003, an addition to the parish plant was dedicated. The added space created room for the parish administration, library, larger gymnasium, gathering space and changes to the rectory.