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Welcome to St. John the Evangelist Parish!
In 1883, Father John Morendi, a Jesuit priest, built a small wooden chapel in San Marcos named Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Catholic Church. He hoped that it would serve the San Marcos community in their Catholic faith, and for over 130 years, it has done just that. Historically referred to as "the Church on the Hill", the original church was located on Guadalupe Street atop the hill where Texas State University is now found. In 1906 Guadalupe became the second Claretian mission in the United States and for 32 years, the church on the hill served San Marcos Catholics.
On April 29th, 1915, disaster struck Guadalupe Church. A fire broke out and destroyed the building, despite the community's efforts to put it out. Fortunately, within the same year the church was rebuilt out of brick with the help of the community. It was re-named St. John the Evangelist Church, but was struck again by a fire which destroyed the interior of the building. The parishioners of St. John refused to let this stop them from worshiping in their beloved church and each time they re-built, they strengthened their community. The church remained in use until a newer, larger version of the church was constructed off of East Hopkins in the 1960's, which is the one that remains in use today.
The people of San Marcos, as a parish belonged to the Diocese of San Antonio; it was then Bishop John Shaw who laid a cornerstone on October 11, 1915 and suggested that the new church would be dedicated to God in honor of St. John the Evangelist, his personal Saint. In 1970, Easter day, this new church where we are today, was opened for worship by Father Joseph Bochenski. As we see, our Church is built by faith and love of many families, priests, deacons and faithful who for 130+ years have been sowing the seeds and passed down from generation to generation the faith in Jesus Christ in the Blessed Virgin Mary and the sacraments of the Church.
Even today we continue to celebrate funerals of people who devoted their lives to build this church in faith and in love. Today we celebrate the feast of St. John and follow his teachings. St. John in his old age, wrote words of encouragement to communities, advising them, and encouraging them to love one another. Our community is inspired by the teachings of love and forgiveness.