Saint John Bosco

Founding Pastor: Father Leo Micheli O.F.M. Cap.
Parish Founded: Founded as a mission of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Winchester in 1959
Church Dedication: 1973
Additional Dates of Importance: School building constructed in 1971. Mission church, Our Lady of the Shenandoah, was dedicated in 1976.

What Makes This Parish Unique?

In the 1970s, there was a daycare and kindergarten. The building is now principally used for CCD classes and parish functions.

A distinctive feature of our parish is its small, warm, friendly, and spiritually welcoming feeling. Parishioners are very generous in providing for the needs of others. There is a food pantry well-stocked with donations from parishioners. The Outreach Store is run by all volunteers with profits given to help the needy with food, rent, or utilities. From the Dance-a-thon organized by the high school youth to raise money for the local pregnancy center, to the Knights' Hands program that provides construction and home maintenance labor for the elderly in the parish, our parish exemplifies the virtue of charity and actively exercises the corporal works of mercy.

Parish History:

Shenandoah County was serviced as a mission area by priests from Winchester beginning in the early 1800s. Mass was celebrated in private homes. The first Catholic families in the area were railroad families. The first church, St John the Evangelist, was erected in 1888. The church was closed in the mid-1920s but reopened during World War II. The parish has been served by resident priests provided by the Capuchin Friars of the Province of New Jersey since 1958. Hanley Hall was constructed in 1971 for a community school and parish hall. The present church, Saint John Bosco, was dedicated in 1973, in Woodstock. The mission church, Our Lady of the Shenandoah was dedicated in 1976 at Bryce Mountain Resort, in Bayse. 

To learn more about Saint John Bosco, please visit: www.sjbwoodstock.org.