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The first St. Joseph's Church began in the mid-1800's when the Irish immigrants came to Whitfield County in Northwest Georgia to help construct the Western and Atlantic Railroad linking Atlanta and Chattanooga. By 1852 their numbers warranted purchasing land and building a church.

During the Civil War that building was burned by federal troops after it had been used as a military hospital for smallpox patients. The Sisters of Mercy established a school which stayed open five years until 1879.

A dwindling Catholic population and shortage of priests at the end of the century dictated the closing of St. Joseph's in 1901. But signs of a nascent Catholic Community began to reappear in Whitfield County. In the 1930's Father Joseph Cassidy, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Rome, extended his missionary activity to Dalton. With the help of Effie, Frances and Alice Wrench, St. Joseph's came to rebirth. The Wrench sisters opened their home for the celebration of Mass when the Redemptorist priests came to re-establish the parish in 1941. Through financial aid from the Wrench sisters, the Extension Society and private benefactors, the Church on Thornton Avenue was built in 1957. The mission activities of The Redemptorist Fathers came to a fruitful end. In 1967 St. Joseph's became a Diocesan Parish (part of the Atlanta Diocese). In May of 1991, St. Joseph's celebrated its 50th anniversary.

St. Joseph, for whom the church was named, is the Patron of the Universal Church.

Indeed, universality is reflected in the parish where many cultures, racial and ethnic peoples have found family and faith in the community. Because of the expansion of the church to over 1500 families, it became necessary to build a large facility and education building. The groundbreaking for this occurred on Oct. 12, 1998.

On November 27, 2000, the community celebrated the Dedication of present St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dalton with the Archbishop John F. Donoghue officiating.

At St. Joseph’s, we recommit ourselves to Christian Stewardship each fall during the Stewardship Renewal. This renewal begins with the Festival of Ministries, in which the scores of parish ministries and organizations showcase their work and educate parishioners about opportunities for spending time and talent building God’s kingdom. Each household is then asked to reflect together prayerfully on their present circumstances, and to update their commitments of time, talent and treasure for the coming year.

1. To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world. Man must know, love and serve God in a supernatural manner in order to gain happiness of heaven. Man is raised to the supernatural order only by grace, a free gift of God.
2. We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
3. In order to be saved, all persons who have attained the use of reason must believe explicitly that God exist and that he rewards the good and punishes the wicked; in practice they must also believe in the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.
4. By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
5. By the Incarnation is meant that the Son of God, retaining His divine nature, took to Himself a human nature, that is, a body and soul like ours.
6. The Church is the congregation of all baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.
7. We find the chief truths taught by Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed.

The Commandments

• Besides believing what God has revealed, we must keep His law.

The Two Great Commandments

that contain the whole law of God are:

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

To love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, we must keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

The Ten Commandments of God

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.

The Chief Commandments or Laws, of the Church

1. To assist at Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
3. To confess our sins at least once a year.
4. To receive Holy Communion during the Easter time.
5. To contribute to the support of the Church.
6. To observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.