The first stories of Catholicism in this area date back to about 1830, prior to the Civil War, when the Piggott family from Ireland settled out on Beauty Hill Road near Bethel Station, which later became Bethel Springs. The log home they built that year still stands today, probably the oldest residence in McNairy County. The family came soon after this county was pulled away from Hardin County.

Cemetery markers in Bethel Springs bear the names of Richard Piggott, 1878 - 1904, and C. Piggott, 1878 - 1928, the last of the Piggotts in McNairy County since the family had left here and gone to Humboldt more than fifty years ago. Two direct descendants of the family, Mary and Francis Lipford, live in Memphis and still own the landmark log cabin home of the early Piggotts. Their mother was a Piggott who married a Lipford. During these early years following the Civil War, the only Masses in this area were said three or four times a year in this home by priests from Humboldt.

Stories are told of three families, the Caldwells, the Winfields and the Karnes, who tried to establish a Catholic community on Old Purdy Road. The stories tell of harassment, ridicule, and threats, some by the Ku Klux Klan. After a period of fear and destruction of property, the families gave up and moved out. Thus ends the story of Catholics in McNairy County for many years.

The Trinitarian missionary priests from Silver Springs, Maryland came to Hardin County to the town of Savannah in 1948 - Father Swift, Father Tate, and Father DePaul Landrigan. In 1960, Father Landrigan was living and celebrating Mass in a residence across from Hughes Worm Ranch in Savannah. When the Trinitarians came to Savannah in 1948, there was no Catholic church or chapel from Memphis to Lawrenceburg on U.S. 64 nor from Jackson to Corinth on U.S. 45.

In 1962, Father Celestine Pfannenstiel came to Savannah. The parish had two "churches" - makeshift, in residences - forty-five miles apart, and the care of Catholic patients at Western State Psychiatric Hospital (now Western Mental Health Institute) near Bolivar. The parish covered six counties and more than 3,000 square miles. So Father Celestine began to build, mostly with his own hands. He used hammer, saw, trowel, muscle, and know-how.

Within a couple of years, Savannah and Bolivar each had a brick church. Fr. Nathan Kay later added on to the Bolivar church. Then a beautiful new church began to go up at Pickwick Lake. Our Lady of the Lake went slowly, but always in the black. Seven years went by, and Father Celestine was given some help.

Fr. Vernon Dannerman came from an Indian reservation in Mississippi. Mrs. Audrey Brooks notes that, "I came home to McNairy County in 1960, and bought acreage, and built near Selmer. My husband was a native of Mobile, Alabama, and became a Catholic after they came here. He died and was buried by Father Vernon. After Mr. Pugh's death, Mr. and Mrs. T.F. Wallace moved their trailer next door to me. They were Catholic. Father Celestine held a Mass in my house in 1968. This was the first Mass in the Piggott home since more than 100 years earlier.

I believe there was burial Mass for John C. Piggott in 1928, since I can recall a procession on the boardwalk at the cemetery gate led by two nuns. These were probably the first nuns I had seen outside the convent and school. From 1968, the Masses continued in my honme on Saturday afternoons for about a year and a half. In 1970-71 the General Electric plant out of Cincinnati came into Selmer and brought whole Catholic families. They included the Dave Buttleworths, the Jim Liskis, and the Steve Lictenbergers. So we set up folding chairs in my living and dining rooms until we had about thirty-eight to forty people. In the meantime, Father Vernon had married Ray Brooks and me. Use of the chapel of Shackleford Funeral Home was donated by Mr. Joe Wyatt. We used it for a while, trying to clear the title of property that Father Celestine had purchased so we could bring in trailers for temporary chapels until a church could be built. The first mobile home was moved onto the property August 14, 1973."

The story of the property title is a little like the harassments of three fourths of a century before. The property had been purchased by Frank Congiardo, and the title was transferred to Bishop William L. Adrian and his successors in the Catholic Diocese of West Tennessee. After a period of time, the title read in some offices as "Wm. L. Adrian" only and was taxed as residential property. A time came when the chancery court clerk picked it up and advertised it was delinquent. It was sold for $100 to avoid a lawsuit; it cost $1000 to get it back again. Finally a church began to rise on the property near the dividing line between Bethel Springs and Selmer. The first private Mass in the new church was celebrated December 23, 1973, and the first public Mass was celebrated in the church December 25, 1973.

Dave Buttleworth started a youth study class and bought the materials, and Mrs. Brooks began classes in her home on Saturday afternoons. The Masses were on Sunday mornings, because the priest went to Bolivar for 11 am Mass. Mrs. Brooks taught the children of the Bettis, Aberly, Liske, and Scott families. After a second trailer was moved onto the church property in the summer, they were able to begin classes there.

During these years, many people came and went, and many people came and stayed. Fr. Nathan Kay and Fr. Paul Canaan came. Other followed jobs and left. Dave Buttleworth died and Bess took her youngsters, Matt and Tina, and went home to Cincinnati area. Pat Strain and her children were killed in a fire. Mrs. Louola Finley was converted, then died, and was buried by Father Celestine.

The first Mass in the new church was celebrated at Christmas 1976. The new St. Jude the Apostle Church was simple, but adequate. The stained-glass windows had been salvaged from a women's prison, probably in Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Camille. The original doors were tightroom doors from Western State. The pews were cheap - a dealer had bought them from a Protestant group that refused them when it became known they had been in a Catholic church. The missionaries were asked to give the parish to the diocesan priest in 1979, and it was adopted by the Holy Rosary Parish of Memphis. Fr. Milton Guthrie, Fr. Steve Baxter, Fr. Bill Parham, Fr. Ed Byrnes, and Fr. Bill Silk took part in shepherding the flock. The keys to the parish were turned over to the Diocese of Memphis on January 16, 1979.

We must not forget Fr. Jay Jackson, the journalist-turned-priest who was murdered at the priests' residence at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson. He had taught at St. Jude in Selmer as a seminarian. St. Jude made the transition from a mission church to a full-fledged parish on June 4, 1982. Father David Foley was named pastor that day. He immediately took up residence in Selmer, and celebrated Mass in St. Jude Church on Sunday, June 6. Following Father Foley was Fr. Ed Byrnes and Fr. Robert Wright. Fr. Carl Jude Hood is the current pastor.

There have been sisters who have contributed much to the community as a whole, as well as to the church community: Sr Maureen Kelly, who served as associate pastor for a time; Sr. Tonie Rausch, who taught the elderly; Sr. Gertrude Bixius, who still works with the elderly at St. Mary's manor in Jackson; Sr. Betty Burger, who practiced law with Legal Services in Selmer and is now in Dyer County; dear Sr. Florence Gendreau, who has so much knowledge, who cares so deeply for us all, and who refuses to give up on anything or anybody; and Sr. Ita Shagena, who joined Sisters Gertude and Florence in the summer of 1984. There have been and are now so many lay people who have held the church together, it would be impossible to name them all.

St. Jude held a jubilee celebration on October 25, 1981. Many people returned to Selmer, priests and lay people alike. Bishop Carroll T. Dozier made the jubilee and celebrated a Mass for a large crowd under a tent on the hill. Soon after this service, Bishop J. Francis Stafford came to relieve a dear, ailing bishop of the weight of administering the Memphis Diocese in West Tennessee. St. Jude in now an accepted and vital part of the community of Selmer. At the present time, there are fifty-eight registered families and 140 individuals. Its territorial boundaries are all of Mc Nairy County.

Presently, the building and property of St. Jude is being sold. New property on Highway 64 East has been acquired and plans are being finalized for building an 8,000 square foot church structure to include seating for 230 people, a parish hall and kitchen, classroom, and a bell tower. Construction should begin in 1997. The parsih continues to grow.

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