The Legacy Project
The St. Pius X Legacy Project seeks to document the history of our parish through the voices of those who built and sustain it. We ask for your help in connecting the dots of the past, putting names with faces in archive photographs, and encouraging other parishioners to get involved in the project.
A few copies of The Legacy Book are still available in the parish office for $15.
Parish Timeline
July 1954: Ten acres of Moeller Estate purchased by parishes of the Madelene and Saints Peter and Paul to build a new parish
June 6, 1955: Parish canonically established
July 10, 1955: Rev. Gerald E. Phee (d. 1971) says first parish Mass in the “barn” donated by the Moeller family
July 17, 1955: First parish baptism (Joan Marie Joyce, daughter of Joseph & Lois Joyce)
1957: First school building complete
August 1957: First class (grades 1-6?) attends St. Pius X School. Sister Catherine Henry of the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio was principal.
1958: School building complete
1958: St. Pius X Phantoms win football championship (school also had track & softball teams)
1959: School building complete
1960’s: Monthly parent dances held in the barn and then in cafeteria; students could walk home for lunch; Choir originally seated behind the Altar; Annual May Crowning and Easter Egg hunts involved whole community
1960: School building complete
1961: Cafeteria building complete, Cafeteria opens and is run by Pernie Colley
1961: Bishop Kelley High School opens, Fr. Phee drives students from Moeller Heights to high school in the St. Pius X bus
1963: School building complete
May 28, 1963: Bishop Victor Reed says Mass for groundbreaking of St. Pius X Church (estimated cost of $220,000).
August 6, 1964: Dedication of St. Pius X Church
1964: School building complete
1965: Sister Mary Martin wrote St. Pius X School Song and dedicated it to Fr. Phee
1967: Rev. William J. Swift named pastor of then largest parish in Oklahoma
1975: Rev. Harry S. Bartnik named pastor (d. 2000)
October 8, 1978: Parish celebrates “burning of the mortgage”
1980: Kindergarten added (teacher Judy Davis?)
July 1982: Activity Center with full-court gym complete
1983: Rev. Dennis C. Dorney named pastor
1985: St. Pius X School Endowment started
1995: Math and Computer Lab addition complete, Pre-School opened
1995: Rev. Thomas M. Hildebrand named pastor
1996: St. Pius X School awarded Blue Ribbon designation
2000: Playground constructed
November 3, 2004: Father Tom suffers fatal heart attack in the rectory
2005: Rev. Michael J. Knipe named pastor
2005: Sunday Spanish Mass added
June 2011: Rev. Gary Kastl named pastor
November 2011: Rev. Matthew Gerlach named pastor
201?: “Defenders” adopted as St. Pius X School mascot (years of previous mascots?)
2012: Capital Campaign to build a new school launched
2015: New pre-school and elementary building complete
August 23, 2016: Bishop David Konderla dedicates Phase 2 including new middle school, administration offices and music room at annual Feast Day
May 2018: Father Richard Bradley named pastor
August 2022: Father Josh Litwack named pastor