St. John Vianney Catholic Church grew out of the desire of 12 parishioners of Holy Comforter Episcopal Church to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church, while also retaining many of the traditions and much of the culture that they had come to cherish as Anglican Christians. This was in response to Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. In 2011 this initial group began to meet regularly, being led by Fr. Chuck Hough, and eventually began celebrating mass in the old parish hall of St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Granbury, TX. The Community of St. John Vianney began to add to its number other former Episcopalians from Hood County, and also other Catholics as well.
With a desire to offer a Sunday mass centered in Cleburne, St. John Vianney found a welcome home at the Victory Financial Building. There, an oratory chapel was created where the blessed sacrament could be reserved and mass and other devotions could be offered. At the same time, a Saturday evening mass continued to be offered in the chapel of St. Frances Cabrini, for those of the community who lived in the Granbury area.
In the Fall of 2013 as the Sunday congregation of St. John Vianney began to outgrow the chapel at Victory Financial, and there was a growing desire to reunite the Cleburne and Granbury groups of St. John Vianney, it was decided to begin renting space in the cafeteria/auditorium of Marti Elementary School in Cleburne. This allowed St. John Vianney's various groups to reunite again and continue to grow into a thriving Catholic congregation.
Today, St. John Vianney holds its Saturday, Sunday and Holy Day masses at Marti Elementary, allowing us to accommodate more worshipers and a more elaborate liturgy, while using the more intimate chapel at Victory Financial for smaller weekday masses and devotions. We currently have a growing Land & Building Fund, and we look forward to one day owning our own land and building a beautiful permanent church home to house St. John Vianney Catholic Church.