St. Catherine Church

Long before there was an official parish, there was an active Catholic community in Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Madrone. Many of the early founders of the area were Catholics, including the Murphys and the Dunnes. Martin Murphy, Sr., one of the early settlers, had a chapel built in what is now San Martin, near the corner of Church and New Avenues, and named it after his patron saint, St. Martin of Tours. This chapel was used until it was destroyed by fire in 1877.

In 1884 a mission church was established in Madrone on what is now Tilton Avenue; priests from St. Patrick Church in San Jose came twice a month to say Mass. By 1909 it was clear that the population of the area was growing and needed its own parish, (Morgan Hill had incorporated as a city in 1906). Catherine O’Toole Murphy Dunne donated an acre of land at the corner of Monterey and Dunne as well as money for the building of a church and rectory.

The church was dedicated on October 31, 1909 with 150 parishioners. In recognition of her generosity, the church was named after Catherine Dunne’s patron saint, St. Catherine of Alexandria.

In 1922 a coal and wood furnace was added to the church and in 1929 additional stained-glass windows were installed. A parish hall was erected behind the church in 1958. By the following year, the number of parishioners had outgrown the 300-person seating capacity of the small church and parking had become a challenge. So nine acres of land on Peak Ave was purchased for new parish facilities.

The first building constructed on the new land was St. Catherine of Alexandria School, staffed by Sisters of the Presentation. It opened in September 1963 with 52 first and second graders. 

While the new church was under construction Mass took place in the school building. A new rectory was completed in 1965, and on October 22, 1967 the first Mass was celebrated in the new St. Catherine of Alexandria Church. The stained glass windows, the Stations of the Cross and the shrine of St. Catherine were taken from the old church and placed in the new.

As Morgan Hill grew, the parish continued to expand, adding more buildings in 1985, school classrooms in 1992 and a Parish Center in 2000. Eventually, it became evident that the church itself was too small. Over a two-year period under Father Sergio’s guidance, the church structure was extensively renovated and expanded. It held its first mass in December 2022, including the Hispanic and Filipino communities. 

Morgan Hill, San Martin and Madrone have changed greatly since the early settlers started a Catholic community here, but St Catherine’s parish continues to bring together people to share their faith and support each other.