Oxford's Only Catholic Church Remains Defiantly Traditional

On the long list of churches for all religions in Oxford, St. John the Evangelist is the only Catholic church in town – and that doesn’t faze its parishioners one bit.
The building that houses this growing parish was completed in 2008. The breathtaking sanctuary inside the large brick building encompasses the whole church and houses an altar that is worth seeing. Throughout the church, sunlight shines through patchwork stained glass windows, bringing all of these spiritual elements to life.
Father Joe Tonos has been pastor at St John’s for nearly 14 years. Originally from the Mississippi Delta town of Greenville, Tonos said he loves Oxford and the people who make up the parish.
He also expressed pride in St. John’s reputation in Oxford. The current construction taking place at the church isn’t just for show, he noted. They are expanding out of necessity. St John’s the Evangelist Parish is home to 440 families and 1,400 students. Many visitors and alumni come from out of town as well.
In the past, Catholics in Oxford would have been seen as outsiders – tolerated, perhaps, but not necessarily important. Now, as Oxford keeps growing and people move in from all over the U.S. and other countries, many have embraced the Catholic church and the parish community of St John the Evangelist.
“Our Chancellor’s Catholic,” said Tonos, referring to University of Mississippi Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter. “We’ve got so many parishioners involved in different areas – banking, sports, those type of things. The perception has definitely changed.”
Over the last decade, non-denominational or “community” churches have become more popular in Oxford as well. But Tonos doesn’t consider these churches to be truly “non-denominational” at all.
“A lot of the non-denominational churches, supposedly … they’re really not,” he said. “We’ve got one called Community Church that really is sort of a stealth Baptist church. For the longest time, The Orchard would seem to be an open church, [but] it really was, until recently, the United Methodist Church.”
Tonos thinks the “non-denominational” label is a marketing strategy used to reach out to younger people who don’t respond well to the more traditional type of church – the ones that their grandmothers attend. They see non-denominational churches, with their emphasis on more contemporary styles of music and less formality, as new and hip.
“Other churches don’t fit what I consider to be a realm of what an institutional church is,” Tonos said. “When someone says, ‘I don’t like institutional religion,’ well, that’s an oxymoron. All religions are institutional.”
Focusing on marketing and branding would do a disservice to the Catholic Church, Tonos believes. “When we try to become something we’re not, we lose who we really are,” he said. “It should be because people are attracted to us rather than what we market and try to promote … I would prefer for someone to come with a genuine attraction to our church rather than because the church has a band or coffee shop.”

Those who come to the Catholic Church, in Tonos’ opinion, already know what they’re looking for – a more traditional form of worship, including rituals such as the Catholic mass and sacraments.
Tonos shared what he calls the three-point catechism: “If there is a God, he made himself known as Jesus Christ. If there is a Jesus Christ, he gave us the Roman Catholic Church. If one of those is true, they all have to be true. If one of those is false, they’re all false.”
If a person doesn’t believe the Catholic Church is the only church and takes to worshipping in the woods or going to another gathering elsewhere, that is not the church Jesus set up, Tonos said. And if Jesus said there can be more than one church, he’s a liar – and if he’s a liar, he’s not God.
“At that point, I’d just believe in the Blue Spaghetti Monster,” Tonos added.

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By Elyse Lenaburg, Social Media Editor of HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at elyse.lenaburg@hottytoddy.com