Catholic worship in the Chetopa area began with a missionary priest from the Jesuit Osage Mission in 1847, but establishment of a church was delayed by the Civil War. After the town was burned by the Union army in 1857, the earliest effort to begin a church came in 1868, when Father Philip Coleton, SJ organized a mission station in the home of Mrs. Estes. The first recorded Mass followed in 1871, celebrated by Father T. Dougherty from Baxter Springs, and Father Eugene Bononcini became the first resident pastor in 1873. A wood-frame church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was the first church building, and under Father A. Hospenthal a new rectory was constructed in 1880 for $1,200, much of the labor being donated. The parish grew gradually, and in 1900 a brick church was erected through Father Moses Kiley's leadership. Stained glass windows were installed thirty years later, a sacristy was added in 1952, and in 1985 the men of Sacred Heart Parish erected a parish hall under Father Joseph Abraham. In May 2008 insurance inspectors declared the church unsafe, the Diocese of Wichita closed the parish immediately, parishioners joined Mother of God Parish in Oswego, the church was razed in July 2008, its stained glass windows were added to Mother of God Church, and the hall was deeded to Holy Family Council 7441 Oswego-Chetopa of the Knights of Columbus.