St. Catherine Catholic Church

St. Catherine Parish in Catharine, Kansas, traces its roots to 1876 when Volga German settlers—invited generations earlier by Catherine the Great to farm Russia's Volga region—arrived on the plains of Ellis County. The parish was formally established in 1890, and the limestone church completed in 1892 was built by parishioners who personally quarried and hauled the stone. Adorned with angel statues throughout the nave and sanctuary, St. Catherine anchors a small Diocese of Salina community whose identity is inseparable from its pioneer heritage.