Seeing the need of the Catholics in a neighboring county, Father Charles Bordenca, then pastor of Holy Infant Catholic Church in Trussville some 30 miles away, offered to say Sunday Mass in Oneonta. He offered Mass in homes, the Chamber of Commerce building, and even the local Methodist church. His successor, Father Joseph Kula, continued to say Sunday Mass for local Catholics, but because of such small numbers, the priest encouraged the faithful to find a parish church in one of the neighboring counties.

In late 1982, six Oneonta Catholics, Rita Porter, Gloria Cook, Steve Majerik, Ruth Miller, Rita Hawkins, and Anne Woods, decided to reach out to Father James O’Reilly, then pastor of Pell City’s Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, to see if he would be willing to say Mass for the small group. Father O’Reilly took the request to Bishop Joseph Vath, the First Bishop of Birmingham, and within a week, he was saying Sunday Mass for 20 people in the upstairs room of the Oneonta Public Library, which the faithful lovingly referred to as the “Upper Room.”

The congregation would relocate twice before a parcel of land with an old house on the grounds was purchased. The men of the parish quickly renovated the house into a church, and the first Mass was said by Bishop Vath on the feast of Corpus Christi on June 3, 1984.

Assigned in July of 1985, Edmundite Father James Holden became the mission’s pastor. His short tenure, however, led to Deacon Al Girodo being assigned as the administrator with another Edmundite priest, Father John Henry Chevalier of Gadsden’s St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, celebrating Spanish Masses.

In March of 1987, ground was broken on land the diocese had purchased five years earlier, and work on a new church building was completed at lightning speed with the dedication occurring in November of that same year.

In 1992, the parish added Prucnal Hall, named in honor of a devoted parishioner, which was dedicated by the diocese’s second bishop, Bishop Raymond Boland.

A decade after dedicating its second church building, the growing parish was in need of more space, and the parish council requested permission to build a new church with seating for 300 people. Bishop David E. Foley, the Third Bishop of Birmingham, signed the contract and dedicated the new church on June 25, 2000.

In 2003, after years of various diocesan priests filling in to say Mass for the Blount County faithful, Father John Hartsfield was assigned as pastor. Five years after arriving in Oneonta, Father Hartsfield celebrated the parish becoming debt-free after the church building was paid in full.

The next priest to serve Corpus Christi was the parish’s current pastor, Father James Hedderman. He arrived in July of 2015 and has never slowed down since. His charismatic leadership has been felt throughout the community. Corpus Christi reaches out not only to the people of this parish, but also to the people in the county with various outreach ministries assisting organizations such as Hope House, Save a Life and Children's Center.

Closer to home, though, Father Hedderman is blessed to be a witness to the “strong faith and family life” of his flock, especially among the Guatemalan Catholic community. One woman, for example, by the name of Pedrina stands out in his mind as she was a practicing Evangelical in Guatemala but converted to Catholicism after settling in Alabama and encountering the beauty of the sacraments.

With the church bursting at the seams, renovation plans to increase the size of the church, the parish hall, and the parking are underway. “We have been continually blessed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” remarked Father Hedderman. “We strive to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, obey His Word, and serve Him in the poor, and Our Lord has blessed our parish in countless ways, allowing it to grow. … We have almost 900 registered families. There have been so many people, Anglo and Hispanic, who have worked diligently together throughout the years for the good of our parish. We are a people of God devoted through prayer and works and we thank Him wholeheartedly for blessing us with so many answered prayers.”