St. Joachim’s parish began in 1879 when Fr. Charles Beyerle, Pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul parish from Grand Rapids (later to become Wisconsin Rapids) came to Pittsville once a month to offer mass in the homes of Catholic families.

The first Catholic church was built in 1887 and was known as St. Joachim Mission Church. The mission parish had 80 members. The first resident priest arrived in 1908, Rev. John Willitzer and served St. Joachim’s from January 1908 until his death on January 24, 1946. Fr. Willitzer was instrumental in having Catholic families move to Pittsville. In 1908 there were 110 parish members. The second church building was built in 1912 and incorporated part of the original church in the structure. It was known as St. Joachim Church. 

An elementary school was scheduled to be built in 1916. However, World War I delayed the beginning of construction until 1920. It was completed in 1921. The school was built under Fr. Willitzer’s guidance to accommodate 200 pupils and included living quarters for 3 Sisters of the Notre Dame Convent. Enrollment in 1922 was 85 pupils. 

A new parsonage was built in 1940 to replace the parsonage built in 1908. The 1945 parish report listed 166 members. In addition to serving as pastor at St. Joachim’s, Fr. Willitzer served the mission churches in Altdorf, Babcock and at various times Vesper and City Point for 38 years. 

Maryheart High School was established in 1948 under Fr. Paul Flad who became the pastor in 1947. A two-room addition was added to the grade school building and the Sister’s quarters remodeled. A full basement was completed and a new heating system installed. Classes begin in 1948 and the first class graduated in 1950. 

A new convent was built in 1951 for the 8 nuns that staffed the schools. In 1952 there were 204 parish members, 221 elementary and high school students. Maryheart High School closed its doors in 1961. St. Joachim’s Elementary School closed in 1972.

In June of 1977, St. Joachim Church was demolished and construction started on the same site. The new and current church was dedicated in June of 1978.

St. Joachim parish currently has 258 families and 72 students in K- 8 and 17 High School students. Religious vocations include 9 women who have entered religious life and 5 men who have entered the priesthood. At present, we share our Pastor Father Nathan with St. James parish, Vesper and Holy Rosary parish, Sigel.

In addition to Frs. Willitzer and Flad, St. Joachim parish has been served by many priests including; Fr. Donald Berg, Fr. Damian Ilokaba, Fr. James Benzmiller, Fr. Jude Ndugbu, Fr. Robert Nelson and our current Pastor, Fr. Amalanathan (Fr. Nathan).  

The cemeteries and territories of St. Joseph in Altdorf, St. Francis in Arpin, All Saints in Babcock and North American Martyrs Chapel in City Point are administered by our Pastor.  

Our parish is rural and covers over 700 square miles in Wood, Clark, Jackson, and Juneau counties. Many of our parishioners are employed in the medical field at Marshfield Medical Center and the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield as well as various paper mills in central Wisconsin. Some parishioners are dairy, hog and crop farmers, raise cranberries or are local business owners.

Currently St. Joachim is a very dynamic parish with excellent parishioner support in the areas of time, talent and treasure. As a parish, we have met our Diocesan Annual Appeal goal 20 out of 21 years. With the capital fundraiser. We Belong to Christ which began in 2006 and ended in 2010, the parish raised over $101,000 in support for the Diocese of La Crosse, church infrastructure improvements, and deanery parochial school support. The CCD and religious education programs are strong. We have a continuing Bible study group. The PCCW, Holy Name Society and Knights of Columbus are all robust and supportive of many parish and Wisconsin Rapids deanery causes. In July 2018, St. Joachim began a sister parish partnership with the Diocese of Vellore in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India.