In September of 1959, Bishop Daley notified Monsignor Maurice Aspinwall of St. Joseph Parish to begin searching for a site suitable for building a church to serve the Catholic community of eastern Polk County. A ten-acre site 1/2 mile south of Highway 6 and Main Street in Altoona was selected by a building committee chosen by the group known as St. Joseph East. The purchase agreement was signed on December 20, 1960, but the owners continued to farm the land as Altoona grew and homes were built around it.

The Religious Education Program began in fall of 1967 with classes held in private homes.  Beginning in January of 1968, 50% of the tithes received from parishioners of the eastern section of St. Joseph Parish were set aside for the new parish.

Weekly Masses began on May 15, 1971 at the Altoona American Legion Hall, then moved to the Altoona Methodist Church in June. In September of 1971, CCD classes began in the Methodist church for grades 1 through 9, while classes for grades 10-12 continued in parishioners' homes. Parish activities were administered by an elected five-member board from approximately 1967-1983.

The Southeast Polk Catholic Community was officially designated a separate parish on October 4, 1983, the anniversary of Pope John Paul's visit to Iowa. The new parish was named Ss. John and Paul Catholic Church in his honor and Fr. Daniel J. Clarke was named the first pastor. Fr. Clarke's first celebration of Eucharist was Saturday, October 8, 1983 at the Masonic Temple. The parish had 140 households.

Groundbreaking for Ss. John and Paul's transitional parish facility was held July 22, 1984, with Bishop Dingman, Fr. Clarke, and many parishioners, diocesan representatives and friends in attendance. The building contained a multi-purpose room used for Mass and as a social hall, eight classrooms, sacristy, kitchen, storage room, mechanical room and rest rooms. Mass was celebrated for the first time the weekend of August 3 and 4, 1985.  Construction of the parish rectory began in November of 1984. The finished basement contained a meeting area and offices for the secretary/bookkeeper and the director of religious education.

Fr. Vince Rosonke was named pastor in 1990 and under his leadership, the Celebrate 2000 Campaign began in 1997 to raise funds to build a permanent church facility and religious education center. With the hard work of the parishioners and Fr. Vince, the new facility began to take shape. Religious education classes were first held in the Faith Development Center in January 2001, and on March 11, 2001, Bishop Charron dedicated the new worship space. Construction was completed to turn the transitional building into a parish hall, larger kitchen, and parish offices.

In July of 2001, Fr. Vince was reassigned and Fr. Howard Fitzgerald was named pastor of Ss. John and Paul. Under his spiritual guidance, the parish continued to grow, now at over 600 households. Christian Experience Weekends began to reach out to adults to encourage spirituality and service in the parish community. The Fr. Daniel J. Clarke Council of the Knights of Columbus was established in 2002. An intergenerational faith formation program was started to serve parishioners of all ages in 2003.

At the conclusion of Ss. John and Paul's 25th anniversary, in July 2009, Fr. Howard was reassigned and Fr. Timothy Fitzgerald was named pastor of Ss. John and Paul Parish. With Fr. Tim's leadership, our parish continued to grow, expanding faith formation opportunities for everyone in the parish, and reaching out to those most in need in our community and throughout the world, through projects with Catholic Charities, Refugee Resettlement, Habitat for Humanity, and many others.

Under Fr. Tim's leadership, an addition was built onto the Faith Development Center in 2016 with a new youth ministry room, social room and kitchen. A portion of the old building was remodeled to include more classrooms with moveable partitions to allow for more flexibility, and the old social room was remoded into a child care area. Youth Ministry began meeting in the new space in February 2017.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in March 2020, fundraising continued for Phase II of our expansion, and in July 2020 the parish broke ground for the new parish hall. Because of pandemic-related supply issues and worker shortages, the new hall was not quite finished when Fr. Tim retired in July 2021 and Fr. Mark McGeary was named pastor of Ss. John and Paul.

Fr. Mark jumped in with both feet to take the helm as the building project was completed. In September 2021 our intergenerational faith formation program met in the new facility for the first time. At over 850 households, we look forward to continued growth and living the good news of Jesus wherever we go.