He arrived with nothing, grew up across an ocean, and has spent the better part of two decades making sure no Catholic parish in the Idaho Panhandle goes without a shepherd. Rev. Sipho Mathabela — known to parishioners across Northern Idaho simply as “Father Sipho” — has built a ministry defined by movement, availability, and a pair of well-worn cowboy boots.
At 63, Mathabela serves as a roaming presence across several parishes in the Diocese of Boise. His home base is St. Alphonsus parish in the Idaho Panhandle, but his work extends well beyond those walls. He regularly steps in as pastor for three additional congregations — churches in Post Falls, Rathdrum, and Spirit Lake, the last of which is home to St. George’s parish. The result is a priest who logs more miles than most and carries the spiritual weight of multiple communities.
A Life That Prepared Him for Hardship
Mathabela’s path to the priesthood in rural Idaho began under circumstances that would have broken many. Born in Swaziland, South Africa, he was the fifth child in his family — and his birth came at a devastating cost. His mother died during childbirth. As a young boy, he also lost his father, who was killed in Swaziland. Orphaned early, Mathabela found support through the faith community that would eventually shape his vocation: Dominican Sisters from Germany provided clothing to students at his school, offering a lifeline of practical charity during a formative time.
Those early experiences — of loss, of community stepping in where family could not, of faith as something tangible and sustaining — seem to animate the way he now approaches his ministry. For Mathabela, the church is not an institution to be administered from a distance. It is the people themselves.
“We are here for Jesus, not ourselves,” he has said. “We are followers of Christ. The church is the people, not the building.”
A Familiar Face Across the Panhandle
After nearly 20 years in the Diocese of Boise, Mathabela has become a well-known figure in Northern Idaho’s Catholic communities. His accessibility — and his willingness to show up, whether in vestments or his signature cowboy boots, which he wears roughly 90 percent of the time both during and outside of Mass — has earned him deep affection among the faithful he serves.
Deacon Vince Perry speaks to what makes Mathabela effective in a region where rural parishes can feel isolated: “He is readily available and always joyously answers calls. He has a great sense of humor.”
That warmth is echoed by long-time parishioners. Steven Skreenock, who has been a member of St. Stanislaus parish for 27 years, has watched the priest community evolve over decades. Evelyn Corrigan, a St. Joseph parishioner for five years, represents the newer generation of faithful who have come to rely on Mathabela’s circuit-riding presence.
The cowboy boots, for their part, have become something of a signature — an emblem of a priest who is at home in Idaho, who has made this land his own even as he carries with him the story of a childhood spent far away on another continent.
What Comes Next
The challenges facing rural Catholic communities across the American West are well documented — declining numbers of ordained priests, aging congregations, and parishes spread across vast geographic distances. Mathabela’s ministry represents one practical response to that reality: a single dedicated priest willing to keep multiple communities connected to the sacraments and to each other.
As long as parishes in Post Falls, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, and beyond need someone to answer the call, Father Sipho appears content to keep driving the roads of Northern Idaho, boots on and ready. For the Diocese of Boise and the communities he serves, that commitment is no small thing.
For more on community life across the region, visit KootenaiCountyNews.com, and follow statewide Idaho coverage at IdahoNews.co.