The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
St. Mary’s Church turns 145
Foundation of other Catholic parishes
Lorain’s first Catholic parish is turning 145 this year.
St. Mary’s Church, 309 W. Seventh St., is celebrating another birthday as Lorain’s oldest Catholic church.
The tale of the church has been logged in multiple histories of the church compiled for its anniversaries over the years, said the Rev. Daniel Divis, pastor, and Patricia Shullick, pastoral associate.
“One hundred fifty is going to be bigger, but still, it’s 145,” Divis said.
“Which is a big deal,” Shullick said. “Like father said, it’s not the 150th, but it’s good to mark each one of these milestones.
“This is just honoring our community, really,” she said.
Divis first came to the parish in 1987 as associate pastor.
Five years later, he succeeded the Rev. John Kline as pastor.
A Lorain native, Shullick said she has been a parishioner for years and her children grew up attending school at St. Mary.
The anniversary dates from the earliest incarnation of the church in 1873, when the Rev. Louis Molon, of Elyria, began monthly visits to the Catholic families of Black River Township.
In 1878, the Rev. Joseph Romer, of North Amherst, celebrated Mass in the homes of the earliest members.
A year later, the congregation built the first Catholic church in Lorain on Reid Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets.
The church would become the starting point for a number of Lorain’s Catholic churches, which were based on the ethnic heritage of the members or based on the neighborhoods of the city.
For example, the former St. Joseph Parish became the German church, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary became one of the Polish churches in town.
St. Anthony Parish formed to serve the city’s east side.
Although additional ethnic and territorial parishes branched off St. Mary, the church continued to grow with the Rev. John J. Johnston as pastor, adding a convent and the school, St. Mary Academy, which opened in January 1924.
Later that year, the Great Tornado of 1924 destroyed the Romanesque church.
“The story goes that they were having mass in the school gym all those years from 1924 to 1931, and the bishop came out for confirmation in 1931 and said to the pastor, it’s time to rebuild the church,” Divis said. “So he did.”
Parishioners worshipped in the school gym for seven years before the church was rebuilt and dedicated in June 1931.
The church still stands amid the complex of parish buildings just west of Reid Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets.
St. Mary is rich in Lorain history, but it remains a house of worship, not just a museum.
The parish has about 625 households as members, representing about 1,300 people, Divis said.
Parishioners come from as far as Avon Lake, Amherst and Vermilion and from as near as the 44052 ZIP code area of the surrounding neighborhood of central Lo- rain.
“Every one of these streets has parishioners on it,” Shullick said.
St. Mary High School closed in 1969, when the former Lorain Catholic High School opened, but there still are a number of alumni in the area.
Divis recounted how in July, members of the St. Mary High School class of 1952 came back for Mass.
In March 2009, retired Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese announced the church would merge with the former Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Lorain.
Shullick said the announcement was traumatic, but St. Mary obtained a ruling from the Vatican to keep its name.
The parishioners there have a passion for social justice; Shullick called it a charism, or a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Work there was the precursor to the former St. Joseph Overnight Shelter, which has evolved to become the St. Elizabeth Center of Catholic Charities, 2726 Caroline Ave.
St. Mary has 90 volunteers who continue serving meals and have a choice food pantry on the fourth Monday of every month.
The former St. Mary High School building has remained open with charter schools and it served as home of New Beginnings Academy, one of the schools within Lorain City Schools.
Later this month, the church will invite parishioners to form an anniversary committee to develop plans for a formal commemoration.
They hope to invite Bishop Nelson Perez of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese to celebrate in Lorain.
Other anniversary tributes will be more casual.
At this year’s parish picnic, there will be a raffle with 10 prizes, each $145, Divis said.
“Something a little different,” he said.