AND I HATE HAVING TO DRIVE 6 BLOCKS TO GET TO A GAS STATION

Although we don’t know the exact day, this year we are celebrating the 185th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated within the city limits of the city of Akron.  That is not to say that there wasn’t perhaps a Mass celebrated in the area before this time but that this is the first known and recorded Mass.  

In 1808 all of Ohio was part of the Diocese of Kentucky where Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget was the first bishop.  He had about 10 priests to serve this vast area.  Because of the growth of Catholics in Ohio, Dominican Father Edward D. Ferwick was named the first Bishop of the newly established Diocese of Cincinatti.  He undoubtedly sent priests to the area to minister.  They would travel from Canton through the woods and stay in people’s houses or even, from time to time, out in the open.  Mass was celebrated in taverns, log cabins, in public buildings, and non-Catholic churches.  Save for these visits, residents of Akron would have to travel to Canton, Doylestown or Cleveland for the sacraments.

Akron grew owing to the canal and this brought many Catholics to the area.  1833 is the year that we know for sure that a Mass was celebrated within the Akron city limits. The Rev. John Martin Henni who would later become the Archbishop of Milwaukee, came to say Mass in the log cabin of James McAllister, a local contractor.  This is the anniversary that we are celebrating.

The pastor in Doylestown, seeing that the number of Catholics was growing, purchased separate sacramental register books to record baptisms, confirmations and wedding taking place in Akron beginning in 1937.  Bishop Purcell, bishop of Cincinnati, visited the McAllister home again that home again that year and spoke to area residents about founding a parish that would serve the Akron and Cuyahoga Falls area and so the missionary parish of St. Vincent de Paul was founded, preceding the establishment of the Diocese of Cleveland by 10 years.

A Mass celebrating this history will take place at St. Vincent de Paul Parish (the mother church of Akron) on Thursday, September 27th at 7PM and you are invited to attend.

Most of the above information comes from Murray Powers’ book, “History of the Catholic Church in Summit County from Origin through ’76"

185 YEARS IS NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT

This is the logo for the 185th anniversary of the first known Mass celebrated within the city limits of Akron.  On September 27th at 7PM, the Feast of St. Vincent, there will be a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Vincent Parish, the mother church of Catholic Akron, and you are invited.  At your parishes of the greater Akron area the weekend before and after you should see this logo.  

The purpose of this celebration is to give thanks for and celebrate our blessings and heritage, to ask for God's blessing for the future, to make people more aware of the Catholic presence in Akron, and to keep this event in mind as we approach the 190th and 200th anniversary.  If you can, please come participate in this event

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: PARISH HISTORY: THE GREEN EYED MONSTER

By the 21st century, none of the Catholic high schools in the diocese were schools of a particular parish.  But in the 1930s it was not uncommon in Akron for a high school to be a parish ministry.  St. Vincent Parish had a high school as did St. Mary Parish.  It is very clear that Father Zwisler had every intention of building a parish high school at St. Sebastian.  Diocesan archive records reveal some of the lobbying efforts in this endeavor. 

In a letter dated June of 1938, Fr. Zwisler wrote a letter to Auxiliary Bishop McFadden in response to some sort of concern that had been brought to his attention that St. Sebastian was not supporting St. Vincent High School.  “The fact is,” he wrote, “that St. Sebastian parish, and St. Martha, and Annunciation to a lesser degree, have made it possible for St. Vincent to maintain its parochial high school.  Out of an enrollment of approximately 400 students, about 200 of them are tuition students from the above named parties at $50 a student per annum.  Out of the 200 tuition students, about 80, or nearly one half, are from St. Sebastian Parish.  

“As for furthering the great cause of Catholic secondary education, St. Sebastian Parish is far in the lead among parishes in Akron who have no parochial high school of its own.  Out of a class of 40 students who graduated from our 8th grade this year, 20 have enrolled at St. Vincent, 3 at the Elms, 3 at Sacred Heart Academy, and 2 at Prairie du Chein.  Seventy five percent of the class is entering a Catholic high school, in spite of the fact that we have no Catholic parochial high school of our own.  I don’t believe this record is surpassed by even St. Vincent and St. Mary Parishes who have parochial high schools of their own. 

“If, in conclusions, I may offer a suggestion, born of my knowledge of Akron affairs, I believe a Catholic Central high School, if feasible, might be of incalculable value to the Church in Akron.

“With every token of esteem, I remain, Yours very sincerely, Hilary A. Zwisler.”