The Catholic community in Mantua, Portage County, dates to 1864, when Irish settlers grew in their desire to worship. Cleveland’s Bishop Amadeus Rappe established a mission in the area, as the land was still within the Diocese of Cleveland. Priests from Holy Name Church in Cleveland traveled to northern Portage County to celebrate Mass with a handful of these faithful Catholics.
In 1870, the first frame church, called St. Joseph, was built on what is now Prospect Street in the village of Mantua, and was rebuilt in 1895 under the direction of Father Ambrose Weber, who served there for nearly 20 years.
Starting in 1903, Jesuit priests from St. Ignatius College, now John Carroll University, ran the mission for a time. St. Joseph’s was officially established as a parish on August 17, 1923, as it had grown to nearly 40 parishioners. Father Edward Gracey was the first pastor, and he also established two missions—one in Nelson Circle, which would become St. Ambrose in Garrettsville, and another at Geauga Lake Park, which would become St. Rita in Solon (now in the Diocese of Cleveland). For a time, parishioners of St. Joseph Parish and its missions were only attending Mass twice a month. Under Father Gracey, who also helped rebuild the main church, which was dedicated in 1924, the parish saw regular weekly Mass attendance rise to full participation.
Father Francis Hughes was pastor from 1960 to 1966 and opened the first parish school, which was originally in the basement of the old church building. In 1963, a new campus for the church, school, auditorium and parish offices was built on 96 acres. When the new campus opened, it served as an unofficial celebration of the nearly 100 years of serving Catholics in the area.
Now, a century after the official dedication in 1923, St. Joseph Parish is remembering its rich past and anticipating a successful future.
Throughout 2023, the parish has been hosting numerous events, some of which have already been celebrated. Members of the parish staff and parish council have been busy planning ways to get parishioners involved and to educate them on the storied history of St. Joseph’s.
“We’re pulling in people to help, and they’re excited for it,” said Kathi Trares, parish secretary, who has been a parishioner since 1984 and on staff for more than 30 years. “We still have the same community involvement, and lots of volunteers want to help out when they can.”
The parish has already hosted a 100th anniversary feast day dinner, as well as an ice cream social and outing to an Akron Rubberducks baseball game. In July, parishioners held their 59th annual Ox Roast Fair—one of the biggest events in the county.
“It is always incredible,” Trares said. “It’s a huge event and people come back even if they live out of the area. It’s like a homecoming for people.”
They also held their parish picnic in August, and they are planning more events for the holiday season, such as ornament decorating and a Christmas concert.
Historical displays, including framed photos of the dozens of pastors at the parish, have been on display all year, and former staff members of the church and school, which closed in 2010, are invited back to the parish to remember their time there.
With help from the Knights of Columbus, parish staff members are also working on a memorial brick project for the church grounds, and a “100 hours of service challenge” has been issued to parishioners to help with the upkeep of the campus.
“Since our maintenance man retired several years ago, a group of three men have volunteered to establish a maintenance and grounds ministry,” Trares said. “They take pride in it, and anyone else can help as well.”
Trares said that in recent years, change has been a constant for St. Joseph Parish —including changes in leadership. Father Ed Stafford, who had been pastor since 2015, was followed by Father Shawn Conoboy in 2022. Father Conoboy served at St. Joseph Parish for a year before accepting an appointment on the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in Rome.
Father Frantisek Katrinak, who assumed his duties on May 1, is now the pastor at St. Joseph Parish. Father Joseph Ruggieri is parochial vicar, and Father Chris Luoni, sacramental minister for all of Portage County, resides at St. Joseph’s.
Another aspect of the recent change has been the establishment of the Portage North grouping in May 2022, consisting of St. Joseph Parish, St. Ambrose Parish in Garrettsville, St. Joan of Arc Parish in Streetsboro and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Aurora.
“We’ve had a lot of changes, and things have happened really fast,” Trares said. “We’re getting a lot of collaboration between churches and in combining ministries and pooling our resources, we want to form a balance and grow stronger together.”
