St. Joseph Parish in Maximo, celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, can trace its origins back to a group of French immigrants who settled the area as early as 1833. Originally named Strasbourg, in reference to the town from which the settlers arrived, the town was renamed to Maximo in 1896 after a post office was established, so as to avoid confusion with another Strasbourg township in nearby Tuscarawas County.
The earliest recorded Masses were celebrated in 1850. From then until 1857, Mass was celebrated in the homes of the town’s Catholic families. These early Masses of Maximo’s mission parish were administered by priests from parishes in Louisville, Harrisburg, Canton and Massillon.
In 1857, the community purchased land from parishioner Peter Anthony Erisey and built their first church, a brick structure completed the same year. The construction was overseen by Father Louis Grevin, pastor of Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in Harrisburg, who dedicated the church building and named it in honor of St. Joseph.
Eleven years later in 1868, the parish built a brick schoolhouse directly across the street from the church, which served as a full-term school, a summer-term facility, and also provided catechetical education. A parishioner named Clementine Rebrassier served as the school’s first teacher. The school operated for 16 years but was eventually closed between 1884 and 1923 due to low enrollment, because the school’s rural location made it difficult for students to travel for classes.
The mission was elevated to parish status in 1905 with the placement of its first resident pastor, Father Charles Gardner. Father Gardner was replaced by Father Edward Calvey in 1907, who served the parish for 15 years and oversaw the construction of the parish’s rectory.
A new church building was constructed during the pastorate of Father Raymond Gorman, who arrived in 1922 and purchased land for the larger worship site. The parish school was reopened in 1923 with parishioner Edyth Miday serving as the teacher, and the following year the community broke ground on a new school and parish hall. Also in 1924, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine arrived to teach at the school. They would later be joined by the Notre Dame Sisters and the Franciscan Sisters.
Parish life continued as normal and the community grew over the following three decades, with Father James Peppard, Father Gordon Gutman and Father William O’Neil serving as pastors.
Father Ralph Friedrich, who became pastor in 1955, guided the parish through a period of growth and development. The parish community had increased significantly—the church could seat approximately 144 attendees, but by the 1950s, there were 165 students enrolled in the school alone. Extra space was desperately needed, and groundbreaking on a new church building began on March 3, 1957. The first ceremony to be held in the still-under-construction building came on Labor Day of 1958, in honor of St. Joseph the Worker, when the tools of the builders were blessed. The new church building was opened on September 28, 1958.
The original church was razed during the pastorate of Father Paul Dehnke, who succeeded Father Friedrich in 1961. Father Thomas McNally, who served for nearly 30 years from 1973 until 1990, implemented the liturgical changes and worship site updates mandated by the Second Vatican Council, including moving the altar so the priest could face the congregation.
In 1970, St. Joseph’s school was consolidated with Sacred Heart of Mary’s school in Harrisburg. From 1955 until the consolidation, the students were taught by Sisters of the Holy Ghost from Pittsburgh. Today, the school building is used for religious education classes and for the parish’s social events.
Father William Bantz was appointed pastor in 1990 and led the parish through several renovations: the church interior was repainted and received minor repairs, the drainage system in the church undercroft was completely redone, and the parish cemetery received updates as well. The school received the most substantial renovations, with repainting and asbestos removal taking priority alongside other updates.
Father Bantz served until 2002 and was followed by Father Thomas Ungashick in 2002 and Father Howard Ziemba in 2011. In 2012, Father Patrick Manning was named administrator of the parish.
In 2013, St. Joseph began collaborating with Alliance’s Regina Coeli parish with the arrival of Father Joseph Ruggieri, who served as pastor for both parishes. During Father Ruggieri’s pastorate, St. Joseph received additional improvements, especially in regards to the rectory, which, at 100 years old, received new heating and air-conditioning systems and updated appliances. The old convent for sisters teaching at the parish school was torn down, and handicap-accessible ramps were added to the entrance of the church. The church restroom was also made handicap-accessible at the same time.
Father Ruggieri also utilized the Lay Leaders of Prayer program, which trains parishioners to lead certain prayer services such as Stations of the Cross, to enhance the prayer life of the parish. Nine parishioners completed the training under his pastorate.
Father Ruggieri served as pastor until 2021 when Father G. David Weikart arrived.
Today, St. Joseph’s in Maximo collaborates with St. Ann Parish in Sebring, Regina Coeli and St. Joseph parishes in Alliance and St. Isidore Parish in Harrisburg. The group of parishes forms the Catholic Community of Eastern Stark County, with Father Matt Humerickhouse serving as pastor and Father Bob England as parochial vicar and associate pastor.
Father Humerickhouse, who became pastor for the East Stark County Catholic Community parishes in July of this year, praised the collaborative spirit his parishioners have shown, as well as the work of his predecessor Father Weikart in building the partnerships between the churches.
“It’s been great actually, not having to blaze a bunch of trails and try and make them work together – it’s good that they were already working together,” he said. “Father Weikart did a lot of good, [he] did all that groundwork for me.”
Each parish operates its own council, but there is also a “representative council” including members of each individual council which comes together to coordinate their activities, resources and worship opportunities.
Father Humerickhouse said that he has been inspired by the devotion shown by young Catholics, saying that it gives him hope that the Church will continue to thrive for the decades to come.
“The young people today, young Catholics, are very devout and that’s encouraging,” he said. “I know they’ll be sticking around and raising their kids Catholic. There’s a real love for the Eucharist that I’ve noticed, so I think we’re all going to be just fine. The Church is going to be smaller in the future, but they’re going to be very powerful individuals of the Church.”
Father Humerickhouse is determined to work towards strengthening the Catechism of the younger generations who are choosing to be part of the Church, saying that there is a greater opportunity for theological and liturgical depth—there is a deep longing for substance and meaning in today’s world, a fact evidenced by recent polls showing that Generation Z is the first generation since the end of WWII to be more religious than their forebears.
“The cultural pendulum has started swinging the other way now,” he said. “For a long time, the culture went towards the sort of atheist materialism, and now we’re sliding back towards traditional ideas. This is just the beginning of the pendulum going the other way. We have to be resolute to stay the course and not scare off what we’ve got.”
What Father Humerickhouse believes would amount to “scaring off” younger generations is allowing secular and materialistic ideas to “creep back into the vernacular of the Church”. Instead, he wants to get “back to the base” and increase a fundamental knowledge of how God and the Church function in the world.
“There’s a lot of dimensions that people don’t see, and I’d like to open their eyes to that,” Father Humerickhouse said.
St. Joseph Parish has held several celebratory events already for the 175th anniversary, including an anniversary Mass and dinner on September 28. On November 2, the parish will also be holding a remembrance Mass. For more information about the parish and their anniversary, follow their page on Facebook.
