St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Berea, Ohio, has served its parishioners through the leadership and dedication of its clergy and the generosity and spirit of countless parishioners. The parish, the community of Berea, and the Diocese of Cleveland have all benefited from its remarkable beginnings as a mission in the 19th century.

The roots of St. Mary’s Parish run as deep as the quarries that gave up their sandstone to the many settlers who came to Berea to carve out a living and a future for their families in the early 19th century.

Life was difficult for these early settlers who lived in wooden huts and log cabins and worked in dangerous quarries where the inhalation of the fine sandstone dust led to grit consumption and an early death. An early city father, John Baldwin, solved the problem, by patenting a blower that blew the fine grit away from the workmen.

In the early 1800’s, families flocked to the city of Berea in hopes of obtaining work in the sandstone quarries. In 1852, a number of Catholic families petitioned the Diocese of Cleveland for a priest to serve their area.  The first Mass in Berea was celebrated by Fr. James Conlan in May 1852 in the home of his friend, Thomas Donovan, whose log cabin stood at what is now believed to be the intersection of Grayton Road and North Rocky River Drive in Berea.

In our parish's beginning, St. Mary’s was served by a succession of priests, all of whom traced their roots back to Ireland. They included Rev. James Conlan, Rev. William O’Connor, Rev. Thomas Walsh, Rev. Michael Kennedy, Rev. Francis McGann, and Rev. Michael O’Neil. These men served St. Mary’s as a mission church.  

In 1856, Father Louis Filiere,  of Olmsted Falls, and a native of France, was named the first pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Berea. Fillier Street, though misspelled, was named after him. Fr. Filiere moved an old farmhouse to the site of the yet-to-be built “old stone church” to serve as a temporary church.  In his 20 years of service to the parish, Father Filiere raised the funds and supervised the construction of a magnificent church on Front Street made from Berea sandstone.

In 1866, parishioners, among them Irish, German, and Polish families agreed to raise $20,000 for the stone church. The cornerstone was laid on August 15, 1866, the Feast of the Assumption and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the edifice completed in 1870, complete with beautiful stained glass windows .

The design selected for the “old stone church” was the Romanesque style, 105 by 68 feet, made from dressed Berea quarry stone. The stones were taken from the quarries and taken down the railroad on Front Street. Ties were used for this track on which timbers were laid, in place of iron rails. On top of these timbers were fastened strap iron rails, which the wheels of the stone cars traveled on.
According to the Berea Advertiser (January 20, 1863): “The new Catholic Church is nearly ready for its slate roofing . When completed, this will be a building of which Berea may be proud. Structures of this type add greatly to our town.”

St. Mary’s survived the difficult years following the financial panic and crash of 1873 through the efforts of Fr. Filiere and the parishioners who remained—in spite of losing 100 Polish families who left to join the newly formed St. Adalbert’s Parish. St. Mary’s would lose parishioners for a second time in 1968 when 400 families were required to transfer to the new St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Brook Park.
In 1876, Rev. John Hannan succeeded Fr. Filiere. Fr. Hannan renovated the interior of the church, appointed the Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary in charge of the school, and founded the Altar and Rosary Society.

The first school opened in the basement of the church in 1876.  The school was supported by three (3) sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary as teachers.

During the pastorate of Rev. John T. Carroll, who had become pastor in 1879, a number of far-reaching steps were taken with the school. The school had its first graduating class (the practice of graduation was not common in those days) and a property was purchased and a frame school building erected on Front Street. The Sisters of Holy Humility of Mary once again took over the school from the lay teachers who had guided it from the early 1800’s.

Rev. Francis J. O’Neil took over the parish in 1886 and finished the church tower by erecting the spire, which would be one of Berea’s most recognizable landmarks for the next 82 years. The church bell that was donated by Mrs. Seidel and blessed by Fr. O’Neil was later salvaged from the old stone church when it was demolished and now stands in a place of prominence outside of St. Mary’s church.
By the turn of the century the parish comprised about 60 families with 60 children attending the grade school. Fr. O’Neil, who had suffered from ill-health for a number of years, served as pastor until his death in 1903.

After Fr. O'Neil, a number of priests served St. Mary’s as pastor, many of them Irish. Among them were Fr. Edward Kirby (1904-1909), Fr. Thomas E. Walsh (1909-1910), Fr. John J. Lillis (1910-1920), Fr. James E. Heffernan (1920-1924), Fr. William H. Moseley (1924-1936), Msgr. Clement Treiber (1936-1940), and Fr. Carl J. Anthony (1940-1942).

In 1925 our next major event occured, the building of our Parish school.  The school was built on Front St. and remained the location of the school until 1984.  The original building remains standing on its original location, although now part of the Aristocrat Nursing Center.

In 1942 Father Raymond A Kathe became pastor of St. Mary parish.  No one served as pastor longer than Fr. Kathe, remaining at that post until 1969. During that time the parish grew from 350 families to 1400, too many for the sandstone church on Front Street to accommodate. In the spring of 1962, seventeen (17) acres of land was purchased on Kraft Street for the future building of a new church, school and rectory.  Father Kathe oversaw the fundraising and construction of the new church. On Christmas Eve, 1964, Midnight Mass, attended by 1300 people, was celebrated in the new church.  The Front Street Church continued to be used for 4 more years, celebrating its centennial anniversary on August 15, 1966.  The “old” St. Mary’s church served St. Mary’s parishioners for almost 100 years—until being demolished in 1968.

Father Butler succeeded Father Kathe in 1969 and remained pastor until he retired in 1978.  In 1978, Father John M. Garrity was installed as pastor of St. Mary’s. Father Garrity guided St. Mary’s through tremendous change. Under his administration, in 1981, the Kraftstone Gym and Meeting Rooms were built on the parish grounds.  In 1984, the parish purchased the Lechtner Elementary school on Baker Street and moved the parish school to that location, where it remains today.  Fr. Garrity was pastor of St. Mary’s from 1978 until his unexpected death in 2002.

In October 2002, Father George A. Vrabel was appointed pastor. Fr. Vrabel continued to nourish the spiritual life of St. Mary’s until he chose to leave for a smaller parish in 2012.  In 2012 Fr. John Singler became pastor of St. Mary’s and is serving in that role until today.  He has been charged with taking St. Mary parish into the ever-changing world of catholic life.

The parish has a long-time commitment to helping the poor in our area and serving the needs of the sick in the hospital and local nursing homes. Today St. Mary's is a thriving parish serving over 3,000 families in Berea, Olmsted Falls, Strongsville and other neighboring communities.  Our St. Mary School supports about 350 daytime students and about 200 students in our Parish School of Religion.  We serve our parish with over 20 ministries, from Athletics (CYO sports) to Music (5 different ensembles active), Homebound Services to Food & Clothing collections, the annual "Giving Tree" to "Fr. Marty dress down days", from our Prayer Shawl group to our Bible Study Group, from our GIFTSS Program (Giving Individual Training to Special Students) to our "Littles" Sunday School.

We are St. Mary Parish, celebrating 163 years of pastoral service to the catholic community of Berea.