About

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We are a growing Catholic community on the northwest side of Columbus, Ohio. In the past five years, we have grown from 150 to 250 families. A lot of new development is taking place in our area. Our present church seats about 150 people. It has been well-maintained and is a beautiful place to pray.

St. Joseph Church has a rich history of over 100 years. Read below to learn more about our background, courtesy of the Plain City Historical Society.

Weekend Masses
Sat. 4:30pm (PAC), Sun. 8:30am* (Church), Sun. 11:00am (PAC)
*Livestream will be at 8:30am. – Learn about the road construction near the church.

Daily Masses (Church)
Mon. 5:30pm, Tues. 5:30pm, Wed. 5:30pm, Fri. 8:00am, Satu. 9:00am (Life & Mercy)

Confession
Sat. 9:30 (Church after Life & Mercy Mass)
Sat. 3:30pm (PAC cry room)

Please remain home and watch our Livestream of Mass if you or anyone in your household have the following:

• Fever of 100.4 or higher.
• Cough.
• Headache.
• Sore Throat.
• Shortness of Breath.
• Fatigue.
• Loss of taste or smell.
• Unexplained body aches.
• Recent contact with anyone having symptoms of COVID-19 or a positive diagnosis.
• If you are in the “High Risk” and over the age of 65.

For the return to Mass and Parish activities, you are required to:

• State of Ohio and Diocese of Columbus Mandatory Mask Order to be worn by all (except those under the age of 2).
• Maintain physical distancing of 6 feet upon entering and leaving.
• Use hand sanitizer entering the church.
• Safe distancing while sitting in the church and PAC (except family members).
• Maintain 6 feet of physical distance in the Communion line.

Updated: Bishop Brennan extends the Sunday Mass obligation dispensation beyond Sept. 13, 2020.  He states:  "Given the rise in the rate of infection throughout Ohio, Catholics in the Diocese of Columbus are dispensed from their Sunday Mass obligation until further notice. This is in conformity with the other Ohio dioceses."

Please subscribe to the St. Joseph YouTube channel, where this week's 8:30am Sunday Liturgy will be live-streamed. 

Most of the heads of the families who founded St. Joseph in what was then Pleasant Valley, Ohio, were, like their patron, humble workmen. Most of them probably arrived on the railroad which connected Pleasant Valley with Columbus to the southeast and, to the west, Urbana and other county seats. The railroad and the men’s status as laborers, however, also made it easy for them to depart. Out of the nearly 80 adult males who appear as part of the congregation between its founding in 1864 and the year 1870, no more than half appear to have been present at any one time.

Only six Catholic households are known to have existed in the Pleasant Valley area in 1860. Pleasant Valley was a station visited occasionally by the priests from St. Patrick Church in Columbus as early as 1861. Priests also traveled by horseback and horse-and-buggy from London and West Jefferson. The congregation was organized in the spring of 1864 by Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, the pastor of St. Patrick. On April 1, $300 was paid as a down payment on two lots, numbers 89 and 90, which were placed in Father Fitzgerald’s name. They were the sixth and seventh lots east of Church Street and fourth south of Main Street, on the north side of what is now Jackson Street. A one-story frame house, facing south, was built and soon converted for use as a church.

In 1869, St. Joseph was the hub of a wide mission area, including Marysville and Milford Center in Union County and Woodstock, Mechanicsburg, and St. Paris in Champaign County. It was not until 1904 that Plain City was given canonical status and Rev. Herman N. Santer took up residence, with missions in Milford Center and Woodstock.

There were 26 families in St. Joseph (Union) in 1899 when the lot at 140 West Avenue was purchased for $375. The new church was dedicated on Tuesday, August 28, 1900. When completed, the new church had cost $9,000, and of this only $800 was still owed. The parish minutes of the time indicate that a good portion of the funds needed were raised through lawn fetes, ice cream socials, bazaars, dinners, picnics, and “sales” at parishioners’ homes.

The newspaper account of the time mentioned the trials and tribulations of the congregation in building the church. For example, at one time, by laborious saving, they had $1,800 in the bank, only to lose it when the bank failed.

The church in Plain City is still in use, although it has been modified inside and out: inside by the requirements of the liturgical changes of the last seventy-five years, and outside by a severe storm on the evening of July 12, 1966, which toppled the steeple. In 1958, the basement was excavated under the entire structure for a meeting hall, kitchen, and other necessary facilities.

The Pastors of Saint Joseph

• Fr. Edward Fitzgerald: Feb. 29, 1864–1867
• Fr. Francis C. Mallon: 1867–1868
• Fr. F. McMelon: 1868–1869
• Fr. N. A. Gallagher: 1869 (4 months)
• Fr. Matthew F. McGrath: 1869–1870
• Fr. Henry Kiffmeyer: 1871–1873
• Fr. Benedict Mathias Mueller: 1873–1898
• Fr. Martin A. Heintz: 1898–1905
• Fr. Herman H. Senten: 1905–1906
• Fr. S. J. Kreuzkamp: 1906–1907
• Fr. Lawrence L. Demming: 1907–1908
• Fr. Frederick Prieshoff: 1909
• Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. Ralph J. Markham: 1910
• Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. John McGlinchey: 1911–1912
• Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. John Lampe: 1912–1913
• Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. William John Patrick O’Connor: 1914–1917
• Fr. David Powers: 1917–1924
• Fr. William J. Leaver: 1924–1949
• Fr. William J. Meyer: 1949–1953
• Fr. Robert Roster: 1953–1956
• Fr. Robert J. Beckman: 1956–1958
• Fr. Karl A. Wuest: 1958–1970
• Fr. Fred Falce: 1971 (8 months)
• Fr. Richard P. Baird: 1971–1972
• Fr. Richard Dirksen: 1972 (1 month)
• Fr. Robert Roster: 1972–1973
• Fr. Karl A. Wuest: 1974–1977
• Fr. Edward Healey: 1977 (14 days)
• Fr. Stephen Metzger: 1977–1981
• Fr. Raymond J. Carter: 1981–1985
• Fr. Homer D. Blubaugh: 1985–1987
• Fr. Charles F. Klinger: 1987–1991
• Fr. Kevin F. Lutz: 1991–1997
• Fr. Patrick A. Toner: 1997–2015
• Fr. Joseph J. Trapp, Jr. 2015–Present

Special thanks to Joe Hofbauer, Fr. Kevin Lutz, and Deacon Anthony Bonacci for the history used here.