Last Mass at last Barberton ethnic parish

The beautiful stained glass doors which are the entrance to SS Cyril and Methodus Church will close after the final Mass at 10 a.m. on Sunday..

The doors show the images of the brother saints who are the patrons of the Slovak church. SS Cyril and Methdus was the oldest and last of four ethnic church in Barberton.

When Murray Powers wrote his history of the Catholic Church in Summit Dounty in 1976, Barberton had five Catholic churches. The oldest–still remaining–is St. Augusttine. The four others, all ethnic churches, were SS Cyril and Methodius established by Slovak immigrants in 1906; Holy Trinity for Hungarians in 1911; St. Mary for Polish in 1912 and Sactred Heart for Slovenians in 1910, St,. Mary and Sacred Heart merged in 2003 to become what is now Prince of Peace and Holy Trinity closed in 2007.

SS. Cyril and Methodius was established in 1905 and Mass was celebrated in a home until the new church was completed. It was begun in 1906 under the direction of Fr. Augustine Tomasik. The parish built an eight-room school with a gym and cafeteria in 1955. The Vincentian Sisters of Charity had been at the parish since 1934. The elementary school which once had 400 pupils dropped to 88 in five years and it was decided to close the building. The parish in 1976 had 600 families First baptism in the parish was May 13, 1906, of Theodore Gregory Palus, and the first marriage was between Francis Szeman (Simons) and Anna Hamila.

In 1979, a flood damaged the already deteriorating parish property. During the rebuilding, the church was completely renovated and major work was done on the school, boiler systems, parking lot and air-conditioning system. The newly renovated church was consecrated in 1986 and the parish celebrated its centennial in 2006.

Bishop Richard G. Lennon will be celebrant for the last Mass. The Church is located at 193 15th St. NW.

The Barberton parish will be the first of six to close in Summit County as part of a diocesan reconfiguration plan. The plan calls for the number of parishes in the eight-county Catholic Diocese of Cleveland to drop from 224 to 191 by June 30, 2010, through closings and mergers.

One of St. Paul's neighboring churches, St. John the Baptist, will celebrate its final Mass on October 31 at 4 p.m,. Two other neighbors, Sacred Heart of Jesus on Grant Street and St. Mary at 750 S. Main St. will not close until next year.

See our earlier story.

Several beautiful photos of SS Cyril and Methodius Church were used with a story on the closing by Akron Beacon Journal religion writer Colette M. Jenkins in Saturday's newspaper. You can view the photos online at Ohio.com