Christ the King to close with Saturday Mass

Christ  the King Parish is scheduled to close after the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday. The church, which is tucked away on a quiet residential cul-de-sac at 1584 Creighton Avenue, will merge with St. Martha Parish to form Blessed Trinity Parish at the St. Martha site, 300 E. Tallmadge Ave.

A story about the closing by Akron Beacon Journal religion writer Colette M. Jenkins was published in Friday’s newspaper. Click on the headline to read her full story.

It is the third Akron parish to close as part of the diocese-wide restructuring plan to address declining enrollment, financial hardships, population shifts and a worsening clergy shortage. St. John the Baptist Parish closed October 31 and was merged with Annunciation Church to form the Visitation of Mary Parish at the Annunciation location at 87 Broad St. St. Hedwig, at 215 E Glenwood closed  Sept. 26.as part of the St..Martha and Christ the King ,merger.

Bishop Richard G. Lennon will preside at the closing Mass at Christ the King.. After the Mass, a reception will be held in the school gym. . A closing Mass for St. Martha is at 1 p.m. Sunday. Blessed Trinity will celebrate its opening Mass at 11 a.m. Dec. 6.

''The story here at Christ the King is the same as it is for other parishes throughout the diocese and in other regions of the country — different cultural forces have brought us to where we are today,'' said the Rev. Frank Basa, who has served as pastor of Christ the King for 22 years. ''It becomes a question of stewardship. Do we continue to pump money into old buildings where fewer and fewer people are coming? We have to make the best use of our resources.'' 

Basa said any decisions about what happens to the property at Christ the King will be made under the leadership of Blessed Trinity's new pastor, the Rev. Joe Warner. Warner, 50, will be installed during the opening Mass. He comes to the North Hill parish from St. Hilary Parish in Fairlawn, where he served as parochial vicar. Basa will replace Warner at St. Hilary.

In the Cleveland diocese, the number of registered Catholics who regularly attend Mass has dropped from 54 percent in 1970 to 28 percent last year.

The reconfiguration plan calls for 50 parishes to close by June 30, 2010. At that time, there will be one parish for every 2,600 Catholics in Akron; one parish for every 2,200 Catholics in Cleveland;

Diocesan records show that Christ the King, currently serves 193 households.

Christ the King was established in 1935 by Croatian Catholics as a mission of Cleveland's St. Paul Croatian Church. Its first home was the former Hungarian Lutheran Church on Grant Street. The parish property on Grant Street was taken for the construction of Interstate 76. That forced a move resulting in the purchase of 10.5 acres on Creighton Avenue in North Akron, where the existing church was dedicated on Nov. 8, 1959.  In 1943, the Daughters of the Divine Charity came to the parish to staff the school. One of those nuns was Sr. M. Bernadette Evanchec, who currently serves as pastoral minister.

''Quarters, dimes and nickels built this church. A lot of people put a lot of hard work into this parish,'' Evanchec said. ''I've been with this community for a long time and I'm heartbroken that it is closing. But I know God's will must be done. I am sure that the new parish will be a place where we can all come together and share our gifts and talents.''