Church Details, Catholic (Page 5)

As indicated, Catholic ministers started visiting Ohio on a regular basis after Ohio became a state. Early records detail contact from Kentucky first to an area near Columbus. The first Catholic Church in Dayton (still existent) was established in 1837, more than a generation after Ohio became a state and the city was founded. It was set near the east bank of the principle river not far from the present-day downtown.

Although it is not known here and now who, if anyone, lived on the west bank of the river at any given time around then, apparently anyone seriously interested in the religion who did live there in the next fifty years had to cross the river.

Since that first church reportedly included services in German in what was established as an English speaking country, that first church would have to be to some extent considered "ethnic." Since it has been claimed that the second church established (still toward the east) was established because the Irish parishioners didn't particularly care for services in German, technically, the second would also have to be considered ethnic even if the Irish listened to things presented in English. The earliest churches, however, apparently were not called "ethnic"; however, it might be worth mentioning that the archbishop of the time reportedly was born in Ireland and one not long after had a strong German heritage.

Many years later these churches as well as others would be listed on a sort of official "family tree" organizational chart, while churches literally called "ethnic" are not on the chart, although two were by then long existent. Those called "ethnic" are simply noted in accompanying text as "ethnic" churches; another word used is "national," a concept more in line with Orthodox Christianity.

The church with that "key name" on Page 1, Holy Name, is one of these latter "ethnic" churches not on the "family tree," although it (like the others) was supposedly taken from a "recognized" church; it is, however, the only one on the west bank of the river so handled. The "recognized" parent church (on the chart) was specifically called "German Catholic" in Dayton City Directory records.

For the Record, the so-called "ethnic" or "national" churches in Dayton in 1920 were St. Adelbert's (congregation established 1902), Holy Name (congregation as of 1906, but there are references to an 1895 date), and Holy Cross (congregation as of 1914). St. Adelbert's and Holy Cross are both located in the northeastern part of the city and were organized to serve Polish and Lithuanian peoples.

In addition, there is a "mystery church" listed called "St. Gabriel" (congregation established 1916) for which an actual building has not yet been found in this research; there is, however, a minister named Fr. G. Popo-Lupu listed in the records. The "mystery church" is even more of a mystery in that the congregation to be served was Romanians, which peoples do tend to be of the Orthodox persuasion.

What is rare to some may be common to others.

Although this is set in hindsight and considerable conjecture, it seems illogical for the so-called "ethnic peoples" to have considered the extent of their "ethnicity" different from that of the Germans and Irish. While, from a European viewpoint (reference: next page), some might argue that for a time Poland, as such, didn't exist as the Polish people were under the control of German (and Russian) states, it can also be pointed out that fifty years earlier the Hungarians had fought a revolution to establish equal status with Austria, making it the nation of "Austria-Hungary." The question has to be posed: Did the "ethnics" ever seriously consider that their "ethnic" churches were not on a par with others?

In the end, four Roman Catholic Churches were built on the west bank of the Great Miami River south of Wolf Creek, all drawn from a congregation established for the west side of the river in 1891.

Of these, the first, St. John's German Catholic Church (City Directory listing), was on the organizational chart as published in 1921, while the second, Holy Name, was not listed although the congregation had been established for no less than 15 years and a church had been dedicated; the other two -- St. James and Resurrection -- however, with still later and also incomplete dates, were listed on the chart. (St. James, a congregation established in 1919, but no date for a church dedication; Resurrection, a church dedicated in 1920, but no date for establishing a congregation.)

St. John's (listed simply as "St. John's" in those records) was established in 1891 with the church dedicated in 1894; the congregation for Holy Name may have had it's beginnings as early as 1895, however it is listed as established in 1906 with the church dedicated in 1909 (no less than 15 years later as well as 15 years before the 1921 publication mentioned above).

In a simple timeline, statehood was declared in 1803; the first Catholic church in Dayton (?ethnic German) was established over 30 years later in 1837 on the east bank of the river followed by others also toward the east; nearly 60 years after the first and 90 years after statehood in 1894 an apparently ethnic (but not so declared) German church was on the west bank of the river out of which the "unofficial" Holy Name Church was "officially" gathered soon afterward and likewise out of which the two remaining "official" churches were gathered still later.

Meanwhile, back at the castle... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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