Saint Ambrose
Catholic Church
Our Parish
St. Ambrose Parish is a community of people from Western Washington County, in Southeastern Ohio, with common roots of Catholic heritage and tradition extending back 135 years.
The churches of St. Ambrose in Belpre and Vincent owe their beginnings mainly to Irish immigrants who came to this country in the mid 1800's due to political injustice and famine in the "auld sod." Undoubtedly, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, later the B&O, had much to do with bringing these Irish immigrants to the area as it began expanding its rail lines around 1840.
The first Catholic church in wester Washington County,
built in Little Hocking and named St. Mary's of the River,
was
blessed by it's first pastor, Father Dean Hartnedy, in
1877. A parish cemetary was opened there in 1883
and is still in use. By 1888, St. Mary's of the
River had 91 families, and its registry was a litany of
the purest irish names. Parishioners of this little
church lived not just in the vincinity of Little Hocking.
They also came from Cutler, Dunbar, Fleming, Vincent,
and Belpre. With the completion of the railroad,
many if the Irish parishioners moved to the Vincent area
and took up farming for a living. By 1895, there
were enough Catholics in the area to warrant the building
of a church, and thus St. Ambrose, Vincent, came into
being. It was dedicated on September 15, 1895, by
Bishop Watterson of the Diocese of Columbus. This
35' by 73' building of Romanesque style architecture was
built at a cost of $3000 with the parishioners doing part
of the work. In 1901, a Mrs. COnnor had donated
to the Diocese of Columbus a lot with a one-story frame
house, 15' by 24', on upper Main Street in Belpre that
served the Catholics of the Belpre area for almost 40
years.
In
1938, a group of parishioners in Vincent petitioned their
Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus to send them a resident
priest and offered to provide a rectory. Bishop
Harley had other plans. He wanted to establish a
permanent parish in Belpre. Two lots at the corner
of Maple and Ridge Streets were purchased, and on August
5, 1939, the new church of St. Ambrose was solemnly dedicated.
About this time. Vincent became a mission at Belpre.
No one seems to know why this new church was given the
same name as the existing one at Vincent. Did Bishop
Hartley forsee that some fifty years later the two churches
would be combined and a new church ediface would be built?
In 1988, Fr. Norbert Connelly, pastor of St. Ambrose
Church, Belpre, received word from Bishop Albert Ottenweller
that he wanted combined under one priest the Churches
of St. Ambrose Belpre and St. Ambrose Vincent. In 1989-1991
Fr. Thomas Marut and Fr. Timothy Shannon continued the
work of Bishop Ottenweller's directive. Fr. David Huffman
was appointed pastor in March of 1991. In 1992 Bishop
Ottenweller continued his objective for a combined parish
by requesting that a parish committee select a piece of
land and the Dicese would purchae it (a ten-year, interest
free loan). Afavorable site was soon located just west
of Porterfield, 21,2 acres being sold by Attorney Gary
Carson whose father had raised turkeys on this and other
surrounding property. (Most of the Carson family was killed
in a tragic train accident in Porterfield in the 1950's.
Attorney Carson now lived near Denver, Colorado.)
By 1995 a Parish Study process was completed with a concensus
reached to build a new facility. The original concept
for this church was a structure that would fit the site
and become an intregal part of the terrain to enhance
the beauty of its rural setting. To meet this design goal,
a combination of split-and-smooth-face Shadow Stone block
was chosen in a light buff color..
In
December 1994 a three-year capital fund drive was initiated.
In June 1997, under a huge tent erected for the occasion,
Bishop Gilbert Sheldon led nearly 450 worshipers in a
ground breaking ceremony. The enitre project was
completed for the first Mass in the new worshop space
on October 3, 1998. Bishop Sheldon presided at the
dedication ceremony on November 29, 1998.
The
23,000 sq. ft facility was designed to be flexible, efficient
and expandable to meet future needs. Three building elements
cluster around one side of the prayer garden; the sanctuary
in the middle, a banquet hall on one side and an administration/education
wing on the other. Two distinct concrete masonry features
anchor the complex- the back wall of the sanctuary and
the church spire (modeling a scroll of scripture being
opened). The back wall of the sanctuary has nine individual
masonry panels, each 24 inches thick, which fan out into
a crescent shape. Floor to ceiling stained glass windows
separate the panels. At one end of the crescent stands
the church spire, a 75 ft. high concrete masonry bell
tower which supports a 40 ft., aluminum cross. The 60
month project saw placement of more than 60,000 smooth
and split faced concrete masonry units.
The parish facilities now stand out in a very beautiful
part of our country to attract every passerby. It
is our desire that this new worship space, education center
and a social center will be a sign that all are welcome
therein with open arms to God's gifts of love and consolation,
We extend our arms from the Little Hocking area to all
who desire to join us. The church seats 450 people. A
few months after having the first mass here, it won the
top award in the State of Ohio for design and use of materials.
It continues to be featured in magazines widely circulated
among architects and contractors.
