Plain City St. Joseph Church marked the 125th anniversary of the dedication of its church building at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Earl Fernandes on Wednesday evening, Sept. 3.
The church was formed in 1864 as a mission of Columbus St. Patrick Church in what was then known as Pleasant Valley. Mass there was celebrated in what had been a one-story frame house until the current church at 140 West Ave., costing $9,000 to build, was dedicated on Aug. 28, 1900. It has been in use since then for Masses and devotions.
The parish also has a Sunday Mass in the auditorium of its activity center about a mile away at 670 W. Main St., which was built in 2006 and houses the parish offices and religious education classrooms.
Plain City, located in Union and Madison counties, was a mostly rural community for more than a century after the church was founded and continues to have a downtown reflecting that character. But the nearby city of Dublin in Franklin County has grown since the 1970s into one of Columbus’ largest suburbs and that growth has spilled over.
Father Joseph Trapp, its pastor for the past 10 years, said the parish had about 100 families in 1971 and now has about 450. More growth is anticipated because of the housing development in nearby Jerome Township, a 1,400-acre planned community with more than 2,200 homes that have been or are being built, plus shopping and recreation areas.
The transformation of the area has been obvious to anyone taking the Ohio Route 161 exit from Columbus to Plain City. Route 161, once a two-lane road at the exit, now has multiple lanes, traffic roundabouts there to serve several shopping centers, an indoor sports complex, office buildings and an Ohio University branch campus.
“You see the change every week at Mass,” said Father Trapp, whose ministry staff includes Deacon Tony Bonacci, who has served the parish since 1997. “Just about every Sunday, I meet at least one or two young couples who have moved here to start a family. On the other end of the age spectrum, we’re also getting a lot of senior citizens who have moved here to be close to their children.”
He said parishioners started a campaign in 2013 to raise money for future expansion. The money it raised is being held in reserve because the COVID pandemic of 2020 and the diocese’s ongoing Real Presence Real Future restructuring program put a temporary halt to any expansion plans.
“We’re waiting to see how things develop for the diocese as a whole and will be working in cooperation with diocesan officials to determine how to handle the growth that’s going on now and will be coming to the parish,” Father Trapp said.
The parish in late 2015 added an endowment fund, administered through The Catholic Foundation, which supports some parish operational expenses through an annual donation. Additional endowments administered through the foundation have been created for the parish religious education program and the Martin de Porres Center, across the street from the activity center.
The de Porres center was founded 30 years ago by longtime parishioners Jim and Gloria Butler as a place where people facing economic difficulty could pick up basic non-clothing items needed to start or maintain a household. It began at the church, grew out of spaces there, in people’s homes and in the activity center and got its own building in 2009.
“The Butlers retired about four or five months ago and since then, we’ve helped set up or provide items for nine homes or apartments,” said Debbie Foster, who with her husband Joe has taken over direction of the center. “We mostly collect furniture and other home goods, as well as necessities such as laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash, plus gift cards for local stores and cash.
“We purchase new mattresses and small household appliances and receive donations of new or gently used things such as tables, chairs and couches.”
The center raises money through fifth-Sunday collections four times a year, by operating a dessert table at the parish Knights of Columbus council’s Lenten fish fries and through a Christmas Giving Tree that provides gift cards and cash to needy families in cooperation with social service agencies in Madison, Union and western Franklin counties.
The Parish School of Religion has more than 120 students in grades one through eight and meets on Monday evenings. PSR director Maria Vonada said the school works throughout the year with nursing homes in the area, taking part in Halloweens trick-or-treating and Christmas caroling and providing placemats with encouraging messages for residents of the homes.
Other parish activities include a That Man Is You! Men’s discussion group that meets on Saturday mornings, a Walking With Purpose women’s Bible study group on Wednesday evenings and a newly formed organization known as Labours of Love, whose goal is to combine a spirit of Christian fellowship and service for women ages 14 and older.
A Divine Mercy image pressed to the original image was displayed for 24 hours daily for many years at the parish’s former mission in Milford Center. When that church, which has since been torn down, was closed in 2007, the image was moved to Plain City, where it is displayed during Eucharistic Adoration from 6 to 11 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 6 to 8 and 9 to 11 a.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Fridays in the West Avenue church and at a Divine Mercy Mass at 9 a.m. Saturdays in the activity center.
Masses are at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 8 a.m. Fridays in the church and 11 a.m. Sundays in the activity center.
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