St. Patrick Church in Hubbard to Reopen

HUBBARD, Ohio – Closed for more than three years after a fire, St. Patrick Church on North Main Street will reopen this month.

Bishop David Bonnar of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown will celebrate a Mass of blessing at the church on its namesake day – St. Patrick’s Day.

The 3 p.m. Mass on March 17 will be followed by a reception for parishioners, family and friends in the parish center. Sunday’s Mass will be the first at St. Patrick since the church was forced to close its doors Jan. 18, 2021. The fire caused millions in damage to the interior and exterior of the building.

The parish, which dates back more than 150 years, had been celebrating Mass in the parish center.

A relic of St. Patrick will also be loaned to the Diocese of Youngstown from the Diocese of Cleveland for the reopening of the church. The relic will be carried by a deacon in the entrance procession and set in a place of honor during the Mass.

“Catholics honor relics of saints as a way of connecting to the reality of the saints’ lives on Earth in the past and their present closeness with God in eternity,” said Joan Lawson, chancellor and archivist for the diocese. “Saints inspire catholics by the heroic ways in which they lived a virtuous Christian life in their own times and places. Stories of St. Patrick have circulated for centuries, along with the faithful asking for his prayers.”

In the Diocese of Youngstown, six parishes have carried the St. Patrick name. These churches are in Hubbard, Kent, Kinsman, Leetonia, Salineville and Youngstown.

A spokesperson for St. Patrick Church said the following items have been rebuilt or replaced:

• The sanctuary’s floor was severely damaged and caved in, so it was rebuilt.

• The sanctuary’s back wall was rebuilt. All electrical wiring had to be pulled and replaced, and the heating and cooling boiler system had to be replaced and brought up to code.

• The entire kitchen had to be rebuilt and brought up to code.

• Marble on floors and walls had to be replaced.

• Pews, altar, baptismal font and ambo all had to be replaced or repaired.

• A new metal roof, as well as insulation and the church’s wooden ceiling, had to be replaced.

• An elevator had to be replaced.

• The new Steinway piano and pipe organ had to be cleaned and rebuilt.

Pictured at top: This relic of St. Patrick will be present at a Mass to mark the reopening of St. Patrick Church in Hubbard.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.