Two baby-boom-era communities in Austintown combined to form St. Blaise Parish—the first being Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was established as a parish in 1954. As residents were moving to suburbs to accommodate growing families, Bishop Emmet Walsh saw the need to create a parish for Catholic families in Austintown, which had previously been served by St. Brendan Parish in Youngstown.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary community purchased ten acres of land for a church, school and convent. While their church was being built, they utilized the Austintown High School auditorium for Masses, with their first Mass on January 17, 1954. The church opened on Palm Sunday in 1955, and the school opened that same year in September. The Sisters of Notre Dame staffed the school.
The St. Joseph Community was established in 1966, to accommodate families who moved to Austintown at the tail end of the Baby Boom, or those who had still retained their memberships at other Youngstown parishes. The first Mass of the community was celebrated on June 19, 1966, in the Wedgewood Cinema, which the community would use for their worship space for two years while their church structure was being built. The parish purchased a 15-acre tree farm to accommodate a church, school and social hall. The first Mass in the church was celebrated June 16, 1968, and St. Joseph School also opened that year, administered by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Ursuline Sisters would late replace them as teachers, before lay people took over the job in the ‘90s.
The decision was made to combine Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Joseph Schools in 2009, but the combined school ultimately closed in 2014, due to declining enrollments and increased costs. The communities merged on January 1, 2025, choosing Saint Blaise as their patron, reflecting their desire to heal and minister to people in need. Today, St. Blaise Parish has a garden ministry, a homebound ministry, a food pantry, a St. Vincent de Paul Society, two Knights of Columbus councils, a Hope Letters Prison Ministry, a divorce care group, a seniors’ group and more. They also host several popular events and fundraisers each year, including spaghetti dinners, Lenten fish dinners and a chili cookoff, as well as events geared toward the needy in Youngstown.
Description from The March of the Eucharist, 2nd edition (2025) published by The Catholic Echo
