The Catholic community’s presence in Ravenna and Kent can trace its origin back to 1851 when a small group of Catholic railroad employees working for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad settled in the area known today as Twin Lakes. In 1854, the community began gathering in Ravenna and established the Immaculate Conception Mission, with Masses offered in local homes or the Town Hall. They began raising funds to construct a church building, completed sometime in the mid-to-late 1860s. The parish also established a school in the early 1870s, and later St. Mary’s Cemetery. In 1887 the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, New Jersey, arrived to staff the parish school. They were succeeded by the Our Lady of the Elms Dominican Sisters. By 1926, the parish had grown to the point that a new church was required, with a dedication on September 4, 1927. In 2004, the school was closed and the buildings repurposed.
Catholics who settled in the Kent area in the early 1850s celebrated Mass in a local home until 1862, when a visiting priest offered weekly Mass in the Kent Town Hall. The Kent community was made a mission of St. Mary’s in Hudson, and construction on the St Patrick Church building completed in 1868. In 1881, the St. Patrick’s built its first school, with a new building to come in 1924. As Kent continued to grow, the community constructed a new St Patrick Church in 1953, and later expanded the school as well, which continues to operate today.
Kent State University’s Newman Club began in 1936. Parish priests from St. Patrick Church served as chaplains. By 1953, the number of Catholic students at the university had come to encompass approximately a quarter of those enrolled, and Bishop Emmett Walsh appointed a fulltime diocesan priest as Chaplain. With nearly 2500 Catholic students, it was determined that the University needed a centrally located Newman Center, with construction beginning in 1961 and the first campus Mass celebrated early the next year. At the time, it was known as the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission of St. Patrick Parish. In 1996, the Newman Center was established as its own diocesan parish under the name University Parish Newman Center, with the Newman Club rebranded as the Catholic Student Association. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel was renovated and rededicated on March 19, 2017.
In 2024, Immaculate Conception began collaborating with St. Patrick and the University Parish Newman Center in Kent. As of July 1, 2026, Bishop David Bonnar announced the creation of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish to serve the three communities.
Description derived from The March of the Eucharist, 2nd edition (2025) published by The Catholic Echo, updated in 2026. All rights reserved.
