The Catholic parish in Warren, St. Teresa of Calcutta, traces its roots to many communities that once served Warren Catholic families, going back almost 200 years. The oldest was St. Mary—founded in 1835. Archbishop Patrick Purcell of Cincinnati, whose archdiocese at the time included the entire state of Ohio, first assigned priests to serve pioneer Catholics in the Western Reserve. In 1864, St. Mary began celebrating Mass in its the first church, a former Episcopal church, which had been purchased and remodeled. In 1907, a new church at Seneca and High streets was built and continues to stand today. The parish opened St. Mary School in 1922. A year later, St. Mary purchased Riverside Hospital and brought in Humility of Mary Sisters to form St. Joseph Riverside Hospital. In 1944, the parish established St. Mary High School, the precursor to Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School in 1964.
Several other historic communities in Warren combined with St. Mary to form today’s St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, including: St. Joseph, which was founded in 1928 to serve a growing community of Polish Catholics; SS. Cyril and Methodius, which was established in 1928 in recognition of the growth of the Catholic Slovak community; St. James, which was founded in 1941 to serve families on Warren’s East End; and the Christ Our King, St. Pius X and Blessed Sacrament communities, established in 1951 and 1959 respectively, to serve Warren’s population growth in the Baby Boom era.
Most of these communities had churches and schools, which were eventually either closed or absorbed into the Warren Parochial School System—which developed into Notre Dame School, and eventually John F. Kennedy Catholic School. Religious orders that served the Warren communities include: the Sisters of Divine Providence of Pittsburgh, the Sisters of Notre Dame, the Ursuline Sisters, Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Dominican Sisters, the Sisters of the Humility of Mary and the Vincentian Sisters. Today, the parish is served by the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate, who live in the convent at Blessed Sacrament and help with various parish functions and religious education. The St. Mary and St. Joseph communities also had cemeteries, which are managed by the parish today.
Over the years, each of these community merged until, in 2025, the Warren parishes united to form St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish. Parishioners chose Mother Teresa of Calcutta— the 20th century founder of the Missionaries of Charity and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, known for her outreach to the poorest of the poor in India and around the world—as their patron saint, reflecting their admiration of her charitable spirit.
Description from The March of the Eucharist, 2nd edition (2025) published by The Catholic Echo
