About Us

For many years, residents in our area traveled to St. Rita Church in Solon to attend Mass and celebrate the sacraments. In the fall of 1977, a number of parishioners met with Fr. John McNally (then Pastor of St. Rita Church) to express their concern regarding the considerable distance between the people and their Church. On December 3, 1977, Bishop James A. Hickey formally established the Holy Angels Mission as an outreach of St. Rita Parish. The following day, Fr. McNally celebrated the first Mass for the Mission congregation of 61 families in the Bainbridge Town Hall.

In 1982, Fr. Robert Wendelken was appointed Pastor of St. Rita and its Mission, Holy Angels. The Mission congregration continued to meet in the Bainbridge Town Hall and, occasionally, at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church or at the Pilgrim Village picnic pavilion. Ground was broken July 27, 1986 at 18046 Chillicothe Road, on a parcel owned by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, to build a multi-purpose facility to accommodate 300 people for worship and a variety of parish functions.

The first Mass in the new building was celebrated by Fr. Wendelken on December 21, 1986. At the time of solemn blessing, 285 families were registered members of Holy Angels. Presently, we have over 2,000 families.

In July, 1987, Fr. Paul Sciarotta was appointed part-time administrator while remaining resident Chaplain to the Sisters of Notre Dame in Chardon. In February, 1988, Fr. Joseph P. Labbe was appointed part-time administrator of Holy Angels. On September 29, 1995, Holy Angels became the 238th parish in the Diocese of Cleveland, and Father Joseph Labbe was appointed the first pastor.

The community continued to grow rapidly and quickly pushed the members to consider a new facility. Lot restrictions prohibited the building of a larger church at 18046 Chillicothe, so the church started looking for another site. Through a very generous anonymous donor, two parcels, totaling 60 acres, were purchased for a new facility. Planning began in September 1996, groundbreaking in June 1998, and the first Mass was celebrated in our present church on August 14, 1999. Abbot Roger Gries, OSB celebrated the Solemn Dedication on September 29, 1999, the Feast of the Holy Angels, (Michael, Gabriel and Raphael).

In the midst of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in April, 2002, Fr. Labbe was placed on administrative leave. On April 8, 2002, Bishop Pilla appointed Fr. Robert G. Stec to serve as Interim Administrator of Holy Angels. Fr. Daniel F. Schlegel was appointed by Bishop Anthony Pilla as permanent administrator on November 25, 2002.