OUR INTERIM WORSHIP SPACES
The first Mass in the Precious Blood Church was held on June 20, 1948, in the basement auditorium in the Convent of Our Lady of the Precious Blood. The Sisters of the Precious Blood donated the property which is the current site of the parish. The site included a 75-year old barn, which was renovated into a church and two classrooms. On August 14, 1949, Fr. Seraphin Oberhauser, C.PP.S., then Provincial Director of the Cincinnati Province of the Society of the Precious Blood, presided at the first celebration of the Eucharist in the converted barn-church. On November 17, 1950, Archbishop Karl J. Alter issued a canonical decree establishing Precious Blood Parish and its boundaries. By the summer of 1953, the Parish had grown from 45 families in 1949, to 350.
Parish growth continued, and the last scheduled Mass in the old church (barn) was celebrated on June 15, 1958. Church furnishings were then transferred to the semi-basement of the new school building, which became “the new church”. By June of 1964, the parish had grown to 842 families. In 1966, after a gymnasium was added to the school building, the Parish conducted church services in the gymnasium. The plan was to use the gymnasium until a permanent church could be built. By February 1974, Precious Blood Parish had grown to 1200 families.
The Parish celebrated its 25th anniversary throughout 1975. Archbishop Joseph Bernardin of Cincinnati was celebrant at the Solemn Jubilee Celebration on November 2. In 1982, renovation was completed on the worship space. Bishop Daniel Pilarczyk, then Administrator of the Cincinnati Archdiocese, dedicated the renovated church on September 16, 1982.
In May 1995, a Project 2000 Committee was formed to look at current and projected needs of the parish from a physical point of view, taking into consideration the Parish’s spiritual, educational and missionary outreach to the surrounding area. In July 1996, the Project 2000 Committee presented ideas to the parish, and the general consensus was that a new church should be built. Parishioners agreed to provide financial support to construct a church, and in September John Ruetschle Associates, Inc. was hired as architect to design the new church. A fund drive was conducted in late 1997.
On June 28, 1998, a special “last Mass” was celebrated at the old barn church. In August, the structure was demolished, and the construction of a new storage building was completed. In August, R. O. Binson & Co. was awarded a construction contract for the new church. Groundbreaking was held on May 23, 1999.
OUR SCHOOL
Precious Blood School opened in September 1949 with an enrollment of 94 pupils. Classes were held in two classrooms in an extension of the old barn, which was converted into a church area. A garage on the property was converted into a school annex to provide two additional classrooms and an office. In the fall of l950, enrollment was 121 pupils, and in 1952 it increased to 177. When school opened in 1953, classrooms were filled to capacity with 212 pupils. The pastor at Assumption Parish offered the use of an empty classroom at that parish. Forty-two children from Precious Blood School were transported each day by bus to Assumption School. On May 3, 1954, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for a new four-classroom school, which provided additional space. By 1956, enrollment had increased to 433 pupils. In 1957, six classrooms were added to the school building. In November 1965, ground was broken for the final school addition of eight classrooms, a library, faculty lounge, cafeteria and a gymnasium to be used as a church until a permanent church could be built. In September 1966, 640 pupils were enrolled. On April 30, 1967, Bishop Edward McCarthy of Cincinnati blessed the new school and church.
In July 1971, the State Supreme Court prohibited payment of supplemental salaries from state funds to teachers for teaching secular subjects in parochial schools. It then became necessary to charge $100 tuition per child starting in September 1972. During the1974-75 school year, a school band was formed, and school enrollment increased to 663 pupils. By 1974, the school faculty included 18 lay persons and four religious. In 1976, kindergarten was started.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the number of students who were parishioners declined, and the school began accepting non-parishioner students when vacancies existed. The tuition for these students was based on the total cost of educating each student, and it was much higher than the tuition for parishioner students. A policy was later adopted limiting the number of non-parishioner students to 15 percent of the total students. Starting in the 1993-94 school year, the amount a family pays for student tuition is dependent upon income and expense data that the family submitted. Enrollment that school year was 342 pupils. Enrollment increased to over 380 students in later years. The largest enrollment in the 1990s was 410 students in 1995-96 and 1996-97. During the 1999-2000 school year, 350 pupils were enrolled in the school.
OUR PARISH OFFICES
Parish offices today are housed in the building that was formerly called the parish rectory. Construction of a rectory on Salem Avenue was completed in the summer of 1958. Originally the rectory included offices for the Pastor, Parish Secretary and Bookkeeper, and sleeping quarters and living space for the Pastor and a priest in residence. In August 1995, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood relocated part of their Initial Formation Training Program for the Cincinnati Province to Precious Blood Parish from Kansas City. The Director of Vocations, the Director of Initial Formation, and four candidates for the priesthood and brotherhood began residing in the rectory.
The candidates attended local universities and performed apostolic work in the community. By 1999, the number of candidates for the priesthood and brotherhood had increased, and living space for the priests and candidates was no longer adequate in the rectory. During the fall of 1999 and into 2000, the Formation Director and candidates moved into the Gaspar Parish Center, today called Gaspar House, and the offices of the parish staff members gradually began to be moved into the rectory. The former rectory has been renamed Parish Offices.
OUR GASPAR HOUSE
The building that today serves as Gaspar House (named after St. Gaspar), formerly called the Gaspar Parish Center, was originally private property adjacent to the Parish property. In 1961, the Parish purchased the property and converted the building on it into a convent for the Precious Blood Sisters who were teaching at the school. After the construction of an addition was completed in 1963, the convent could accommodate twelve sisters. Over the years, the number of Sisters available to teach in the school diminished, and by the 1979-80 school year, no Precious Blood Sisters were on the school faculty. In 1995, only six Sisters were living at the convent. To address an increasing need for space, the Sisters agreed to vacate the convent that summer and to live elsewhere. The convent was then renovated and renamed the Gaspar Parish Center. The Youth Minister’s office and Deacon’s office were moved from the rectory into the Parish Center. The offices of the Directory of Music/Liturgy and the Director of Religious Education and her Secretary were moved from the school into the Gaspar Parish Center. As noted, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood began using the parish rectory, as a part of their Initial Formation Training Program in 1995. As the number of candidates for the priesthood and brotherhood increased, the living space in the rectory became inadequate. The candidates and the Director of Vocations and the Director of Initial Formation moved into the Gaspar Parish Center in late 1999 and 2000. The building was then renamed Gaspar House.
