A Parish Rooted in Groesbeck
St. Ann Catholic Church sits on West Galbraith Road in the Groesbeck neighborhood of Cincinnati, a few miles north of the city center near Colerain Avenue. The parish is a Catholic, Christian community where members come from many backgrounds but share a common faith in Jesus Christ and a desire to bring Christ to those who seek him. That simple identity has shaped seven decades of ministry to families in this part of the West Side.
Today St. Ann is a full-service Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It runs an elementary school, offers Mass in both English and Spanish, supports a network of lay ministries, and keeps an active sacramental and devotional life through the week. Visitors who arrive for the Saturday Vigil Mass, the two Sunday morning Masses, or any of the daily Masses will find a parish that has quietly grown up around the families who built it in the 1950s.
From Community Hall to Grotto: Seven Decades on West Galbraith
The story of St. Ann begins on June 22, 1953, when Archbishop Karl J. Alter appointed Father James N. Lunn to organize a new parish in the Groesbeck area. The name was chosen to honor an earlier St. Ann church that had served Cincinnati's West End from 1866 to 1938. The first Masses were celebrated on June 28, 1953, in the Groesbeck Community Hall on Colerain Avenue, with between six and seven hundred people in attendance.
Ground was broken for a school on December 6, 1953, and a portion of the new building was pressed into service as a temporary church. The school was dedicated on September 19, 1954, the same year the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio, arrived to teach. A convent and rectory followed in 1955 and 1956, and 1956 also brought the parish its first assistant priest. Ground was broken for a permanent church and cafeteria on August 10, 1958, and both were dedicated on the parish's sixth anniversary, June 28, 1959.
Growth continued through the 1960s. A ten-room addition to the school was completed in 1961, and in 1963 the convent was enlarged, attached to the school, and given a new wing with four additional classrooms. In 1977, the parish began planning a renovation of the worship area, and the renewed church and the Monsignor Lunn Parish Center were dedicated by Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin on December 4, 1980. A second renovation was completed and dedicated on October 31, 2004.
Two more projects mark the parish's recent life. On October 31, 2010, the St. Ann Grotto and Prayer Walk were dedicated. The grotto stands at the north end of the lower parking lot and opens onto a lighted prayer path with fourteen stations, benches for meditation, and the quiet feel of an outdoor chapel. In October 2013, the former convent and friary, renamed the St. Francis Center, was renovated to house the parish offices and meeting rooms. In February 2015, stained glass windows were added to the baptistry to represent the seven sacraments.
Mass and the Sacraments
Sunday Mass at St. Ann is offered on Saturday evening at 3:00 PM and on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM, all in English. A Spanish-language Mass is celebrated on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 PM, followed by a gathering of the Hispanic Ministry in the parish gym.
Daily Mass fills out the week. Monday Mass is at 6:45 PM, Tuesday and Thursday Masses are at 8:30 AM, and the Tuesday evening Spanish Mass is at 6:00 PM. Confessions are heard on Monday and Thursday afternoons from 5:00 to 6:30 PM, and Eucharistic Exposition is held on Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM, with Benediction closing the day at 6:30 PM. A Patriotic Rosary is prayed on Monday evenings at 7:30 PM, and a weekly Mass and prayer rhythm also includes the St. Ann Novena.
The parish celebrates all seven sacraments. Baptism registration forms and guidelines are available in both English and Spanish, and parents are asked to call the parish office to register for baptism preparation classes. Couples preparing for marriage, families planning funerals, and adults seeking the sacraments of initiation through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) all have a place in the parish's sacramental life. For funeral Masses, the parish notes that eulogies are not permitted within the liturgy but that words of remembrance are allowed, and trained readers can be provided if needed.
Mass is livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person. Recordings of daily and Sunday Mass are kept on demand and a YouTube playlist extends the archive further. For after-hours sacramental emergencies, a dedicated line is staffed at 513-369-9820.
The St. Ann Noon and the Hispanic Ministry
Two rhythms are distinctive. The first is a program the parish calls Mass+, a Sunday experience that runs in the hour and fifteen minutes between the 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM Masses. Mass+ is meant to be a time to serve God and neighbor, grow in holiness, and build community through activities as simple as a shared breakfast, a ministry meeting, or a faith formation session.
The second is the Hispanic Ministry, which began in December 2013 and gathers parishioners from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, and other Latin American countries alongside longtime St. Ann families. The ministry's mission is to help Latino adults and children grow fluent in Catholic religious practice and to be fully enrolled in the sacramental life of the Church. Tuesday evenings begin with confessions at 5:30 PM, the Spanish Mass at 6:00 PM, and then a social or formation meeting in the gym at 7:00 PM.
Our Lady of Grace Catholic School
St. Ann shares its campus with Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, one of the largest Catholic elementary schools in Cincinnati. The school draws more than 438 students from nine districts and thirty-three public schools, partners with parents in faith formation and academics, and keeps an average class size of about 22. The parish points families directly to the school's own site for enrollment details.
Ministries and Outreach
The parish organizes its lay ministry into several commissions and groups. The Christian Outreach commission helps coordinate assistance for the poor and vulnerable in the Colerain area, links the parish with its sister parish in Lima, Peru, and represents the parish on interfaith projects. The St. Vincent de Paul conference meets on Tuesday evenings and serves neighbors in need of food, rent help, and other emergency support. The Respect Life group meets under the umbrella of Mary, Queen of Heaven, a regional Catholic pro-life coalition. The Joy Ministry sends small packages of cheer to shut-ins, the elderly, and others who cannot get out, especially at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Lent, Easter, and Mother's and Father's Day. The Rosary Guild and the Legion of Mary (meeting Tuesday mornings at 10:30 AM) keep a steady devotional life.
Parish fellowship is anchored by the St. Ann Men's Association, or SAMA, a fraternal group with three branches. Fellowship and social meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM, prayer meetings on the first Saturday of each month at 7:15 AM, and faith formation sessions on the third Sunday during the Mass+ hour. Ladies gather for a weekly lunch and prayer on Tuesdays at noon, and a Ladies Night Out, BUNCO, and weekly raffle keep the social calendar busy. The parish also hosts a golf outing, a parish breakfast, a parish picnic, and an ice cream social each year.
Clergy and Staff
St. Ann is led by Father Jim Wedig, pastor, and Father Bryan Reif, parochial vicar and director of worship. They are assisted by two permanent deacons, Deacon Tim Crooker and Deacon Donald Naiman, who serve as parish family deacons. The parish office team includes Cindy Withrow as director of love and action, Jenni Petrey as business manager, Kelly Clifford as stewardship assistant and communications lead, Claudia Sajnog as engagement coordinator, Eric Kuhlman as maintenance supervisor, Dan Withrow in reception and communication, Amy Crull-Meier as bookkeeper, and Becky Schoenfeld as musician. Liturgical ministry, from altar serving to lecturing to ushering, is carried out by trained parishioners, including a Spanish-language track for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and lectors.
Joining the Parish and Giving
Newcomers are invited to register through the parish office and to sign up for Flocknote, the parish's email and text communication system. Online giving is available through the parish's secure giving portal, with options for one-time or recurring gifts from a checking or savings account, and a text-to-give option by sending the gift amount to 513-506-2449. Visa, MasterCard, and Discover are accepted, and contributions are documented for year-end tax statements. The parish is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, registered in the United States.
St. Ann's parish motto, taken from the Baltimore Catechism, frames the whole enterprise: to know, love, and serve the Lord in this life, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. For more than seventy years in Groesbeck, that mission has shaped everything from a daily Mass on a Tuesday morning to a prayer walk under the stars behind the church.