Parish History & Mission

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) has been in South Toledo for over 100 years and is the third parish established or split since the original cathedral in downtown Toledo. Unlike the current cathedral, the original cathedral was St. Francis de Sales until it was transferred to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary on Collingwood. First Historic St. Patrick’s split off the cathedral. Later it was Immaculate Conception on Darby from which came the original OLPH missionary church on the corner of Harvard and River Rd.

 

 

 

 

The parish was then moved to the corner of Sherwood and the newly built Anthony Wayne Trail. The A&W Trail used to be the old Erie Canal before it was filled in.

 

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Over these years, there has been 12 pastors and numerous associates but one pastor remains the most influential, Bernard Crane. He was pastor here for over 38 years. The parish reached the largest numbers in the 1960s with around 3,500 attending Mass every week. The school had around 800 students at that time. Over the years, other parishes were split off as parishioners moved away and newer neighborhoods were built outside of Toledo. Over the years, many of our faithful have moved away or simply gone to the Lord. The parish now seeks to gain a more solid foothold with the new neighborhood and a clear direction of growth in the current culture.