Dover St. Joseph Church was founded in 1849 to serve as a spiritual home for Catholics coming to Ohio from elsewhere and is continuing in that role 175 years later.
The church in its earliest days served people working on the Ohio and Erie Canal and those who came from the eastern United States, Italy, Germany and Switzerland to find employment in the industries the waterway served in what originally was known as Canal Dover and other parts of Tuscarawas County.
Establishment of a large-scale poultry processing industry in the 1990s by Case Farms in Winesburg and Gerber’s Poultry in Kidron, both located near Dover, brought a new group of immigrants – former residents of Central American nations, particularly Guatemala – to the region including Tuscarawas, Stark, Holmes and Carroll counties.
Father William Arnold, pastor of the church from 1996 to 2009, began celebrating Masses for those immigrants after arriving in Dover.
“Father Arnold recognized that they came from a strongly Catholic nation area and needed the Church to show support for their presence and help them establish a sense of community,” said Janice Cosenza, a parishioner for more than 50 years and a co-chair of St. Joseph’s 175th anniversary committee.
“We had the most active outreach among the Tuscarawas County parishes to the area’s Hispanic residents and became their spiritual home.”
“Father Arnold also helped set up a clinic for the working uninsured, which was very important for the farm workers because most of them came under that category,” said Jeannine Kennedy, an anniversary co-chair who has been part of the parish for 72 years.
“The clinic started in the Parish Life Center across from the church, outgrew its space there and moved to an office building in Dover, where it continues to play an important community role.”
Father Arnold left Dover when he was assigned as pastor of Columbus Holy Spirit and St. Philip churches and will be retiring in December. The Hispanic presence at St. Joseph has continued to grow under his successors, Father Matthew Hoover, now at Columbus Immaculate Conception Church, and the current pastor, Father Jimmy Hatfield, who has spent almost all of his 13 years as a priest at St. Joseph.
Father Hatfield, 67, was parochial vicar there for 18 months after his ordination in 2010, has been pastor in Dover since 2013 and said he hopes to stay there until retirement.
Father Hatfield also serves as pastor of Holy Trinity Church at Zoar in northern Tuscarawas County, with Father Tomas Carvajal, CR, a member of the Theatine order of priests, stationed at Holy Trinity and serving as parochial vicar for both parishes with a focus on ministering to the Hispanic community by celebrating Masses in Spanish and overseeing catechesis and sacramental preparation in Spanish.
Father Hatfield said Father Carvajal’s Mass in Spanish on Sundays at 1:30 p.m. always has the largest attendance of St. Joseph’s four weekend Masses. The others are at 4 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday.
Brenda Stilgenbauer, pastoral associate, who has worked for the parish for 23 years, said about 40 percent of the 140 students of Tuscarawas Central Catholic (TCC) Elementary School, across the street from the church, are Hispanic. The school serves students in kindergarten through sixth grade from Dover, Zoar and New Philadelphia Sacred Heart churches.
Father Hatfield said his parish has about 830 registered families. “The number registered has remained stable throughout the years I’ve been here because Dover is a small town (population about 13,000) that’s never relied on big industry,” he said.
“Instead, we have employers who have been here for decades, including Union Hospital, Allied Machine, Lauren International (extruded rubber, security systems), Dover Chemical and Zimmer Surgical. Together they provide enough variety to make the area not dependent on any one thing.
“The poultry farms add to that. Many who came here to work on the farms have followed a traditional path for immigrants and become entrepreneurs, starting stores and food trucks which have added more to the area’s economy.”
“Dover and nearby communities have been known for as long as I can recall as places with good Italian restaurants and food stores,” Kennedy said. “Now they have the same reputation as locations for Hispanic eating places and markets. The new adds to the old.”
The parish’s 175th anniversary celebration began in January and has continued with a different event each month. It will conclude with a Mass celebrated at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 25 by Bishop Earl Fernandes and including eight priests who have served the parish, several deacons and the parish’s traditional and Hispanic choirs. A dinner at the Union Country Club will follow the Mass.
Priests in attendance will include Father Anthony Davis, pastor of Columbus St. Matthias Church, the only son of the parish who is a Columbus diocesan priest.
Earlier anniversary events included a Hispanic Tres Magos (Three Kings) celebration on Jan. 8 for the Feast of the Epiphany; an Italian wine dinner on Feb. 19 and the parish’s annual celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19; an Easter egg hunt on April 2; and a Mass celebrating the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1.
Kennedy said the March 19 event included a traditional Italian St. Joseph’s Table, which includes flowers, candles, a variety of pasta and pastries, but no meat, because the day is during Lent. She said the table will become a part of future St. Joseph’s Day celebrations at the parish.
Besides the events that are part of the anniversary program, other annual parish activities include the las Posadas celebrations at homes of Hispanic parishioners in the days leading up to Christmas. These symbolize Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and their inability to find a place to stay and are preceded by the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on or near Dec. 12. There also is an annual parish retreat for Hispanic men.
The parish festival takes place on the third weekend in July on the parish grounds. This year marks the event’s 75th anniversary, making it one of the oldest festivals in the diocese. It includes the usual staples of food and games for adults and children, plus inflatables but without rides. A parish picnic takes place in September.
Cosenza said a significant spiritual event for the parish is its annual All Souls Day Mass on Nov. 2 honoring those from the parish who have died in the preceding year in particular, as well as all deceased parish members and deceased members of the clergy.
The parish also sponsors Bible study programs during Advent and Lent, usually has a parish mission as part of its Lenten observance and hosts an annual ecumenical Advent lessons and carols program featuring the church’s three choirs and choirs from several other denominations.
Father Hatfield currently is leading 24 parishioners on a special spiritual journey – a trip to the Holy Land that began Wednesday, June 7 and continues through Thursday, June 15.
This year marks the 10th anniversary for a weekly soup kitchen sponsored by the parish at its Family Life Center. The 15,000-square-foot structure has two stories and a basement and includes eight meeting rooms. Scouts and parish youth groups meet there regularly. It also is the site for civic events including the Dover Rotary Club’s annual Christmas party.
The center was dedicated in 2007, and the church building was dedicated in 1965, replacing a structure built in 1898 when the parish was staffed by Capuchin Franciscan friars, who served the parish from 1886 until Father Arnold’s arrival 110 years later.
“The center is the site for many funeral luncheons and sometimes wedding receptions,” Kennedy said. “Those events have become an important tool of our evangelization efforts. I’ve heard several times from people – some inactive Catholics, others from other faiths – who have said they were transformed by what they have seen at Masses here and the empathy people showed after those Masses. How we treat people has been an effective form of evangelization.
“This is evangelization by example, and it’s the most effective way of having an impact on people’s lives,” Father Hatfield said. “When others see people here living their faith, whether through funeral lunches or our work with the uninsured and the homeless and the Hospice of Tuscarawas County, it attracts them. It’s something that’s embedded in our faith community.”
Tuscarawas County currently has five Catholic parishes. Under the diocesan Real Presence Real Future reorganization plan that takes effect next month, the Dover and Zoar parishes will continue under one pastor, while New Philadelphia Sacred Heart and Dennison Immaculate Conception churches also will be a combined pastorate and Newcomerstown St. Francis de Sales Church will close.
“I’ve seen a great deal of involvement from people in planning for the change, especially as it has gotten closer to taking place,” Father Hatfield said. “All the parishes have come together to discuss the issue, and I think already having combined schools existing for several years was a big help.
“A steering committee with members from all the parishes has been set up, and, in the spirit of St. Joseph’s 175th anniversary, we’re moving ahead by respecting the past and looking forward to the future.”
