St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church Information

St. Mary of the Annunciation was founded in 1864 by the small German Catholic Community of what is now Fremont Center. German Catholics, most of who came from small Bavarian villages such as Hausen, began arriving in this area in the early 1840’s. By 1860, they had reached sufficient numbers to acquire the land on which the first church was built. Lake County land records indicate the existence of a Catholic church on this land as early as 1861; however, it was located about a mile from the present parish site. The parish does not appear in any official Archdiocesan records until 1864. Thus, that year is accepted as the founding date of the parish. The parish grew slowly, and for more than two decades was ministered to by mission priests from other areas. In 1888, the parish received its first resident pastor, Fr. Emmerich Weber, and the following year, the second church, known today as the little church, was built and dedicated. The parish school, which exists to this day, opened in 1896. Earlier attempts at establishing a school were apparently short lived. A rectory, convent, barn and school building were added in the decades between 1890 and 1930. When St. Mary celebrated its centennial in 1964, there were nearly 150 families in the parish. The parish grew slowly but steadily over the next two decades, but by the early 1990’s suburban development and expansion put St. Mary on the cusp of enormous expansion. Fr. Ronald Lewinski was appointed pastor of St. Mary in 1996, and was tasked by the archdiocese to build a new church to accommodate the growing community which had already outgrown the little white church. The parish broke ground in March of 2000 and the new church was dedicated on April 14, 2002. Subsequent enhancements to the parish under Fr. Lewinski’s tenure include enhancements to the art and environment of the church, the installation of a new pipe organ, and the installation of a new bell tower containing the refurbished Marian bell from 1867.