Another church closes: How Ohio is losing faith in Christianity

Ten minutes before St. Mary Church’s very last mass begins, the pews are already full, lined with people who spent a lifetime building memories between the stained-glass windows.

“I sang in the choir for 18 years,” said 94-year-old Janis Robison, who has attended mass at the northeast Ohio church, just two miles from the shore of Lake Erie, for her entire life. “I always lived within walking distance of the early morning mass.”

She’s celebrated many beginnings at the church — baptisms, confirmations, weddings, more baptisms.

But today, she’s here for an ending.

After 136 years, St. Mary Church is holding its final mass.