About Us
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We, the Catholic community of St. Aloysius, guided by the Holy Scripture and Church tradition, with the help of the Holy Spirit,
are working toward the Kingdom of God on earth. In faith, we gather for Eucharistic worship and sacramental life; we continue to develop
our personal relationships with Jesus Christ; we share love for one another; and we reach out to the needs of others both in our parish and beyond.


OUR PARISH

Welcome to St. Aloysius Catholic Church!

Just two blocks from downtown Bowling Green, we are the Catholic church located behind the Taco Bell.  One of two Catholic churches in Bowling Green, St. Aloysius primarily serves the city of Bowling Green and the surrounding rural communities. The other Catholic church, St. Thomas More, serves the needs of Catholic students at Bowling Green State University. St. Aloysius also supports St. Aloysius Catholic School on the property bounded by South Summit, Clough and South Enterprise streets.

We have approximately 900 registered families and more than 30 ministries. School enrollment is approximately 200 students in preschool through eighth grade.

St. Aloysius is part of the Diocese of Toledo, which covers 19 counties in Northwest Ohio. Located in Wood County,  the parish boundaries roughly extend north to state route 582 including Tontogany and Sugar Ridge; east to state route 23 including Luckey, Pemberville and Bradner;  south to state route 281 including Wayne, Portage and Rudolph; and and west to State Route 235, including Weston.

Father Tom McQuillen, a Toledo native, became our pastor on July 1, 2019.

All are welcome. Join us!

“Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; cry out to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with a song of praise, joyfully sing out our psalms.”
Psalms: 95, 1-2


Parish Registration Form
OUR PARISH HISTORY

Prior to the Civil War, very few Catholics had settled in Bowling Green. The nearest Catholic church was in Perrysburg, so for many years, Mass was held in private homes whenever a visiting priest happened to be in the area. In the late 1870s, the residents of Bowling Green went two years without being visited by a priest. The spiritual plight of these Catholics changed dramatically in 1880 when Fr. Hyacinthe Kolopp from St. Patrick’s parish in Grand Rapids, Ohio, decided that it was time to finally build a Catholic church in Bowling Green.

In order to build the original church, local farmers donated hundreds of hours of labor. They cut timber and transported it to the sawmill that was located near the church property. Using wagons and teams of horses, these dedicated farmers hauled all the bricks for the church. At long last, Bowling Green had a Catholic church, and St. Aloysius was dedicated in 1881.

In order to select a name for the church, the farmers who helped to build the structure put all their first names into a hat, with the understanding that whatever name was drawn would become the name of the church. The name “Aloysius” from Aloysius Pfeiffer was drawn. Thus, St. Aloysius Gonzaga became the patron saint of the new Bowling Green Catholic church.

The current St. Aloysius church-structure was built in 1926.

Source: Bowling Green Sesquicentennial Commission. Bowling Green, Ohio: A Sesquicentennial History, 1833-1983. Toledo, OH: Taylor Publishing Company, 1985.

WEBSITE LINKS DISCLAIMER
Links to other sites are provided on this site. These sites are provided for informational purposes only and are not necessarily sponsored by St. Aloysius Parish, Church or School.



OUR PASTOR
Father Tom McQuillen

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Fr. Tom published the following bio in the parish bulletin upon his arrival in July 2019:

I was born in Toledo and I am the sixth of nine children.  All of my siblings are married and they have given my parents 44 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren, and two more on the way.  My home parish was Little Flower and I went to grade school there.  My high school was St. John’s and then I attended the University of Toledo for two years.  In 1988, I transferred into the seminary at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and finished with degrees in both Philosophy and Theology.  I was ordained in 1996 with Fr. Mark [Davis, the former pastor,] as one of my classmates.  My first assignment was as the associate at Norwalk, St. Paul.  In 2000, I went to our diocesan mission in Binga, Zimbabwe.  I served there for six years and then became a lecturer at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.  I lectured in philosophy and served a few years as the academic dean.  In 2010, I returned to the States and was assigned to St. Peter’s Mansfield.  In 2013, Bishop Blair sent me to serve at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati.  For these last six years, I have been the Dean of Men and I have taught the students studying philosophy and other introductory courses to prepare them to study theology.

When I was not at the seminary, I also served in several of the prisons in Southern Ohio, the local mental hospital, and a nursing home.  I have taken the seminarians along with me and used it as an occasion to remind them that we cannot just serve those who come to us. There are many people who would love a visit, a prayer, the sacraments, but they are not able to get to church.


Artists Reveal Original Mural
at St. Aloysius

February 2014
The restoration process of the painted mural over the altar.

Click on the title of the video to play on YouTube.

AUDIO
Father Mark on his Favorite Saint, St. Aloysius
Nov. 5, 2018
Annunciation Radio “A Virtuous Life” segment

St. Aloysius:
A Parish is its People

May 2017
An overview of the parish and projects under consideration for the future

Bishop Thomas Dedicates Altar
at St. Aloysius

May 26, 2017
Most Reverend Daniel Thomas, Bishop of Toledo, during the Rite of Dedication of the new main altar

St. Aloysius
Corpus Christi Procession

June 2017
The annual Corpus Christi Procession celebrated with St. Thomas More University Parish in Bowling Green