St. Thomas Aquinas Church Set to Reopen Its Doors

ZANESVILLE, OH – A local Catholic Church is reopening its doors this weekend.

St. Thomas Aquinas Church in downtown Zanesville was condemned due to structural issues on February 26th, 2020. The restoration of this 182-year-old Church was no easy feat.

Mike Morris, the Director of Finance and Facilities, talked about a problem they discovered while they were working on another section of the building.

“We were in the middle of the process and we found that the foundation to the east had actually started to sink by a total of about 7 inches,” Morris said. “What that necessitated was an engineering process called helical piles. So we had to put helical piles under the foundation wall on the east side of the Church to be able to support that structure and that went all the way down to the bedrock here in Muskingum County, which is about 50 feet.”

After nearly 4 and half years of hard work, St. Thomas Church will be ready to welcome parishioners back this Sunday, September 8th with a very special Mass with the Bishop at 11AM.

Father Dave Young, the Pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Nicholas Catholic Churches, said he’s excited to see the reaction from parishioners as they come and fill the pews.

“When I came in the first time, after the gentlemen had been working here I just kept saying, “Wow,”” Father Dave said. “And I imagine parishioners who grew up here, whose grandparents grew up here, whose family has roots here are going to feel like, finally, we get to be home again.”

There will also be a Mass at 5PM on Sunday with Father Dave saying Mass, if you miss the 11AM service. St. Thomas Aquinas is located at 144 N. 5th St. in downtown Zanesville.