CINCINNATI — Sundays won't be the same anymore for some community members in Winton Hills.
Mother of Christ Catholic Church has been a symbol of faith and community in the neighborhood for nearly eight decades.
Now, the church held its final service Sunday due to a lack of attendance and funding.
"To me, this is like a death," said Vanessa Rozier, business manager, pastoral assistant and church member.
Rozier has been a member of the church since 1965. She has a hand in the multiple resources they offer the Winton Hills community and said she is heartbroken that those services will no longer be available.
"Services that this community can walk to, they no longer can walk to include the pantry, health days, school supply giveaways and assistance for Thanksgiving and Christmas," she said.
She said members who grew up at Mother of Christ Catholic Church quickly became mentors to generations who follow them.
"Most of us from this church lived in this neighborhood at one time," Rozier said. "So we're also mentors to people so that you can become a nurse, a doctor, a teacher or a principal."
Myra Boggs, a member of the church's choir, said she's been with the church for 46 years.
"(I) raised my kids here," she said. "We got married here. Both my parents were buried here."
She told us her mom and dad brought her and her siblings to the church every Sunday.
"We would get ready every Saturday night... hair done, shoes polished," Boggs said.
We sat down with Glen Glenn, the church's pastoral council president. He said congregation size has been one of the main factors in the church's closure.
"It's closing for a number of factors. Over the years, our congregation has started to diminish, and with that diminishing is also our collections, which support the building," he explained. "Our building is aging, and the cost of maintenance continues to grow."
Glenn said he feels sad knowing Sunday is the last service. He said he's "losing a part of myself, losing a part of my history, losing a part of my identity."
"I've been a part of the church for 55 years," he said.
Like many people, he said the church is a big part of his life. He's now reflecting on the good times, bad times and family memories that will forever be ingrained in the walls. He said his priority is always to honor what this church has been to the community around it.
"It's been really important to the people of Winton Hills to have this church here. We are not a big edifice; we never have been. But in terms of offering support, offering programs; this church has been really essential to a lot of people surviving," Glenn said.
Glenn said the building isn't on the market right now, but it will be. He expressed that he hopes the church building is sold to someone whose goals align with how they have tried to be a rock for the Winton Hills community.
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