Prince of Peace Prayer Garden

Bishop Edward Pevec blessed Prince of Peace Memorial Prayer Garden after the 10:30 am Mass on Sunday, June 13, 2010. A pot luck luncheon took place in the school hall. Prince of Peace parish community invited former members of all the merged/closed parishes to join them for this celebration. To find out what beautiful and meaningful prayers were used at the blessing, please follow this link

Below are pictures from the Mass, Blessing and Luncheon

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The Prince of Peace Memorial Prayer Garden is dedicated to continuing the memory and cultural heritage of the 4 parishes in Barberton that have closed or merged since 2002. Father Robert Jackson has spearheaded the parish's effort to remember all the former Barberton parishes through the Prayer Garden and wants to "celebrate and remember the past with gratitude; live the present with the love of Jesus and the joy of the Spirit alive in our hearts; and together walk into the future with confident faith in God our Father's care for us."

Plaques in the Vestibule Remembering Closed/Merged Churches: Prince of Peace(the merger of Sacred Heart and St. Mary Churches) has welcomed people from other nearby parishes that have closed recently: Holy Trinity, St. George-Clinton, and Ss. Cyril & Methodius. Below are pictures of the area in our Prince of Peace church vestibule that remembers these churches and their special heritage:

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Prince of Peace Memorial Prayer Garden

The memorial garden is divided into four areas. Each area contains a limestone cross that is engraved with the church name, the year it was established, the names of the pastors who served the parish and the years they served. The crosses sit at the bases of the focal points of each section of the garden.

Sacred Heart(1917 Slovenian): a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the lawn of the original Sacred Heart Church on Hopocan Avenue.

St. Mary(1912 Polish): Icons of Our Lady of Czestochowa and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, made by a former parishioner.

Holy Trinity(1911 Hungarian): the eye of God symbol(an equilateral triangle with a single eye inside and rays emanating from it). The triangle represents the Holy Trinity and the eye symbolizes the eternal watchfulness of God.

Ss. Cyril & Methodius(1906 Slovak): a 600 pound dakota mahogany granite war monument inscribed with a dozen names of sons of the church who died in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War.

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