About Our Lady of Guadalupe · Montezuma, Ohio
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic parish in the small community of Montezuma, Ohio (Mercer County), founded in 1904 and now part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The parish is one of five communities that on July 1, 2022 came together to form St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes, alongside Holy Rosary (St. Marys), St. Patrick (Glynnwood), Immaculate Conception (Celina), and St. Teresa (Rockford). The parish shares pastoral leadership with the wider family, offers weekend and weekday Mass in English along with a Hispanic ministry, and is known locally for its outdoor mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe — recently disassembled, restored, and reinstalled inside the church vestibule with a hand-carved Mexican marble statue of the Virgin.
- Established
- 1904
- Patron
- Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Rector
- Father Rob Muhlenkamp (Pastor of St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Why belong here
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a small, family-sized parish with deep roots in rural Mercer County, where members know one another by name and ministries are hands-on — from monthly Mission Breakfasts and youth & spirit choirs to its three Family Pastoral Council representatives, its Knights of Columbus diaper drive partnerships, and its active Hispanic Ministry (Ministerio Hispano) that includes Mass in Spanish. Worship is centered on a beautiful devotional shrine to its patroness, Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose December 12 feast is celebrated locally with prayer and processions. Belonging here means joining a 120-year-old community that has rebuilt itself after fire and survived the Depression, and now shares pastoral life with four neighboring parishes in the St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes.
Mass times at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Wednesday before the 1st Friday: 6:30 – 6:45 PM
- 1st, 3rd, & 4th Thursday: 6:30 – 7:30 PM
- Saturday: 6:15 – 6:45 PM
- By appointment — call the parish office
Parish History
Founded in 1904, Our Lady of Guadalupe is a small Catholic community in rural Mercer County whose first church burned within months of dedication. A determined congregation rebuilt within eighteen months, weathered the Great Depression, and by the late 1950s had grown to more than 120 families — large enough to build a third, current church, dedicated on May 11, 1961 by Archbishop Karl J. Alter. Today the parish is part of the St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes, formed July 1, 2022.
- 1904 — first church dedicated Feb 26 under Fr. Cosmas Seeberger; burned June 19
- 1905 — second church dedicated Oct 9
- 1913 — parish had grown to 40 families
- Fr. Richard Schwieterman, C.PP.S., first son of the parish ordained
- Fr. Roman Schwieterman, C.PP.S., second son of the parish ordained
- 1955 — first parish festival
- 1959 — construction began on the present church
- May 11, 1961 — current church dedicated by Archbishop Karl J. Alter
- Nov 2019 — joined Celina Cluster with Immaculate Conception and St. Teresa
- July 1, 2022 — became part of St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes
Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine & Mosaic Restoration
The parish's most striking devotional feature is the mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe that has adorned the church since the 1961 building. After decades of water damage made the original façade installation unrepairable, glass-tile artisan Tom Hone of Classical Glass & Tile in Celina worked with parishioner Ron Schulze to remove more than 28,000 pieces of Italian glass tile and reassemble them inside the church vestibule. The new shrine pairs the mosaic with a hand-carved 42-inch Mexican marble statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and two stained-glass panels depicting the Castilian roses central to the story of the Virgin's 1531 apparition to St. Juan Diego. The devotional space was dedicated on May 10, 2024, and Father John Tonkin described it as a future gathering place for Marian feast-day prayers, especially the December 12 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
- 28,000+ pieces of Italian glass tile — cleaned, restored and relocated
- 42-inch hand-carved Mexican marble statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Two stained-glass panels depicting Castilian roses
- Custom cabinetry crafted by parishioner Ron Schulze
- Dedicated May 10, 2024 by Father John Tonkin
Music & Liturgical Ministries
Our Lady of Guadalupe has an active music program with both a children's choir and a youth/adult choir, plus the usual liturgical lay ministries. Schedules are distributed in CCD classes and are available in the parish library and choir loft.
- Youth Choir — Grades 1 through 6
- Spirit Choir — Grades 7 through 12 (plus adults)
- Choir contacts: Lee Ann Dorsten (419-953-0198) and Cindy Ebbing (419-852-3109)
- Lectors
- Altar Servers
- Eucharistic Ministers
Parish Life & Fellowship
Fellowship and stewardship are visible parts of parish life, from a monthly Mission Breakfast that draws the whole community together, to parish representation on the Family Pastoral Council and an 'OLG Time & Talent' stewardship program.
- Monthly Mission Breakfast — Sunday, 9:00 AM – Noon (sponsored by parish groups)
- OLG Time & Talent parish stewardship program
- Family Pastoral Council representatives from OLG: Ron Schulze, Kim Sutter, Mike Bruns
- Knights of Columbus Council 1800 (Celina) — joint diaper drive for Choosing Life Pregnancy Center
- Annual parish festival (since 1955)
Hispanic Ministry / Ministerio Hispano
Our Lady of Guadalupe maintains an active Hispanic Ministry (Ministerio Hispano) with its own dedicated phone line, a coordinator reachable through the St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes, and Misa en español offered alongside the English schedule. The parish's devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe — patroness of the Americas — is a natural anchor for this ministry.
- Hispanic Ministry phone: (740) 473-3886
- Email: [email protected]
- Misa en español — schedule via Ministerio Hispano
- Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated December 12
St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes
On July 1, 2022, Our Lady of Guadalupe joined four neighboring parishes — Holy Rosary (St. Marys), St. Patrick (Glynnwood), Immaculate Conception (Celina), and St. Teresa (Rockford) — to form St. Isidore the Farmer, Family of Parishes, one of 60 new family configurations created by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Beacons of Light initiative. The family is led by one pastor with parochial vicars and a shared pastoral team.
- Holy Rosary — St. Marys, OH
- St. Patrick — Glynnwood, OH
- Immaculate Conception — Celina, OH
- Our Lady of Guadalupe — Montezuma / Celina, OH
- St. Teresa — Rockford, OH
- Pastor: Father Rob Muhlenkamp
- Parochial Vicars: Father Prashanth Bandanadham, Father Adam Berning
- Deacon Charlie Salway — Director of Evangelization
- Mary Eichler — Administrative Assistant (at OLG on Fridays)
Contact & Visit
Parishioners and visitors can reach Our Lady of Guadalupe by phone, in person on Fridays when the parish office is open, or by mail. For Spanish-language needs, the Ministerio Hispano has a dedicated phone line. After-hours emergencies are handled by the Family of Parishes emergency line.
- Church phone: (419) 268-2312
- Hispanic Ministry: (740) 473-3886
- Parish office hours: Friday 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM (8:00 AM – 12:00 PM per recent bulletin)
- Address: 6701 State Route 219, Celina, OH 45822
- Mailing address: 229 W. Anthony St., Celina, OH
- Family of Parishes emergency after-hours line: 419-953-6231
- Online giving available via ourladyofg.org
- Beacons of Light (Archdiocese of Cincinnati initiative)
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Cosmas Seeberger1904
First pastor of the parish; dedicated the original church on February 26, 1904.