About St. Patrick · Mannington, West Virginia
St. Patrick Parish is a small Roman Catholic (Roman-Latin Rite) mission parish in Mannington, a historic coal-country town in Marion County, West Virginia. Founded in the late 1890s to serve Irish, Italian, and Eastern European Catholic families who came to work on the B&O and C&O railways and in the surrounding mines, the parish belongs to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Today it is administered from the parish rectory on Furbee Avenue as a linked parish with St. Peter in nearby Farmington, and it celebrated Mass six days a week plus the Saturday Vigil for its small-but-devoted local faith community.
- Established
- 1898
- Patron
- St. Patrick
- Rector
- Father Abraham Schariah, M.S.F.S. (Administrator, appointed June 18, 2025)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
Why belong here
St. Patrick's is a tight-knit, walkable parish where a single Sunday Mass at 9:00 AM and a Saturday Vigil at 6:00 PM gather Catholics from Mannington and the surrounding Marion County communities for worship, and Confession is offered every Saturday before the Vigil. As a linked parish with St. Peter in Farmington, it is pastored by a priest of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales who resides on-site, and the parish sits in the heart of Mannington's historic district — making it an easy, welcoming place to plug into Catholic life in the small mining towns of north-central West Virginia.
Mass times at St. Patrick
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM
History of St. Patrick Parish, Mannington
St. Patrick Parish was established in 1898 under Bishop Patrick J. Donahue, the third Bishop of Wheeling (1894–1922), during the great wave of Catholic parish foundations that accompanied immigration and the coal-and-rail economy of north-central West Virginia. The first pastor was Rev. Andrew J. McGrath. The Mannington congregation worshiped alongside their Irish, Italian, and Eastern European neighbors who had come to work on the B&O and C&O railways and in the mines. By 1909 the parish had built a stone Romanesque Revival church on Locust Street that still stands today as a contributing property of the Mannington Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Parish founded: 1898
- First pastor: Rev. Andrew J. McGrath
- Founding era: Bishop Patrick J. Donahue, 'The Immigrants' Bishop' (1894–1922)
- Current church building: stone, Romanesque Revival, ca. 1909
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in the Mannington Historic District
Clergy and Pastoral Leadership
St. Patrick has been a small mission parish pastored, in modern decades, by priest-religious of missionary congregations — a model that brings dedicated, resident clergy to small-town Catholic communities. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston publicly announces each appointment through its website.
- Rev. Andrew J. McGrath — First pastor (1898).
- Father John H. Fahey — served as pastor during his career in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston before being transferred to other parishes and ultimately retiring in 2007.
- Father Binu Emmanuel, C.S.T. (Little Flower Congregation) — appointed pastor by Bishop Mark E. Brennan on December 28, 2022, jointly serving St. Patrick Mannington and St. Peter Farmington.
- Father Abraham Schariah, M.S.F.S. (Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, South-West India Province) — appointed administrator of St. Patrick Mannington and St. Peter Farmington by Bishop Mark Brennan on May 23, 2025, effective June 18, 2025, with residence at the Mannington rectory.
Parish Building and Historic District Setting
According to the National Park Service NPS Form 10-900 nomination for the Mannington Historic District in Marion County, West Virginia, the parish church is documented as 'St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church. Stone. 1909. Romanesque Style. Contributing.' The Romanesque Revival stone church sits among the other historic churches and homes of Mannington — Gothic Revival, Folk Victorian, Queen Anne, Bungalow, Four Square, and Romanesque Revival buildings all share the same small-town streetscape.
- Building style: Romanesque Revival
- Construction: stone
- Year built (per NPS): 1909
- NR status: Contributing property in the Mannington Historic District
- Pastorate model: priest residing on-site at the rectory
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
St. Patrick Parish belongs to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, the same diocese founded in 1850 as the Diocese of Wheeling and re-named the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in 1974. Bishop Mark E. Brennan, the current diocesan bishop, makes all parish appointments and publishes them on the diocesan website.
- Diocese: Wheeling-Charleston (originally Diocese of Wheeling, renamed 1974)
- Current bishop: Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan
- Pastoral appointments: published at dwc.org/diocese
Visiting and Getting in Touch
Visitors and parishioners can contact the parish office by phone during business hours. Mass times are listed in the diocesan directory and on aggregators such as Discover Mass, with Confession 45 minutes before the Vigil Mass.
- Address: 204 Furbee Ave., Mannington, WV 26582
- Phone: (304) 986-2321
- Rite: Roman-Latin
- Directory entry: https://dwc.org/directory-listing/st-patrick-mannington/2161/
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Andrew J. McGrath1898–
First pastor of the newly established St. Patrick Parish in Mannington.
- Father John H. Fahey
Served as pastor of St. Patrick in Mannington during his career with the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston before being transferred.
- Father Binu Emmanuel, C.S.T.Dec. 28, 2022 – June 17, 2025
Appointed pastor by Bishop Mark E. Brennan, jointly serving St. Patrick Parish in Mannington and St. Peter Parish in Farmington; reassigned in the May 23, 2025 appointments.
- Father Abraham Schariah, M.S.F.S.June 18, 2025 – present
Appointed administrator of St. Patrick Parish in Mannington and St. Peter Parish in Farmington by Bishop Mark Brennan, with residence at the rectory in Mannington.