Archbishop Karl J. Alter, on June 22, 1953, appointed Fr. James N. Lunn to organize a parish in the Groesbeck area. It was to be named St. Ann after a church that served the West End of Cincinnati well from 1866 to 1938. 

It all started when George and Katherina Wingerter, owners of the Twelve Mile House on Harrison Pike, formed a committee and petitioned Archbishop John Baptist Purcell to create a new parish in Taylor Creek. Until then, St. Jacob Parish (now St. James, White Oak) was the closest Catholic church in the area. St. Jacob was the mother church of the German Catholics in western Hamilton County. 

The Wingerter's donated three acres of land for a new church and cemetery. That first church cost $800, and the cornerstone was laid on November 21, 1867. Father George Veith, pastor of the newly formed St. Aloysius Parish in Bridgetown, was also named pastor of St. Bernard. The next year 26 children were enrolled in the parish school, located in the basement, and staffed by laymen. 

In 1922, the long, hard road to financing a new church had begun. The plan called for a 40 by 90 foot building with a seating capacity of 350. It was to be constructed of native stone and finished with handmade, flat-tile roof. The first Mass was celebrated just prior to Christmas 1935. 

That same year, another building project was front and center. A basement addition was built on the site of the original church, adding two more classrooms, water storage (as city water had not yet arrived to Taylor Creek), and proper restrooms. This later served as the foundation for a 1963 addition, which added two more floors and eight classrooms. 

Over the years, our parish has been blessed by the leadership of so many good and holy pastors to lead us and strengthen our faith. Today we have a beautiful church, thanks to the sacrifice and perseverance of our parish ancestors. We must build on the foundation they laid to continue to make St. Bernard the special place it has been - centered on Jesus, led by faith.

While St. James was formally established as a parish in 1843, the first Mass in Creedville (now White Oak) was celebrated in Sylvester Oehler's barn on August 15, 1840, by the Reverend John M. Henni, S.J., pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Cincinnati. (He would later become the first Archbishop of Milwaukee.) Families like Ambrose and Eva Oehler, George and Theresa Werth, Martin Maier and Thomas Gehrlach worked hard to build a church. On May 5, 1844 that church was blessed and became the gathering place for Catholics in northwest Hamilton County. The parish school was started shortly afterwards. 

St. James remained a country parish for a long time but is now a suburban community. The founding families continue to grow and many of their descendants still call St. James their parish. In 1960, the 1849 church had to be replaced with a much larger one. By the early 1970s, there were over 1400 children in the school in grades 2 through 8. The parish had become one of the largest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Despite its size, the people of St. James continue to be a close community, sharing faith as the center of our lives. The same values that gathered families to the Oehler's barn in 1840 continue to draw families to St. James today. 

With about 2200 families, St. James is a vibrant parish, responding to the call of Jesus to spread the Gospel. Dozens and dozens of parish organizations touch the lives of parishioners and those who are not part of our Church. In 170 years, our parish has grown in size and more, importantly, matured in faith. We continue to build on the foundation laid by our ancestors to buildup to the Kingdom of God.