How did this all begin?

During the spring of 1996, Bro. Larry Corbin, Fr. Ed Jach, and Sr. Carol Wenning, began to discuss  ways to try to work at some of the issues of poverty and injustice in the Walnut Hills neighborhood. The stimulus for this conversation was an earlier effort by the Cincinnati Marianist Provincial Administration to create a new project directed at these same issues. This initial discussion generated further dialogue between Bros. Larry Corbin, Giancarlo Bonutti and Frs. Ed Jach and Daniel Winters, Marianists from the St. Francis DeSales Community in Cincinnati.  Mr. Gibbs MacVeigh, who has had a long association with the parish and the Marianists,  was added to the conversation to help with planning and visioning a future. Over the next year,  Sisters of Mercy from the H.O.M.E. Program and Mercy Connections,  and the principal  Purcell Marian High School were invited into the group. The conversations focused on ways to have a positive and synergistic impact on the Walnut Hills and East Walnut Hills areas of Cincinnati.  Issues of concern were the poverty of many families in the area, lack of education, needs of the elderly, bridging racial gaps, etc. These social concerns flow naturally from the charisms of the Marianists and the Sisters of Mercy. 

Over the next year, other interested Catholic groups in the area were invited to planning sessions and neighborhood meetings were held to listen to the concerns and issues of the people. By January 1998, the members had taken the title DeSales Crossings and the present day 9 partners pledged a commitment to work collaboratively toward the vision of DeSales Crossings.

Over the last 10 years, the organizing committee has spent most of the time trying to develop concrete plans to make the vision a reality. An ice cream social was held in the summer of 1998 to bring together neighborhood people and the membership of DeSales Crossings. In the fall of that year adults from DeSales Crossings joined students from  Purcell Marian and and St. Ursula High  Schools in  a neighborhood clean up on Saturday morning. This was followed by a cookout in the Purcell Parking lot. Purcell Marian students and the H.O.M.E. program worked together to carry out intergenerational activities that  brought together students and seniors from the San Marco Apartment building. Resources have been shared between the partners. For example:

The most exciting and challenging collaborative effort was the building of a parish center on the property of St. Francis DeSales. It was completed in December 29, 2001. The H.O.M.E. program  occupies the lower floor, the grade school the first floor, and Mercy Connections the second floor. Purcell Marian built an addition to the school completed about the same time. The high school and the grade school will be sharing facilities for a number of activities. All partners in DeSales Crossings will be able to use the new center for a variety of activities.

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