Fr. David Chojnacki was born in Hudson, Ohio where he grew up with his three siblings. He grew up at St. Mary Parish in Hudson and attended Hudson City Schools. In High School he began to discern a possible vocation to the priesthood. He entered seminary after high school, was ordained on May 20, 2023, and was then assigned to St. Mary’s in Wooster as his first priestly assignment.

Deacon Bob was ordained at St. John Cathedral on May 5, 2018 by Bishop Nelson Perez.  He is a fourth generation member of St. Mary’s parish and is honored to be assigned to his home parish.  Bob and his wife Lee have been married for over 32 years and are proud parents of Nina, Anthony, Amanda and twins Jacob and Anna.  Bob retired from the Ohio Army National Guard and is currently managing a small business in the fire safety industry.

Deacon James was recently ordained for service to the Diocese of Cleveland.  He is a transitional deacon meaning preparing to become a Catholic priest, God-willing, in 2025.  He was born in Copley and grew up attending St. Hilary Parish.  He has five siblings.  He entered the seminary after high school and graduated from Borromeo College Seminary in 2020.  He is finishing his graduate studies at St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Wickliffe, Ohio.  His seminary formation has led him to a variety of ministries and parishes around the diocese.  He is excited to be at St. Mary's in Wooster to serve, love, share with, and be formed by the people of the parish.

Verso l'alto!

Camille Horvath, Pastoral Associate, was certified as a Lay Ecclesial Minister in the Diocese of Cleveland on February 3, 2018 by Bishop Nelson Perez. Throughout the formation process, her focus centered on pastoral care, ministering to the sick and those in crisis, allowing her to achieve specialized certifications in bereavement, catechesis, compassion, and self-care. Prior to St. Mary’s, she served as the administrative assistant for Faith Formation where she was active in the implementation and facilitation of prayer-focused ministries and those engaged in outreach to the community. Additionally, she created, designed, and taught a supplemental program for youth who were in need of intensive faith education.

Before dedicating herself to being a stay at home mom, she was a fourth grade teacher, having earned her Bachelor of Science in Education at Cleveland State University. Her two adult sons, Drew and Alex live just

outside of Columbus and Dayton. She resides in Medina with her husband of thirty years. Camille feels she is abundantly blessed to serve at the parish of St. Mary where she has truly found a home.

Mrs. Laura Marvin, Principal of St. Mary Day School, Laura Marvin, grew up in Lorain, Ohio.  Prior to accepting the position as principal at St. Mary’s, she had worked for Elyria City Schools and Sandusky City Schools as a as well as St. Jude School, Elyria as a special education teacher and administrator for most of her career. 

She received her undergraduate degree from Kent State University and her graduate degree from Ashland University.  She has relocated to Wooster, Ohio with her husband, Dennis, two cats and their dog, "Emma".   She has three grown children and their spouses and 3 grandsons.  They have a summer home at Kelleys Island which they rebuilt over a period of 3 years with help from their friends. 

Sarah is a native of the Dalton area and attended Dalton High School and Ohio University. She is married to Matthew and they have four children: Ava, Carsten, Mary Grace and Cole. In addition to the vibrant parish life at St. Mary, she enjoys music, gardening and cooking. After working part-time in marketing and being a stay-at-home mom for several years, Sarah began working in the Faith Formation Office in November 2019. Please stop in and say hello anytime!

Michaela is our campus minister, she ministers to our day school students as well as middle school and high school students from surrounding schools.
Michaela is the youngest of five and is a cradle Catholic. She is married to her high school sweetheart and has two dogs, Chester and Hazel. She attended St. Mary School, Edgewood Middle School, and Wooster High School. 

Our Campus Minister is very passionate about youth ministry and music ministry. Please keep her, and the youth of our parish in your thoughts and prayers!

Leah has been working as the secretary for the faith formation office at St. Mary since 2022.  She also teaches religion to three of the younger grades at St. Mary school and runs after-school care.  Baptized at St. Mary, Leah is the oldest of five children.  She went to Triway schools, then graduated from Franciscan University where she studies Catechetics and Theology.  Leah is grateful to work at St. Mary.  

Ivy was raised in Hanoverton, Ohio and currently resides in Massillon with her husband Matthew who she just married on April 15, 2023 and are happily enjoying life as newlyweds! 

Ivy began piano lessons in 4th grade and about 2 years later, switched to organ lessons.  She started playing organ in church in junior high school and hasn’t stopped since! Ivy obtained a Bachelor Degree in Organ Performance from Mount Union and a Master’s Degree in Sacred Music from Duquesne University and is looking forward to sharing her love of music with everyone at St Mary’s Wooster! Please stop by and say hello! 

Paul joined us as a member of our Maintenance Staff in January, 2023 . He was born in Stark County and graduated from Carrollton High School. At Atwood Resort, he worked and then became the supervisor of the maintenance team and then moved into heating & cooling field. After marrying Martha and moving to Wooster, Paul worked for OARDC as Supervisor of Stores.

Together, Marty and Paul raised two children. Son Kyle lives in Orrville with wife Stephani and 2 kids (Anthony, 6 and Riley, 18 mo. old) and daughter Kelly is a senior Art Education Major at Adrian College in Michigan. Paul and Marty are both recently retired and plan to travel and spend time with their grandchildren.

I have been at St Mary my whole life. My parents and grandparents also (Pagniano and DiScipio).

I have been married to Michael for 54 years. We have two daughters, two granddaughters and two great grandsons. Michael is a retired teacher and coach and I am retired from banking. I have been working at St Mary for around 6 yrs and feel as if

I "am at home".

Jarred grew up in Minnesota in a small town about an hour north of Minneapolis and attended college at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, where he majored in journalism. He moved to Ohio in 1996 to work at the Ashland Times-Gazette, and then The Daily Record in Wooster. After 30 years in the newspaper industry, he began working at Ashland University as a content writer in the marketing department in 2022.

He has lived in Wooster and been a member of St. Mary Parish for more than 20 years. He and his wife, Jamie, who is a longtime OB nurse at Wooster Community Hospital, have two adult children, Evan, who works at the Joyful Café in town, and Seth, who attends Kent State University.

Jarred was a PSR teacher for 12 years and is now a sub. Since the summer of 2023, he has been the editor of the St. Mary Bulletin after learning for several months under the guidance of the previous Bulletin editor, Cheryl Davis. If you have any questions, suggestions or observations regarding the Bulletin, Facebook or the St. Mary Website, reach out to Jarred.

Darcy was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana near the University of Notre Dame. Born to Benny and Evelyn Pajak, he has one younger sister. After graduating from high school, he enrolled and graduated from the School of Business at Indiana University. He held different leadership positions with his corporate employer which brought his family to Wooster and became a Parishioner over thirty years ago. Their daughters who all graduated from college are married and mothers bringing him great joy.

Darcy has been very active in many community organizations as well as St. Mary. Prior to retirement, he led their family business interests with his wife Faline. In his time away from "helping our Parish" he walks daily, enjoys their grandchildren, does caregiving, likes to read, travel and relax at their lake cottage.

Karen has worked at St. Mary since August 2020.  She has implemented the St. Mary Cemetery death records books onto the Catholic Cemeteries Association website in the Diocese of Cleveland.  She upkeeps and maintains the deceased records and makes deeds for purchased cemetery plots in St. Mary Cemetery.  Karen worked on the Outreach Project in our parish.  Karen is currently working on the new website for the church and the cemetery.  Karen works in the Parish Office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Karen enjoys hiking, biking, and any outdoor activities.  Karen is studying The Divine Will by Luisa Piccarreta and appreciates working along side her co-workers.  Karen is married and has 9 adult children living outside of the home.