St. James was established in April of 1949. This church is a revival of an earlier St. James parish. The original St. James was founded in 1847. The origin of the that parish can be traced to 1838, when the first known Mass was celebrated in the town by a priest visiting from Pittsburgh. These visits continued, irregularly at first, but eventually once a month. Until 1847, Mass was celebrated in private homes. In 1847 responsibility for New Bedford passed to Ss. Peter and Paul in Beaver. The pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul built a church on donated land in New Bedford that was dedicated as St. James the Apostle. In 1854, the mission transferred to St. Mary in New Castle.
Other events were taking place at this time that would affect the parish. The individual who donated the land for the church made an additional land donation for an orphanage, which is now Villa Maria. A building for the orphans was erected and some were transferred from Pittsburgh, but the attempt was soon abandoned as impractical. During the 1850's the land was sold to the Diocese of Cleveland. The bishop of Cleveland sent the Sisters of Charity to open an orphanage. This order was later replaced by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary. St. James remained open and was still visited by priests from the Diocese of Pittsburgh until 1862. After that, St. James became the responsibility of the Diocese of Cleveland.
As New Castle and Youngstown began growing, people began drifting away from the New Bedford area. The individuals who remained began attending services in the orphanage chapel. St. James church was abandoned in 1873 and eventually was converted to classrooms. At some point, the building was torn down.
For decades, there was no church in New Bedford. Only the chapel at Villa Maria served the local community. Villa Maria, although located in Pennsylvania, continued to be part of the Diocese of Cleveland.
In 1949, Villa Maria was transferred back to the Diocese of Pittsburgh. On April 6, 1949, the parish of St. James was revived and a resident pastor assigned. At first Mass was celebrated in the Villa Maria chapel. On April 27, 1953, ground was broken for a new church. The cornerstone was laid on June 18, 1953, and the completed church was dedicated on November 24, 1953.
By the 1980's, the congregation had outgrown the original building. An new addition to the existing building was constructed to serve as the church in 1987. The original church was then converted to a social hall.
With the turn of the century, trends in the Diocese of Pittsburgh began to reveal a decline in Mass attendance and sacramental participation. At the same time, the number of priests available for parish ministry also began to decline.
To address these challenges, Bishop David Zubik announced on April 12, 2015 a new diocesan initiative, On Mission for The Church Alive!, a consultative strategic planning process designed to foster viable, sustainable and vibrant parishes. As part of this process, the Bishop, in consultation with the faithful, began to consider new models of parish life based on pastoral needs, financial and temporal resources and available clergy.
In 2018, following the period of consultation, parishes were grouped together and served by a single clergy team to eventually form one new parish.
During this transition period, St. James the Apostle Parish remained an independent parish while sharing clergy and staff and eventually publishing a joint bulletin with the other parishes. This ended on July 1, 2019 when St. James the Apostle Parish merged with the parishes of St. Camillus, Neshannock; Christ the King, Bessemer/Hillsville and the New Castle parishes of Mary, Mother of Hope, St. Joseph the Worker, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Vitus to form the new Holy Spirit Parish. As part of the merger St. James the Apostle Church remained open as part of the new parish. However, due to declining Mass attendance and financial considerations, St. James the Apostle Church closed on October 2, 2023.
