St Brendan the Navigator parish has a rich history that reflects back to 1956 when this area of west Columbus was just beginning its growth spurt. As the area population expanded, there was also an increase in the number of Catholics and Bishop Michael Ready addressed their spiritual needs by adding St Brendan as a new Diocesan parish. St Brendan was selected as the parish name and as our patron saint. This name held from 1956 until 2003, when the name was formally changed to St Brendan the Navigator.

The first pastor of our parish was Fr Michael Wellnitz, and the early membership of the parish was about 65 families. Fr Wellnitz, an accomplished wood carver, left his mark on St Brendan when he carved the Stations of the Cross (currently on display along wall adjacent the Davidson Rooms) and the five foot statues of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and St Anthony that reside in our church today.

In 1957, the original church and rectory were combined in what is now Wellnitz Hall, with the church on the lower level and the rectory upstairs. For a number of years, the upstairs of that building had been used as our parish offices and the large room in the lower level is where bible studies were conducted before it was turned into the current storage room.

St Brendan School was added to the parish campus in 1963. With the addition of the school, they also added a larger church area connected to the school to accommodate our growing parish population. The combination church and school building was purposely designed so the church portion of the building could be converted into additional school classrooms as warranted by parish growth. The space was converted to classrooms in 1972 and the church moved back to the rectory basement (which is now the Wellnitz Hall storage room).

Monsignor William Maroon became the Pastor of St Brendan in 1978, and the following year he launched a capital campaign to begin the process of building a new St Brendan church. The dedication of the new church took place in 1981, the 25th anniversary year for St Brendan parish.

In 1987, the growth of the community-at-large led to the development of two new parishes in the area: St Brigid of Kildare in Dublin and St Joan of Arc in Powell. Even though our parish was divided among the new parishes, St Brendan parish continued to add more families.

In 1993, Monsignor William Maroon returned as our Pastor and began the expansion of St Brendan School with a capital campaign to add a multipurpose room/gym and ten additional classrooms. At this time, there was also an expansion to the church that added a new gathering area, additional pews, a new cry room, and an immersion baptismal font.

In 1998, St Brendan added the rectory for the priests which exists today. This rectory accommodates both our resident priests and visiting priests. Behind the current rectory, a large stone table still sits that was once used as an altar for summertime Masses. That same year, they also remodeled the old rectory garage and created the Carter Center, which was originally used as our nursery for children, named after Fr Raymond Carter who served as our Parochial Vicar for many years.

In 2001, two rooms were added by the school cafeteria, and in 2002, the Maroon Center was added to the church to house additional offices and a library. That area now serves as the room where liturgical ministers prepare for Mass as well as offices for our Care and Consolation ministers, our Deacon offices and an office for our music director.

On June 30, 2019, the parish broke ground on the Navigator Expansion through funds raised during the “ONE Campaign.” These additions included our Adoration Chapel, the Davidson Rooms, new parish and school offices, a new school media center as well as uniting our church to our school where there once had been a roadway that separated the two buildings... fulfilling the unifying goal of the ONE Campaign. The old parish offices (Wellnitz Hall upper floor) were turned into two large meeting rooms with the kitchenette and the old lower level Hall in the basement became much needed storage.