St. Bonaventure was established on June 5, 1957, in response to the growth of population in the North Hills. The first Mass of the new parish was celebrated on June 14. At first Mass was celebrated in an old mansion. The altar was placed in the parlor and the congregation sat in the living room, dining room and hall. These spaces were not large enough to seat the entire congregation, so the overflow spilled out onto the lawn. For ten weeks this arrangement continued. Knowing that they could not depend on good weather every Sunday, a parish committee searched for a larger space that could accommodate the entire congregation. They settled on the Undercliff Volunteer Fire Company hall.
During this time, work was begun on a school building that would include a temporary church. In the original plans, the temporary church would be converted to either a gym or auditorium once a permanent church was completed. Ground for the new building was broken on May 11, 1958. The cornerstone was laid on September 7, 1958, and the completed building was dedicated on June 14, 1959.
By the late 1970's, the parish began considering building a new church. However, after studying the issue, the parish decided that it could not afford a new building. Instead, the decision was made to renovate the temporary church into a permanent church. The renovation began in 1981 and the completed church was blessed on February 14, 1982.
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. Bonaventure Parish remained an independent parish while sharing clergy and staff and eventually publishing a joint bulletin with the other parishes. This ended on January 4, 2021 when St. Bonaventure Parish merged with All Saints Parish, Etna; St. Aloysius Parish, Reserve Township and Holy Spirit Parish, Millvale to form the new St. Matthew Parish. As part of the merger St. Bonaventure Church remained open as part of the new parish.