He was canon and vicar of the Mother Church of Caxias do Sul (later Cathedral), and a figure of great projection and influence in the community in the religious, social, cultural, political, and educational fields.

He created the Apostleship of Prayer, a traditional group for the cultivation of faith, in 1911, established the city's Ecclesiastical District, being its first vicar forane, founded rural chapels, and fundamentally collaborated in the creation and establishment of the Diocese of Caxias do Sul in 1934 as the leader of the Pro-Bishopric Commission, of the Diocesan Seminary, founded in 1937 and inaugurated in 1939, and of the parishes of Holy Sepulcher (1934), Our Lady of Lourdes (1942), and San Pellegrino (1942).

In 1913, he founded the Recreio Dante Society, the first entity to offer nighttime education to young people and workers, with primary school classes and a trade technical course, besides having a library and promoting "instructive and moral" recreational events, such as cinema and theater.

[11] With the collaboration of Angelina Michielon and a special commission, he founded, in 1928, the Santa Teresinha Orphanage, the first in Caxias and predecessor of the Mother Imilda School, remaining as one of its main benefactors.

[13][14] He supervised the creation of the Vincentian Conferences in 1933, one at the La Salle Carmo College and another at the Chapel of San Pellegrino, which later became the Society of Caxias do Sul for Assistance to the Needy.

[6] João was chapel master of the Mother Church[17] and left an important contribution in the field of memory and traditions, being the compiler, together with Dom José Barea, of a collection of sacred hymns and popular songs typical of the region.

The estrangement was very much due to the fact that most PRR politicians were linked to Freemasonry, positivism, and/or liberalism, demonized by the Church, although they shared with these movements a strong concern for education, order, and public morality.

[20][21] Guided by the Porto Alegre high clergy to pursue a rapprochement with the public power, he developed a policy of understanding and mutual help.

[21] The foundation of cultural societies was also understood as a way to create places of consensus among divergent forces and to dispel tendencies to form radical groups, seen as harmful to the harmony of society and public morality, especially by trying to attract young people, who, under the tutelage of the Church, would be "well formed" and could eventually serve the community as good citizens and loyal Catholics, able, when necessary, to confront the dominant party in defense of the Church.

The land for the construction of their headquarters and hospital was donated by the freemasonry through the intervention of her husband, then already an intendant and honorary president of the Recreio Dante Society.

[20] His activity was so outstanding that it led to a protest on the cover of the newspaper O Brasil, of October 20, 1923, against the alleged transformation of religious temples into political platforms, where "demagogues preached subversion".

During his administration, Meneguzzi participated in the Pro-Caxias Commission, a team composed of illustrious personalities and created with the objective of "collaborating with the municipal public powers in solving the various problems that affect life in Caxias".

[21] In the words of Eliana Rela, The Church had not participated directly in the electoral process of 1924, but had invested for a long time in the organization and formation of a 'pressure group', whose actions would facilitate its access to political power with the objective of influencing its decisions.