Saturday
4:30 PM
Sunday
10:00
12:00
Monday
8:00
Tuesday
8:00
Wednesday
7:30
8:00
Thursday
8:00
Friday
8:00
Saturday
4:30 PM
Sunday
10:00
12:00
Five Facets of Holiness
Dear Padre,
What are the principal means of lay holiness?
-- A Searching Lay Person
Dear Searching,
The means of holiness are the same for all the baptized, whether lay, ordained, or religious.
Prayer is the most essential ingredient to holiness no matter what the vocation. In public prayer, we join others
to offer communal worship. In private prayer we maintain, clarify, and nourish our fundamental relationships with
God, others, and the world. There is no holiness without prayer.
God's love via love of neighbor is an eternal challenge of Christian holiness. The gospels
say every person is our neighbor, especially persons in need. Jesus particularly identified himself with the needy
when he said, "Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to
me" (Matthew 25:40).
We also quietly and unobtrusively live our holiness when we persevere and remain faithful
to our vocational commitments. Whatever our lifestyle choice, living up to its demands is the stuff of holiness.
Being faithful to a spouse in marriage, working for family harmony, staying true to dedicated singleness in the
world or in the religious community setting -- all are avenues of holiness.
Fourth, there is no holiness without the self-control that establishes personal discipline.
Free expression of every unbridled appetite, desire, or ambition is incompatible with Christian life. Christians
must "deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me [Jesus]" (Luke 9:23).
Holiness also comes from, and finds its noblest expression in, a life of service and ministry.
Baptism initiates us into the fullness of Christian reality, which ultimately means discipleship. Being willing
to share our faith and our expriences of God in community, giving witness to God's presence in our lives, stepping
forward to serve and minister to our sisters and brothers, and working for peace and justice in our world are essential
elements of holiness.
-- The Padre
Father Joe Morin, C.SS.R.
Copyright 1995, Liguori Publications / Liguori, MO 63057-9999
History of Immaculate Conception Church
In the early 1850s, Irish-Catholic families from the area of East 41st Street and Superior
Avenue, celebrated Mass at the Chapel of the Nativity--a small frame building behind St. John the Evangelist Cathedral.
The Diocese moved the building to a lot in the middle of the Irish neighborhood in 1856, renaming it Immaculate
Conception Church. For the next ten years, the chapel served as a mission church and school, with the Ursuline
Sisters as teachers. On May 1, 1865, Bishop Amadeus Rappe elevated the community to parochial status, appointing
Father Andrew Sauvadet, a French- and Canadian - educated priest, first pastor. Following Bishop Rappe's resignation
in September 1870, the Diocese transferred Father Sauvadet to Annunciation Parish, replacing him with
Father Thomas P. Thorpe, who two years later oversaw the erection of a temporary frame church. In August of the
following year, Bishop Richard Gilmour laid the cornerstone for the current Immaculate Conception Church.
With Father Thorpe's departure from Immaculate Conception Parish, supervision of construction
became the responsibility of the community's third pastor, Father A. R. Sidley. Tension soon developed between
Father Sidley and the parishoners, resulting in a drop in contributions and delays in the church's completion.
In the fall of 1880, Father Sidley called a general meeting in which the issues dividing the community were settled.
By 1882, the church's shell had been completed. With Bishop Gilmour in Europe, Monsignor Felix M. Boff dedicated
the Gothic-style church on May 31, 1885. Father Sidley went on to serve the parish for another eight years. Upon
his death, the parish welcomed its former pastor, Father Thorpe. Work on the church continued through the turn-of-the-century,
with the erection of a bell tower (1898), the installation of an eleven-bell chime (1899), and the completion
of a clock tower (1901).
Sixteen years after being made domestic prelate, Monsignor Thorpe died on March 17, 1907.
For the next two years, the Immaculate Conception Church benefited from the pastoral care of Father Patrick Farrell.
On October 28, 1909, Monsignor George Murphy began his thirty-three-year pastorate, in which the parish erected
its present school building (1916). This school became an observation and teaching training facility
for the Sisters' College of Cleveland (1928). As growing numbers of its members being called for military service,
the community welcomed a new pastor, Father William T. Moran in 1942. As northeastern Ohio became more suburbanized
in the immediate postwar period, Immaculate Conception Parish struggled with a variety of problems common to the
Diocese's urban parishes. During these difficult years, the community was led by a number of priests: Father Leonard
Wheatley (1945-1956); Father Caspar A. Heimann (1956-1958); Father James L. Hernan (1958-1961); Father Bernard
A. Blatt (1961-1964); Father Joseph V. Butler (1964-1967); Father Bernard J. Tierney (1967-1969); and Father
James Fortman (1969-1976).
By the time Father Albert Mackert became pastor in 1976, the parish was suffering from falling
membership and a deteriorating campus. Recognizing the interest in traditional celebrations of the Eucharist, the
Diocese permitted Immaculate Conception Church to celebrate weekly Tridentine Latin Masses in 1989. Three years
later, Sister Roberta Goebel, OSU and the remaining Ursuline teachers left Immaculate Conception School, turning
it over to an all-lay faculty, which currently is lead by principal, Dr. Marlene Matis. On September 1, 1995, the
parish welcomed its sixteenth pastor, Father Michael J. Troha. While it began as a community of Irish-Catholic
immigrants, Immaculate Conception Parish today is a multiethnic congregation with a school population that currently
speaks sixteen different languages.
From People of Faith: Parishes and Religious Communities of the Diocese of Cleveland by Charles
R. Kaczynski, Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland; Cleveland, OH, © 1997. pp.76-77
A Message from the Pastor
Welcome to Immaculate Conception Parish! We are proud of our traditions of faith since 1865 serving
the near east side of Cleveland from the downtown area to East 55th Street. Once a parish of Irish immigrants,
we are now a community made up of various nationalities from five continents. Our parish grade school has been
in continuous operation since 1865. On Saturdays we host the Chinese School of Cleveland. We are also proud to
host the Tridentine Mass every Sunday at 12:00 Noon and on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 AM. Please come and join
us!
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