Saint Casimir Church () is a Catholic parish church in Cleveland, Ohio, and part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. It is designated "a personal parish for those Catholics of the Latin Rite of Polish descent" in Cleveland. A personal parish is designated under Canon 518 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It is located at the north-east corner of intersection of East 82nd St. and Sowiniski Ave., in a part of the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood previously known in Polish as .
Both the church building and the school building are GNIS named features. The church building is listed as a Cleveland Designated Landmark.
History
To provide properly for the large and steadily increasing number of Poles in the north-eastern part of Cleveland it was necessary to organize them into the third Polish congregation within the limits of the city. They lived too far away from St. Stanislaus Church, with which they had been affiliated, for them to conveniently either attend Mass or for their children to attend the parish school. They therefore petitioned Bishop Richard Gilmour for permission to form a new parish and build a church for their own use. In December 1891, Monsignor Felix Boff, V.G., administrator of the diocese, granted the required permission. Those parishioners left to form St. Casimir Church in 1891.
Founding The parish was founded in 1891—about 44 years after the Diocese of Cleveland was erected by Pope Pius IX.
Nineteenth century In December, 1891, Boff appointed Father Benedict Rosinski, pastor of St. Adalbert's, Berea, Ohio, to take charge of the mission.
On January 7, 1892-01-07, Mr. Joseph Hoffman, a Catholic, and a large property owner in that part of Cleveland, donated for church purposes a parcel of land, by , bounded by Pulaski St., Kossuth (East 82nd St.), and Sowinski St. At the intersection of Pulaski St. and East 82nd St., the foundation for a combination brick church and school was begun in April, 1892, and on May 15, Boff was delegated by Bishop Ignatius Frederick Horstmann to lay the cornerstone. The ceremony was attended by a large multitude, who braved the very inclement weather on that day. Boff preached the English language sermon and Rosinski addressed the congregation in the Polish language.
Cerveny labored faithfully, even in the face of financial difficulties and a somewhat unruly element. At his request he was transferred to St. Ladislas' Church, Cleveland, and was succeeded on September 16, 1894, by Father Sigmund Wozny, who had just then come to the diocese. During 1895 Wozny had the church property enclosed by a fence, and replaced the chairs with pews, besides making other necessary improvements. Like his immediate predecessor, he found an unruly element to deal with, which, with the comparatively large parish debt, about $17,000, discouraged him, and hence he asked to be relieved from his unpleasant pastoral charge. His wish was granted, and he left the diocese in February, 1896 and was at once succeeded by Father Francis X. Fremel, who set courageously to work to put men and things to rights. He too met with opposition at the start, but with prudence and firmness he soon succeeded in surmounting the difficulties that beset him. Under his direction, seconded by the generosity of the people, the interior of the church was ornamented quite neatly, and all the requisites for divine service procured. At the same time he did not lose sight of the funded debt, but strained every nerve to have it reduced.
Because of ill health (tuberculosis of the throat). Fremel was obliged to resign his pastorate and move to California. He left in April, 1899, after a faithful service of a little over three years. On May 10, 1899, he was succeeded by Father Casimir Lazinski, who at once made many necessary improvements in and around the church property, at an outlay of about $2,000.
Owing to lack of a sewer the basement of St. Casimir's Church became filled with surface water, which remained stagnant. The Board of Health, in 1896, ordered the school closed and checked for sickness among the children. The school remained closed for two years, until the sewer was built by the city.
Twentieth century As of 1903, the school was operated by three Felician Sisters, of Detroit, and had an attendance of over 200 children.
On July 5, 1973, Father Leon Telesz was appointed pastor.
The school closed in 1976.
Twenty-first century Vibrant Parish Life Pope John Paul II's 1999 states that, the institution of the parish, while it retains its importance, is facing difficulties, especially in large urban areas, in fulfilling its mission and needs constant renewal to be effective.
Bishop Anthony Pilla, initiated a pastoral planning process entitled Vibrant Parish Life, to study the vibrancy of parish communities, and possible sharing of resources among those parishes.
Pilla wrote in his pastoral letter Vibrant Parish Life that,
On April 4, 2006, titular Bishop Richard Lennon was appointed Bishop of Cleveland by Pope Benedict XVI. He continued this study, in conformity with Canon 50.
The pastoral planning process had considered broad diocesan trends concerning the situation of the declining number of the clergy and the ratio of priests-to-faithful, the general location of parish communities and churches, weekly attendance at Sunday Mass, finances, with a special emphasis on the vibrancy of the parish communities, judged by the above and other predetermined factors. Although Pilla recognized that a unique "quality of parish life is a reality in many places" and "richness and diversity are a treasure to be preserved" and that many parishes "founded with strong ethnic roots that were and continue to be important in sustaining people's faith", he wrote that, "We need catechesis in order for our people to understand and support this vision of vibrant parish life." A similar process of consolidation, which also included sales of assets, described in BusinessWeek as a solution that "could revolutionize the way dioceses manage their affairs nationwide", took place in the Archdiocese of Chicago under Cardinal Joseph Bernardin the archbishop of Chicago during the 1990s.
The Vibrant Parish Life process in Cleveland included an examination of the possible "closing" of this Parish, a personal parish for those Catholics of the Latin Rite of Polish descent along with 8 other of the 14 personal parishes for those of Polish descent in Cleveland.
Pilla wrote that Vibrant Parish Life was to be implemented "on an area-by-area basis." This parish was not included in a cluster which represented parishes from the district near the Church, but rather was placed together with two parishes of Polish descent and another parish which were located elsewhere in the city, several miles away, in the area referred to by Lennon as "Broadway/Slavic Village", instead of the area known as "Cleveland Ward 7" where the parish is located. A personal parish does not have territory.
During the week of April 16, 2007, the 18th National Convention of the Polish American Priests' Association was held in Cleveland; one cardinal, eight bishops, and 78 priests attended. They were welcomed by Telesz to St. Casimir Church, one of the places visited, were Auxiliary Bishop Ryszard Karpiński, of the Diocese of Lublin, Poland, the Polish Episcopal Conference Delegate for Polonia Abroad, along with Fr. David W. Bialkowski of the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, led in the recitation of the rosary, alternating decades, in English and Polish. Then, Fr. Leonard F. Chrobot, PhD, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend presented a lecture about "the changing nature of our Polish communities and the generational differences among the people who now make-up Polonia." Afterwards, the convention participants travelled to the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist where Lennon concelebrated Mass.
In a November 20, 2008, press release describing a meeting between a delegation of the Polish Episcopal Conference and representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops () about pastoral work with migrants, Father Allan F. Deck, SJ, PhD, executive director of the USCCB's Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church (), pointed out that experts on religious trends in the United States, such as Robert D. Putnam, PhD, professor of public policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, have noted that maintaining cultural identity is a factor in preserving religious identity. Deck said that "the historical commitment of the Polish American community to maintaining its culture and Catholic identity while also adapting to U.S. culture is one of the more outstanding models of how the process unfolds."
On February 3, 2009, with a stated view of fulfilling the requirements of Canon 515§2, Lennon heard the opinions of the members of the Presbyteral Council regarding the proposal to close the Parish.
On February 23, 2009, it was reported that Rev. Mr. James J. Armstrong, deacon at St. Wendelin in Cleveland, a media and public relations expert, was hired to take inventory in the closed churches and oversee distribution of the objects.
On March 12, 2009, by letter to the pastor and subsequent announcement in the Church, Similar letters sent to the pastors of other parishes also have the identifier "198/2009". Lennon communicated his decision to "close" and merge the Parish with the closing of the Church, clearly indicating that the Church would no longer be allowed to be used for any function of worship and the Church would be fenced off so as to prevent the faithful from approaching, thereby executing the provisions of Canon 1222§2 without implementing its procedures.
Closing After Lennon's closing announcement, conversations about feelings and solidarity began to appear in Polish publications.
On March 23, 2009, and on March 26, 2009, parishioners made written requests to Lennon to amend his decree, in accord with canon 1734. Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek wrote that, "Clearly, any appeal must be well grounded and experience shows that such appeals succeed only under unusual circumstances."
On March 25, 2009, a management guide to the consolidation process, the Consolidation Manual, was published by the diocese; it was meant to clarify and prioritize defined tasks as well as to provide planning tools and instruments to accomplish those defined tasks.
Lennon rejected the first request on April 14, 2009, and rejected the second request on April 23, 2009.
On April 23, 2009 and on May 2, 2009, parishioners of the Parish made hierarchical recourse; they petitioned that the Congregation for the Clergy issue a decree declaring the decree imposed by Lennon to be null and void and of no juridical effect.
With plainclothes police inside the church and a heavy presence of uniformed police outside, on November 8, 2009, Lennon presided over a closing Mass which protesters called a "Mass of Eviction". Gus Chan http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/11/final_mass_at_st_casimir_2.html This began when a ninety-six-year-old altar server, Władysław Szylwian, a survivor of imprisonment and forced labor, as a prisoner of war for five years, in Nazi concentration camps including Bergen-Belsen from which he was liberated,Note: Other issues of The Neighborhood News have the same file name "04-06-11.pdf" but the content changes weekly. disconnected power to the microphone. Then in a nonviolent resistance act of public social rejection, reminiscent of the scene in the film Casablanca, the congregation sang "Boże, coś Polskę", "Serdeczna Matko", and other songs. A woman in her 80s who had spent 10 years in a Communist prison reflected that, even the Communists were afraid to close churches.