Diocese of Cleveland history

Bishop Rappe brought Sisters of Charity of St Augustine from his native France in 1851 for the purpose of establishing a hospital.

The property on Monroe St off W. 25th Street wasn’t ready until 1852 – when St Joseph Hospital was started.

The new campus is the outgrowth of the St Vincent DePaul Orphanage (established in 1853) and the St Louis Orphanage in Louisville, Ohio.

The first church was built in 1854 on the site of what is now the cemetery at the northeast corner of Rocky River Drive and Puritas Avenue.

The hospital was closed in 1856 and St Vincent’s Orphanage was established in the same building- which was later rebuilt.

The cemetery, with a total of 211 plots, is the burial site of many early Rockport Township pioneers, the first being buried in 1861.

The first mass was celebrated in the current church on Christmas Day 1898.

JOHN P. FARRELLY (1909-21) who brought Cleveland Catholicism into the modern era.

In November of 1911, Bishop Farrelly appoints 28 yr old Fr.

In 1912, the first Catholic Charities office was opened at East 9th and Prospect.

Numerous episcopal agencies and bureaus were established, including the CATHOLIC CHARITIES CORP. (1919). Building on the work of his predecessors, Farrelly went a long way toward unifying and standardizing the parochial schools and teacher training.

Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York City dedicates the village for boys 6 – 16 at 6753 State Road, Parma. [Cardinal Hayes was founder of the New York archdiocesan Catholic Charities in 1920; he was known as “the Cardinal of Charities”].

Bishop Schrembs helped create the National Catholic Welfare Conference and, in 1924, local units of the National Conference of Catholic Men and the National Conference of Catholic Women.

Parmadale Children’s Village of St Vincent de Paul was dedicated, housing 450 boys aged 6 – 16 on September 27, 1925.

Schrembs soon found himself in a dilemma regarding his old friend Coughlin, whose supporters formed a Cleveland branch of the National Union for Social Justice in 1936.

Charles E. Coughlin of Royal Oak, MI. A group of Catholic Workers, with Bishop Schrembs's moral and financial support, founded the Blessed Martin de Porres House of Hospitality in Cleveland in 1938 and Sacred Heart Hospice 1 year later.

Parishes of the Catholic Church, Diocese of Cleveland, History and Records (1942).

The original portion of the church, which still stands today, was expanded in 1953 to accommodate the growing parish.

In 1964, the diocese opened a Latin American Mission in El Salvador.

James A. Hickey (1974-80), who also reorganized and streamlined the diocesan administrative apparatus.

For Catholic newcomers, Bishop Hickey established SAN JUAN BAUTISTA CHURCH for Hispanics (1975) and formed apostolates for Filipino- and Vietnamese-Americans 2 years later.

For the growing numbers of Catholic charismatics, Hickey organized the Charismatic Office in 1976.

In 1978 he established the Bishop's Black Advisory Committee.

On December 2, 1980, Sister Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U., and laywoman Jean Donovan, members of the diocesan mission team in El Salvador, along with two Maryknoll sisters; Sister Ita Ford, MM and Sister Maura Clark, MM were murdered by the military of El Salvador.

J. Thomas Mullen is President/CEO. [Two subsidiaries were subsequently formed in 1992: Catholic Social Services Corp of N.E. Ohio; Catholic Youth and Community Services Corp.]

In May 2009, St Patrick Church was ordered to close by Bishop Richard Lennon, and the parish was to merge with those of Ascension and Annunciation as part of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese downsizing.

Catholic Charities named a Top Workplace by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the first time (has remained a Top Workplace ever since 2014).

Rose-Mary ceased its operations in Euclid in December 2016 and restructured its organization to better equip our staff and has become a leader in Ohio at the forefront of innovative care.