St. Michael Church celebrates 175 years as a parish

by Laura Bednar

A church that predates the Civil War still stands strong in the city of Independence. St. Michael Catholic Church at Brecksville and Chestnut roads is celebrating its 175th anniversary as a parish this year.

Rev. Matt Jordan, St. Michael pastor, said this year’s anniversary theme is “175 Years of Faith and Fellowship.” He is the 12th pastor of the church since its founding, noting that some previous pastors stayed for 30-40 years, which was the norm years ago.

“St. Michael is so ingrained in Independence,” he said. “I love going to our city events and seeing so many of our parishioners.”

Many longtime parishioners, like Tom Kurtz, are just as ingrained in the parish. He was baptized at St. Michael and made all his sacraments there, including marriage to wife Carrie, who attended St. Michael Catholic School. The pair has been married for 47 years and all their children attended the school. At one point, Kurtz said he and his wife had a grandchild in every grade level of the school from Pre-K to eighth grade.

“It’s our history,” he said, adding that his siblings have also been involved in the church and his mother sang in the choir. “It’s our spiritual home.”

George Topolski, a 77-year parish member, attended St. Michael School and recalled walking up the squeaky stairs to the church choir loft to sing with his fellow students. When students pulled the ropes connected to the church bells, Topolski said the force would lift them off the ground.

One of his fondest memories was working a booth with his father at the parish bazaar to raise money for a new church building.

Under former pastor Rev. Adelbert Gassert, Topolski volunteered to go through spiritual training and become an acolyte to serve during Mass. “I’m one of the last living members of the original 50 men ordained as acolytes,” he said.

Topolski, who is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, met his wife at St. Michael and four of his six children were baptized there.

“I have been there for 75 of the 175 years,” he said. “It’s a pleasing place to go.”

The church has held monthly events in honor of its anniversary year, including a parish breakfast, day of service (in which volunteers cleaned up cemetery grounds, parish grounds and parishioners’ yards), a bus tour of Cleveland churches, a grandparents lunch, ice cream social, wine and cheese night and a large fish fry during Lent.

Michael Osysko, a 38-year parish member, is the chair of the events committee, which met almost a year in advance of the anniversary year to plan. “We wanted each month to be something special,” he said. Several subcommittees handled fundraising, marketing and historical research.

Committee members planned events that followed the “faith and fellowship” theme. Osysko noted a 3-day mission event during Lent in which parishioners gathered for evening prayer. He said events were well received with most drawing 100-200 people.

These events led up to the church’s largest celebratory event on Sept. 19, when Bishop of the Cleveland Diocese Edward Malesic held Mass at St. Michael, followed by a gala lunch at the Independence Civic Center.

History

The church was originally founded as St. Lawrence in 1851 on Rockside Road. The property is now home to the St. Lawrence cemetery. St. Michael is one of the oldest churches in the Diocese of Cleveland, beginning just three years after the diocese establishment.

The parish moved to its current location on Chestnut Road when the congregation outgrew its first location. According to information from the Independence Historical Society, parish leaders found the Chestnut Road site, and in October 1870, trustees of the German Catholic Congregation purchased a half-acre parcel and construction of the new church began.

The board of education for Independence Township, at the time, acquired a second parcel in 1871 to build St. Michael Catholic School.

A severe storm in 1873 leveled church walls during construction, but congregants continued their work and a stone-and-brick church was complete in 1875, measuring 30 by 75 feet.

In its early years, St. Michael was a mission church without a pastor due to the small number of Catholics and scarcity of priests in the area, according to historical society information. In 1900, Rev. Adelbert Aust became the first permanent resident pastor, also overseeing mission churches in Parma and North Royalton.

The current sandstone church building was constructed in 1955 thanks to fundraising efforts and seats 700 people. The stained glass windows from the previous church, made in Munich, Germany, were incorporated into the new church along with the bells and two angel statues on either side of the Tabernacle.

The previous church building was razed in 1991 after being used as a church hall for several decades.

St. Michael Church underwent a renovation in 2000, during its 150th anniversary. Improvements included gold behind the tabernacle where the Eucharist is kept, a hall for the sacristy, new altar and a baptismal font, according to Jordan.

Also part of the parish history are 15-20 nuns who served in the school and used to live in a convent down the road. The school grew over time with a brick building built in 1904 and a modern eight-room schoolhouse completed by 1949. Topolski said the school’s second floor was added in the 1950s.

Present and future

Today, St. Michael serves close to 1,000 families. In addition to weekday and weekend Masses, the parish has several ministries including Knights of Columbus; the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which serves the poor and operates a monthly food pantry; and a monthly “Sandwich Saturday” event in which the church partners with St. Ambrose Church in Brunswick to supply over 1,000 sandwiches to the hungry.

Since 1997, St. Michael has partnered with St. Basil to offer preschool. Jordan said the preschool students meet at St. Basil’s campus, but will move to St. Michael’s campus next year.

For Jordan, the school is the biggest ministry.

“We’ve had one or two staff members or children baptized a year,” he said, adding that they joined the church voluntarily. His goal is to strengthen the connection between the church and school.

Jordan is seeing a growing number of church attendees, especially school families and young children. Kurtz noted his optimism for the future of the church saying, “If the church isn’t crying it’s probably dying,” adding that it “seems there is a renewed energy in the parish.”

Jordan is seeing people returning to church in general. “People are looking for something more real,” he said, adding that the topic of faith is more openly discussed.

St. Michael’s is hoping to add a parish center to hold events for the church and school, and is planning a capital campaign with the diocese to fund it. A feasibility study was conducted to determine the future of the buildings the parish owns, including the church, school, St. Francis Center (at Sunset Avenue and Second Street), rectory, convent and brick storage building.

Photo caption: The gold behind the Tabernacle was added as part of the church’s 2001 renovation. The angel statues on either side of the Tabernacle were brought from the original church. Photo by Laura Bednar.