The Pastorate of Fr. Martin F. Kelly

History:
Home
Introduction
Beginnings
St. Mary, Rockport
Stone Church
Age of the Streetcar
We Become a Parish
New School
Fr. Calvey
Building Traditions
Altar & Rosary
Calvey Club
Main School Bldg
Depression Years
Youth Organizations
War Years
Post-war Years
Parish Cemetery
Building Years
Aspects of Parish Life
Pastorate of Fr. Kelly
Hunger Center
Changing Needs
R.C.I.A.
Pastoral Council
Reaching Out
Parish Staff
Year of Celebration
Parish Leaders
Daughter Parishes

Other sections:
Calendar
Church & ministry
Scenes
School
Organizations

The new pastor, Fr. Martin F. Kelly, was announced to the parish on August 21 and installed on September 11, 1966. He came from the pastorate of St. Colman's.

Fr. Kelly immediately set about bringing the church in line with the latest liturgical developments. The main church was closed on January 29 and services were moved to the chapel and gym. When the church reopened on St. Patrick's Day, it featured a freestanding altar, a new baptistery and other changes. Bishop Clarence Elwell consecrated the main altar on May 7.

The school library opened in 1967 with 14,000 volumes Work began on opening a school library in the basement of the Main School Building. Over the next couple of years, parishioners donated books bought at book fairs. The library opened with 14,000 volumes, which had been catalogued and shelved by volunteers.

The next order of business was replacing the church organ. A pipe organ installed in the 1920s had been rebuilt when the church was enlarged in the 1950s. Fr. Kelly now began a collection for a new one and the present Teller pipe organ was installed in January 1969.

Sports programs had started again in the mid 1950s when Fr. Nelson Callahan, an assistant, helped revive the grade school football program. By the late 1960s the parish boasted championship football, basketball and wrestling teams. All of these programs were coordinated by the Holy Name Society at the time. The present Athletic Association was established in April 1972 and oversees a variety of grade school and high school sports programs, teams and tournaments for boys and girls.

The church's Teller pipe organ was installed in 1969 After a year without a bazaar (the last one was in 1966), the Day of the Raffle was started in 1968, with Pat McGovern as the general chairman. The raffle was combined with food and entertainment. This event continued until 1973 when the raffle became part of the parish picnic. The inaugural Day of the Raffle was the first time the parish raffled off two cars -- a practice that continued until 1979 when cash prizes were offered.

Periodically there would be appeals for donations of blood for parishioners or their relatives. As these became more frequent, the need for a parish blood bank was recognized. In November 1969 the call went out for 125 parishioners to be the founding donors, and on January 12, 1970, 196 pints of blood were donated.

The following month the Legion of Mary, a group combining devotion to Mary with apostolic action, was organized in the parish with Fr. Ken Myers as its moderator. Their first action was to begin an ongoing census of the parish. The Legion has many auxiliary members who join them in the daily prayers.

By the late 1960s, many parishes were finding it necessary to charge tuition. In 1971 Bishop Clarence Issenmann instructed parish schools to start charging $100 a year tuition. It was hoped that, with this uniformity, the State of Ohio would reimburse parents. Fr. Kelly charged $90 per year in tuition and arranged for interest-free loans to be paid back when the anticipated State money came through. It never did and tuition has stayed with us. (Tuition was not completely new to St. Patrick's - Fr. Calvey had charged $1 per family per month when he was first pastor.)

Renewals Of Faith

As liturgical reform continued, more people of the parish accepted ministerial roles in Sunday Liturgy New ministries - lector, Eucharistic minister, cantor - were opened first to lay men and then women. In February 1970, permission was given for a vigil Mass and the Saturday evening Mass became part of the Catholic lifestyle. On Pentecost 1970, the New Order of Mass of the Roman Rite was introduced, the last major step in the renewal of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The other sacraments were renewed one at a time. When the new rite of the Sacrament of Penance was introduced in 1976, it called for the availability of face-to-face confession. The following year confessional rooms were built in the basement chapel. At the same time a "cry room" was built in what is now the tabernacle room in the lower church.

The Altar and Rosary Society and the Holy Name Society had both offered opportunities for retreats and days of recollection for a number of years. The Cursillo Movement had also attracted a number of people from the parish. The renewal of the Church was motivating personal spiritual renewal and the parish also moved in that direction. In March 1972 the parish had its first Men's Renewal, later known as Christ Renews His Parish. This program offered the opportunity for spiritual growth and for growth in understanding the Faith. The first renewal for women was held the following school year.

Fr. J. Norman Riley served as Vicar Coadjutor, administering the parish from 1978-1982 This program continued until the mid 1980s, alternating renewals for men and for women. Parishioners in the program participated in regular gatherings, called Light functions, and had their own monthly bulletin insert, the "Light Letter." By the time the parish Renewal Program was formally closed in the fall of 1987, many hundreds of parishioners had taken advantage of it.

Milestone Celebration

The parish celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1973 with events spanning from March 17 to Christmas, under the direction of a committee headed by Fr. Ken Myers and Rip Riley. On March 16, "40 Families" aired on the "On Location" radio program, remembering the founding of the parish. An anniversary Mass was celebrated on Sunday, March 18, with Bishop Clarence Issenmann as celebrant and Fr. Nelson Callahan as homilist. This was followed by a dinner at Wagner's Country Inn. The parish choir presented a concert, "Everything Is Beautiful," in June. The closing event was the dedication of the new statue of St. Patrick in front of the rectory on Christmas Eve, just before Midnight Mass - the 75th anniversary of the first Mass in the church.

The statue of St. Patrick was dedicated during the parish's 125th anniversary celebration St. Patrick Parish had known constant growth throughout its 125 years. It now consisted of over 3,100 households and there were now 12 parishes where there had originally been one. Most of the land within the parish boundaries had been developed and any future growth would be minimal. The reversal of this growth began in 1974 when several area streets were bought for the future development of I-480. In the next 25 years the parish would shrink even more, as another half dozen or so streets were bought for the airport-noise-abatement program and for the development of industrial and commercial parks.

Fr. Nazareno De Angelis retired as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1973 and the following year Fr Kelly offered him rooms at St. Patrick's. He had to move out in 1975 when a fourth priest was assigned to the parish, but he found rooms in the neighborhood and came to the church every day for Mass. On his death, July 1, 1996, he had been a part of St. Patrick's for 22 years.

Some parish senior citizens met in June 1974 to organize a social group. They decided the minimum age would be 55 and so adopted the name 55+. In its early years, this group sponsored many trips and activities for members. They still gather on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month for a brief meeting followed by cards and bingo.

The saddest event of Fr. Kelly's pastorate occurred the night of March 3, 1976. Sometime during the night, thieves broke into the church and stole the tabernacle from the basement chapel. It was returned on March 11 for a $50 ransom. Fr. Kelly and the parish were greatly relieved that all the hosts were still present. As soon as people heard of the theft they came to church to pray for the safe return of the Eucharist. The older school children came to church that day for holy hour and local convents were contacted for prayers. There was a parish octave of prayer March 7-14 and Eucharistic Devotions were dedicated as an act of reparation.

Further Improvements

Two years later Fr. Kelly celebrated his 40th anniversary with the parish. He was 65 at the time, short of the retirement age of 70, but he worked out an arrangement with Bishop James Hickey. Keeping the assignment of pastor, Fr. Kelly gave up the administration of St. Patrick Parish. Fr. J. Norman Riley came to the parish on April 27, 1978 from St. Anthony in Fairport Harbor. He was named Vicar Coadjutor and assumed the duties of administrator, seeing to the sacramental, statistical, financial and accounting responsibilities of the parish. In this position he had the right of succession after Fr. Kelly's anticipated retirement in September 1982.

Like others before him, one of the first tasks Fr. Riley undertook was the remodeling of the church. He brought in new pews, lightened the interior, and made the sanctuary more liturgically up-to-date. The improvements were completed by December, allowing the parish to continue an informal tradition - offering the first Mass on Christmas as it had in 1898 and 1953.

At this time, there was growing concern in the Church for adult religious education. This could be seen in the diversity of scripture studies, discussion groups, guest speakers, renewals and other activities. The variety of sacramental preparation programs was being expanded. Pre-baptism classes were first offered to parents in 1973. Fr. Rick Lakatos organized the One-Day Pre-Cana in September 1979 for engaged couples of the parish -- the program continues to help couples prepare for marriage.

As the needs of the school grew, parents looked for more ways to help. The Altar and Rosary Society/school mothers' card parties, which had started in the '30s, no longer brought in enough money, so in January 1978 the School Boutique was started. Interested parishioners met to make items that the students could purchase as Christmas gifts. After just a year or two, the "Elves Shelves" sale expanded and craft goods were made available to the entire parish to raise money for school projects. During the 1979-80 school year, the Parent-Teacher Unit (PTU) was organized to facilitate parental involvement and to help the school in everything but fund raising. That function has remained the responsibility of the Boutique.

Sr. Beverly, S.I.W., was the first Director of Religious Education for the parish. Her main concern was to direct the Parish School of Religion program and to coordinate it with the parish school. In 1980 she helped organize a preschool religion program. Since 1968 there had been a babysitting program during the 11:00 Sunday Mass. Working with a group of parents, she transformed this into an education program for three-through-five-year olds.

Christmas 1980 brought a couple of innovations to the parish. The first was a Christmas party for the children of Riverside Park Estates. This was begun by the men and women of the renewal program and Christian Family Movement. Over the years different groups or individuals have kept it going, relying on the generosity of the parishioners to supply the gifts. It is now coordinated by Hunger Center volunteers. Also that Christmas, a special children's liturgy was offered on Christmas Eve. There were two Masses at both 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. One of each of these was oriented toward school and preschool children -- complete with birthday cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Fr. Kelly turned 70 in September 1982 and retired from the active priesthood. Fr. Riley was offered the position of pastor, but chose instead to become a hospital chaplain. The new pastor, Fr. Thomas R. Burg, came to St. Patrick's on December 15 from the chaplaincy of St. Edward High School.