Saint Procop is the patron of a formerly Czech (Bohemian) parish on the near west side of Cleveland, Ohio. He was alive a thousand years ago, and was an abbot. The nations coming to America, often gave names to their parishes after national saints. The Czechs often have churches of St. Wenceslaus, and St. John Nepomucene (Nepomuk). Procop was the first Czech canonised, but less well known. His calendraic day is the 4th of July. This Sunday, upcoming, Bishop Lennon will preside over the last mass, and the suppression of the parish will formally begin. Sunday, last, some of the parishioners gathered for ‘class pictures’, supra—are some beginning to assemble. The day before the last wedding took place in the church. Its sacramental records are ending.The parish began some years after the failed war of southern secession. The cornerstone of the present, Byzantine-Romanesque structure was masoned in 1899. The parish demographics and economy mirrored that of the city. In 1962, the dome and two spires were removed. Now, with the further ravages of the statistics, and as a fall out of scandal, parishes are being suppressed, which is the canonical term for ‘forcibly closed’.
In addition to the nostalgic memories of all those who have fond recollections of their past, and their family’s, the parish aided the greater community. A weekly meal for the indigent and others has been moved to Saint Augustine’s, which has been very noted for feeding the hungry. An AA programme has been moved to an UCC church. It is a sad end for a parish, an entity meant to be perpetual.
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