About St. Colman · Cleveland, Ohio
St. Colman Catholic Church is a historic parish on Cleveland's Near West Side, founded in 1880 to serve the Irish immigrant community on the west side of the Cuyahoga River. Today the parish remains an open and welcoming Catholic community that celebrates its Irish roots while serving a diverse urban neighborhood at 2027 West 65th Street. It belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and is currently served by priests of the Apostles of Jesus (A.J.), with Fr. Caroli Borromeo Shao as pastor and Fr. Benjamin Koka as parochial vicar.
- Established
- 1880
- Patron
- St. Colman (Colmán)
- Rector
- Fr. Caroli Borromeo Shao, A.J.
- Diocese
- Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
Why belong here
St. Colman is an open and welcoming Catholic community that explicitly celebrates God's gift of diversity and is grateful both for the Irish immigrants who built the parish and for the new neighbors who continue to renew it. Worship is offered at a Saturday Vigil and two Sunday Masses, with weekday Mass Monday through Friday and a First Friday Mass. The parish has a long tradition of outreach — including a recovery program, literacy projects, an outreach ministry, and HUD-supported senior housing — and welcomes anyone looking for a parish family that lives the Gospel through worship, community life, and service to all God's people.
Mass times at St. Colman
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:30 PM (before the Vigil Mass)
- By appointment
Welcome and Parish Mission
St. Colman describes itself as a family, bringing God's love to one another and supporting one another in responding to the challenge of living the Gospel. The parish strives to deepen the participation and ownership of all parishioners in the whole life of the Church — worship, community life, the building of a just society, and service to all God's people. It is an open and welcoming Catholic community that celebrates God's gift of diversity and gives thanks for the Irish immigrants who built the parish and for those who continue to renew it.
History of St. Colman
St. Colman Parish was founded in 1880 by Msgr. Eugene Mary O'Callaghan, previously pastor of St. Patrick's on Bridge Avenue, to minister to Cleveland's West Side Irish immigrant community. The first Mass was celebrated in a rented house on Pear Street before a lot on Gordon Avenue (today's West 65th) was acquired as the site of the future parish complex. Schools, a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the present classically-styled 2,800-seat church — which opened in 1918 after four years of construction — all followed over the next decades.
- 1880 – Parish founded by Msgr. Eugene M. O'Callaghan; first Mass in a rented home on Pear Street.
- 1880 – First church built on Gordon Street (West 65th); rental house converted into St. Colman School.
- 1883 – More than 1,000 worshipers.
- 1885 – New school built on Gordon Street.
- 1886 – Convent constructed for the Sisters of St. Joseph.
- 1904 – Larger three-level schoolhouse with a 1,000-seat auditorium opens.
- 1918 – Present classically-styled church opens (capacity ~2,800).
- 1921 – Convent added.
- 1930 – Second school and rectory constructed.
- 1974 – 1904 school closed and demolished; preschool opens in 1930 school building.
- 2009 – Bishop Lennon announces merger with St. Stephen; parish campaign succeeds in keeping St. Colman open.
- 2010 – Begins hosting monthly Hungarian Masses for the closed St. Emeric community.
- 2014 – Fr. Bob Begin retires after parishioners submit 3,000+ signatures asking him to stay.
Ministries and Outreach
St. Colman's outreach has long been central to its identity. As the surrounding West Side Irish community changed after World War II, the parish developed a recovery program, literacy projects, an outreach ministry, and HUD-supported housing for senior citizens. The parish also operates a preschool — one of the first on Cleveland's West Side — out of its 1930 school building, and lists a Music Director and an Outreach Minister on its current pastoral staff.
- Outreach Ministry
- Music Ministry
- Preschool
- Recovery program
- Literacy projects
- HUD-supported senior housing
Music and Liturgy
Music at St. Colman is led by a dedicated Music Director who serves on the parish's pastoral staff, supporting the parish's weekend and weekday Mass schedule.
- Music Director — listed on pastoral staff
Hungarian Community and St. Emeric
After the Diocese of Cleveland closed St. Emeric Church on June 30, 2010, St. Colman — under Fr. Bob Begin — welcomed the displaced Hungarian community by hosting monthly Hungarian-language Masses. Begin worked with parishioner Eva Szabo and began learning Magyar so he could pray with the new congregants, telling the Plain Dealer he would 'learn to speak Hungarian enough to do the prayers.'
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Msgr. Eugene Mary O'Callaghan1880–
Founder; previously pastor of St. Patrick's Parish on Bridge Avenue; celebrated the first Mass in a rented home on Pear Street.
- Rev. Bob Begin
Pastor who led the successful 2009 campaign against the diocese's merger plan; retired in 2014 under canon law after parishioners submitted more than 3,000 signatures asking him to stay.