Editor's Note: This year's St. Patrick's Day masses are being held at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. A party, which is open to the public, will follow the mass. For more information, check out St. Colman Church's Facebook page.
St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t always begin at the bar. For the more traditional Irish crowd, the celebration remains a family day centered around morning Mass at places such as St. Colman Church on West 65th Street.
St. Colman’s festivities begin when doors open at 8 a.m. — at least if you want a seat for the 10 a.m. Mass. It kicks off with kilted drum marchers and Irish dancers entering to tin whistle tunes that reverberate through the church built by Irish laborers in 1918. Surrounded by vases of green carnations, a team of about 15 priests, anchored for the first time this year by Bishop Edward C. Malesic, leads the service.
“It is a heavenly experience,” says parish council president Rita Gaertner. “Once you’ve seen it, you won’t want to miss it again."
Typically, after the downtown parade, pipe bands, drumlines and revelers return to St. Colman for the after-party. Great Lakes Brewing Co. owners Pat and Dan Conway bring the beer and potato soup. The church, which charges $5 admission, sells corned beef, soda bread and more to raise funds for the upcoming year.
Most importantly to the 78-year-old Gaertner, who has attended the Mass since she was a little girl, Cleveland’s Irish community reconnects with friends and family and celebrates its heritage.
“We have families like our own who are in their third and fourth generation [of attending Mass and the party],” she says. “This gives a better view of the Irish Catholic population than going out and starting with breakfast in a bar. It’s about family, the ones we know and the ones we don’t.”
And of course, Gaertner says, Irish or not, all are welcome on St. Paddy’s Day.
