Category: Religion

GREEN ROAD SYNAGOGUE, one of Cleveland's largest Orthodox Jewish congregations, traces its origins to a few immigrants from Marmaresh Sziget, Hungary, who established the Marmaresh B'nai Jacob Society in the Woodland neighborhood in 1910. That year, members of this self-help society held religious services in a rented room at E. 26th St. and Woodland Ave. In 1911 they purchased a building at E. 25th St. near Woodland.

The HEBREW ACADEMY is an Orthodox day school that provides a full religious and secular education from pre-kindergarten to high school. The academy was established in 1943 through the efforts of Rabbi Elijah M. Bloch and Rabbi Chaim M. Katz of the TELSHE YESHIVA to provide a Torah-oriented education for Cleveland's Jewish youth. Classes began in Sept.

The HEIGHTS AREA PROJECT was established as the Cleveland Hts.

HEIGHTS UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, also known as Cleveland Hts. United Presbyterian Church, was founded as a Bible school in Fairfax School, Cleveland Hts., in Sept. 1921. A frame church at Washington Blvd. and Lee Rd. was dedicated on 5 March 1922, and the congregation was formally organized with the name of Cleveland Hts. United Presbyterian Church on 7 Jan. 1923. The first pastor was Rev. J. M.

HILL, DAVID (1928/9? - 2001) was a Black nationalist, religious leader, civil rights advocate, self-avowed rabbi of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL organization/sect, and eccentric.

HOLY GHOST BYZANTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH (ded. 1910) blends features of both Byzantine and Romanesque style architecture reflecting its dual religious heritage. Designed by architects M. E. Wells and Joseph Duvalosky, the church, located at 2408 W. 14th St., has a yellow brick facade with entry to the church through recessed tripartite doors representing the trinity.

HOLY NAME HIGH SCHOOL opened in September 1914 as part of the Holy Name Church at 8328 Broadway Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Holy Name was one of the first coeducational, private, Catholic schools in Cleveland. 

HOLY ROSARY, the second Roman Catholic parish for ITALIANS in Cleveland, began on 5 Jan. 1892. Because of the distance between ST. ANTHONY'S CHURCH downtown (the closest Italian parish) and the growing immigrant neighborhood near LAKE VIEW CEMETERY, Fr.

HOLY TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, founded in 1891 to serve the needs of Slovak immigrants to Cleveland, was the third-largest Lutheran parish at that time in the U.S. Founded by JAN PANKUCH and 50 others, the congregation subscribed to the beliefs of the Lutheran Synodical Conference, a very orthodox body that adhered to the Augsburg Confession.

The IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY PARISH, located at 6700 Lansing Ave. in Cleveland, was established on 3 May 1894 by Rev. ANTON F. KOLASZEWSKI, the former pastor of ST. STANISLAUS CHURCH.

IMMANUEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, located at 326 E. 156th St. in COLLINWOOD, began in Sept. 1903 as a mission Sunday school sponsored by the Home Mission Committee of the Cleveland Presbytery (later the Presbytery of the Western Reserve). Dr. Frank N. Riale conducted the first services in an empty store on Waterloo Rd. near E. 156th St.

The INNER CITY PROTESTANT PARISH (ICPP) began in 1954 as an experimental, ecumenical, interdenominational, and evangelical group ministry to Cleveland's impoverished neighborhoods.

The INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL EDUCATION formed in 1948 at ST. JOHN COLLEGE, partly in response to a papal directive on communism which stressed "social education." The institute provided adult education on social problems to Catholics and non-Catholics alike from 1948-1975, serving as a model for local parishes. Directed by Rev. Frances W.

The ISLAMIC CENTER OF CLEVELAND, located at 6055 W. 130 St. in PARMA, serves as both a place of worship and a socio-cultural educational center for the Muslim community of the region.

ISLAMIC RELIGION. In the 1990s Islam was the fastest growing religion in the U.S., with about six million adherents. In the Greater Cleveland area, in 1995 there were between 20-25,000 Muslims, a number nearly double that of ten years earlier. That growth has come both from natural increase in the resident population and also from continued immigration and conversion.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES probably arrived in the Cleveland area in the late 1800s, as traveling speakers sent by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania. The ministry understands the Bible to prophesy that Jehovah will soon replace the present political system with a divine government under the rule of Jesus Christ, a paradise on Earth.

JENNINGS HALL, 10204 Granger Road, began in September 1941. The building was dedicated on March 17, 1942 and opened in Aprirl 1942 to provide a home for elderly persons with small incomes. The home was established from the estate of Msgr. Gilbert P. Jennings (d. 1941), founder of Saint Agnes Catholic Church. Construction began in September 1941.

The JEWISH EDUCATION CENTER OF CLEVELAND was established in 1924 as the Bureau of Jewish Education with the mission of coordinating and enlarging the efforts of the religious schools in the Cleveland Jewish community.

The JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSN. was established in 1875 as the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society which, after a merger in 1883 with the Hebrew Relief Organization, became the Hebrew Relief Assn. It is the principal family-counseling and social-work service agency for Cleveland Jews.

The JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND, (formerly Jewish Community Federation) established as the Federation for Jewish Charities in 1903, is the central policymaking and fundraising agency for the Cleveland Jewish community. It was founded to centralize charitable fundraising by Jewish welfare organizations, allowing the agencies to concentrate on service.