Category: Religion

PARK SYNAGOGUE was built by the ANSHE EMETH congregation (the Cleveland Jewish Ctr.) in 1947-50 and is generally regarded as a major work of 20th-century architecture. It was the largest and most ambitious of 4 synagogues and community centers designed by the world-famous architect Eric Mendelsohn (1887-1953) between 1945-53.

PARMADALE FAMILY SERVICES, dedicated as PARMADALE CHILDREN'S VILLAGE OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL on 27 Sept.

PAROCHIAL EDUCATION (CATHOLIC). When the Diocese of Cleveland was formed in 1847, no parochial school existed in Cleveland. Bp. LOUIS AMADEUS RAPPE, first bishop of Cleveland, established 16 parishes and parish schools. On Christmas Day, 1849, the first cathedral opened, and a Free School for Boys, and a year later a Free School for Girls, were begun.

PEOPLES-HOPE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 1880 W. 65th St., officially formed in 1985 out of mergers with several other historic congregations. It originated in 1845 as the German Mission Society, composed of 13 congregants. The society met in homes until 1848, when it built a church for $2,000 on Prospect between Erie and Ontario streets.

PHILLIPS, (BISHOP) CHARLES HENRY (17 Jan. 1858-11 Apr.

PILGRIM CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH began in 1854 as a Sunday school in the TREMONT neighborhood, which was then called Univ. Hts. The congregation was organized in 1859 as Univ. Hts. Congregational, and a brick church was built in 1865-70 W. 14th St. The church was later known as Heights Congregational (1870s) and Jennings Ave. Congregational (1880s).

PLYMOUTH CHURCH OF SHAKER HEIGHTS, formerly known as the Plymouth Congregational Church, began as Free Presbyterian Church in 1850. It was formed by members who objected to First Presbyterian's (Old Stone's) moderate stand on slavery. Two years later it associated with the Congregational Church, and took the name Plymouth Congregational Church at the suggestion of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher 2 years later.

The POLISH NATIONAL CATHOLIC CHURCH supported 5 parishes in Cleveland, founded between 1910-60. The denomination began in Scranton, PA, in Mar. 1897, when Fr. Francis Hodur (1866-1953) led his new church out of the Roman Catholic church in a dispute over control of local church property. The Polish National Catholic church was established formally in Sept. 1904 at its first synod; by then it had 20,000 members in 5 states.

PORATH, ISRAEL (3 July 1886-11 Apr. 1974), "dean" of Cleveland's Orthodox rabbis for almost 5 decades, was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, received a traditional Talmudic education, and graduated from Jerusalem's Etz Chaim Yeshiva.

The PRESBYTERIAN UNION (1870-1949), originally named the Cleveland Presbyterian Church Union, formed in 1870 and was incorporated on 24 Apr. 1891.

PRESBYTERIANS. The Presbyterian Church established itself in the Cleveland area in 1807, among the earliest Protestant denominations, and developed rapidly. Presbyterianism originated in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and the teachings of John Calvin of Switzerland and John Knox of Scotland.

PRESCOTT, JAMES SULLIVAN (26 Jan. 1803-3 Apr. 1888), stonemason, educator, and historian of the NORTH UNION SHAKER COMMUNITY, was born in Lancaster, Mass., the son of Levi and Mary (Townsend) Prescott. He moved at age 16 to Springfield, Mass., then to Hartford, Conn., and apprenticed as a stonemason.

RABBI ALAN S. GREEN/FRANCES GREEN RELIGIOUS SCHOOL. See TEMPLE EMANU EL.


RAPPE, LOUIS AMADEUS (2 Feb. 1801-8 Sept. 1877), first bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, was born in Audrehem, France, to Eloi and Marie-Antoinette Noel Rappe. He studied at the college of Boulogne-sur-Mer and seminary at Arras, and was ordained in 1829. Rappe was a parish priest before becoming chaplain of the Ursuline nuns at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he met Cincinnati bishop John B.

RELIGION. Only a few other northern industrial cities match the variety that marks Cleveland's religious life. What began as a religiously homogeneous settlement dominated by white Protestants from New England in the early 19th century fragmented beginning in the 1840s, when Catholics and Jews arrived to create a pluralistic town.

ROCKER, SAMUEL (Feb. 1864-18 March 1936) founded and served as editor in chief of Die YIDDISHE VELT (the Jewish World). He also contributed to other papers and was a correspondent for the Jewish Daily News of New York. Rocker was born in Galicia (Austria) to Ephraim Fishel and Faigela Rocker.

ROGERS, WARREN LINCOLN (14 Nov. 1877-6 Nov. 1938), bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio (1925-30) and fifth bishop (1930-38), was born in Allentown, N.J., son of Samuel Hartshorne and Josephine (Lincoln) Rogers. He converted to Episcopalianism while at the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1907.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERIES are integral to the religion's practice. Under canon law, Catholics should be buried in cemeteries established by a parish or the diocese. Lacking that, the consecrated section of a non-Catholic one may suffice, or each grave may be blessed at entombment.

ROSENTHAL, RUDOLPH M. (7 May 1906-19 June 1979), rabbi and rabbi emeritus at Temple on the Heights 46 years, was born in Cleveland, the son of Harry and Dora (Kober) Rosenthal. He studied at Hebrew Union College and the University of Cincinnati, where he received a B.A.

ROUSE, BENJAMIN (23 Mar. 1795-5 July 1871), a pioneer philanthropist, was born in Boston, Mass., son of Joseph and Mahitable Corbet Rouse. He lost both parents at age 6, and, unable to secure a formal education, compensated through common sense and fanatical determination. At 17 he served in the WAR OF 1812, after the war becoming a building contractor. On 12 Aug.

JUDAH RUBINSTEIN (July 23, 1921-February 9, 2003) was an archivist, historian, author, and research associate for the JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION of Cleveland (JCF), but he was best known as an authority on Cleveland Jewish history. His parents, Israel (died 1966) and Sonia (1900-1982) were born in Poland and came to the United States early in the twentieth century.

RUETENIK, HERMAN J. (20 Sept. 1826-22 Feb. 1914), leader in the local German Reformed church, was born in Demerthin, Brandenburg, Germany to Karl A. and Charlotte Woldman Ruetenik. He graduated from Joachimsthal Gymnasium, Berlin; and studied divinity at the University of Halle (1846-48). After the 1848 revolution failed, he came to the U.S. as a political refugee.

RUSSELL, RALPH (1789-28 Dec. 1866) founder of the North Union Shaker colony, was born in Winsor Locks, Connecticut, the son of Jacob and Esther Dunham Russell. In 1811, Ralph and his brother Elijah traveled to the Warrensville area to inspect land their father had bought from the CONNECTICUT LAND CO.