Cleveland Mass Mob

Thursday, December 11, 2014

'ell-o, 'ell-o, or woof, woof,

Clicking on Fido, to your right, will get you to a more frequent site of postings, with all sorts of ancillary notices, and pictures. Facebook has problems, and annoyances; but it is the social media organ of choice for most of the mass mobs. Ours is a fully public page, meaning you do not have to log in or sign up. Just keep clicking and scrolling. We have way too many postings for you to get through. Here on this page, there is not much more than a post a month. In control of format and layout, this page is superior, but less popular. This is the official page, and most of the posts announce the next mobbing. The next mobbing is 22 March at Saint Mary Collinwood 10 a.m. We expect to be mobbing the fourth Sunday of the month during 2015. That would be the 22nd through the 28th. A parish may choose the Saturday vigil. Last year Cleveland mobbed ten churches, only one chose the Saturday option. The first four, at least, have decided for Sunday.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Cleveland Mass Mob XI — Saint Mary Collinwood

Cleveland Mass Mob XI

Saint Mary of the Assumption (Collinwood)

10 a.m. Sunday 22 March 2015

15519 Holmes

The first Cleveland Mass Mob of the new year will be south of the railroad tracks in the northeastern part of Cleveland, Collinwood. Collinwood, before 1910, was a separate municipality. Collinwood largely exists because Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway needed a flat spot between Toledo and Buffalo. Cornelius Vanderbilt bought the Lake Shore line in 1877, and it became part of New York Central. Collinwood Village in Euclid Township expanded from the railyard. To-day, the locomotive turntable and dormitories are gone, one can still see a coal tipple at the Saranac yard.

The first Catholic church in Collinwood was St. Joseph, which started as a mission from Saint Paul Euclid (suppressed in 2009). Originally, St. Joseph was on Aspinwall (near Saranac), later on St. Clair (1994 merged into St. Aloysius). Saint Mary was the first nationality church in Collinwood. Saint Mary is a Slovene parish, Marija Venobovzeta (Mary of the Assumption).

Cleveland was the capital of the diaspora of more than one nation. Outside of their respective homelands (the old country), Cleveland was the largest Slovene, and the largest Magyar/Hungarian city in the world. Cleveland (the new country—America) had heavy immigration from east and central Europe before the First World War, and after the Second. Those that came early went to escape poverty, and many just changed the locale; those that came after had often just escaped death. Those generations are largely gone. Those that have recently come, have not generally had those hardships and many live in suburban Lake County, and not in easy walking distance.

1906 cornerstone

The first building was from 1906, and its cornerstone is by the Marian altar, often with flowers. The present church is from 1957 during the peak of the second migration. Now, Saint Mary's was built just before the Second Vatican Council, and was a modern church in Catholic style; but that style is not current fashion, and most whom prefer the ancient style of ecclesial design are pleased enough with Saint Mary's.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Cleveland Mass Mob X — Saint John Cantius

Cleveland Mass Mob X

Saint John Cantius

11.30 a.m. All Souls, Sunday 2 November

906 College

The first Mass Mob was held in Buffalo's Saint Adalbert's Basilica* on All Souls 2013. In a salute to the Buffalo Idea, we believe All Souls Day is a grrreat day for a Mass Mob.

The parish began in 1898, the present church came 1924 with some art deco elements. It is another parish church built in a Polish cathedral style. There were many built in the United States, some are still in use [some sadly have been destroyed, or are listed for destruction (and some people are fighting to save them)]. Cleveland has a few of them, this is the third such we are mobbing. The area it is in is now called Tremont (after the very near public grade school), the Poles called the area 'Kantowo' after the parish. This area of Cleveland may be the most densely concentrated in churches of any neighborhood in the United States.

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*Basilica (correction, proofreading did not occur). Yes, this was the first Basilica in the United States. Basilica is a special honor and categorisation of a church building. The Buffalo Diocese has denied the status. The exalted status, means something to Rome, and therefore is taken away some authority from a local bishop's jurisdiction over that building, something that many bishops resist.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Cleveland Mass Mob IX — Saint Stanislaus

Cleveland Mass Mob IX

Saint Stanislaus

11.30 a.m. Sunday 5 October

3649 East 65th Street

Thursday, September 11, 2014

mass mob 101

Q: Who is the Mob?
A: The People of God.

Q: Who is a member of the Mass Mob?
A: Anyone who attends the Mass Mob who would not have attended that Mass otherwise.

Q: Must mob members be Catholic?
A: No.

Q: Why do they mob?
A: To celebrate Mass, a celebration of Liturgy and Eucharist.

Q: What is their motivation?
A: They have a communal faith. When they gather, Jesus is in their midst.

Q: Where do they mob?
A: In a parish community of an historical, and beautiful church.

Q: When do they know to mob?
A: In Cleveland, from the announcement at the previous Mass Mob. In other places there has been voting in a selection process, or by announcements, over social media by mob organisers.

Q: Where did the Mass Mob begin?
A: Buffalo, New York.

Q: Where is the Mass Mob currently active?
A: Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, Pittsburgh.

Q: Why did the Mass Mob begin?
A: The faith and members of the faith have been discouraged, and beautiful places of their meeting have been less frequented, and have become endangered. The mob wants to enkindle enthusiasm in both the faith, and their places of community.

Q: What caused the discouragement?
A: Life is not a vacuum. Life is inter-related. There were factors from within, and from without.

Q: What were factors from within?
A: Scandals they were not prepared to deal with, and bad leadership.

Q: What were factors from without?
A: Those of the general society.