Saint Lawrence Catholic Church
at 3547 E. 80th St, Cleveland, Ohio, USA from 1893 to 2010
St Lawrence from E. 81st
St Lawrence Interior
The parish started in 1901 in Newburgh to serve the growing Slovenian Community. Even though Newburgh was where the initial Slovenes settled when arriving to Cleveland they did not get their own church until 1901 and as a split off of St Vitus. The first pastor, Francis Kerze, was the assistant pastor at St Vitus Catholic Church. This is all odd since the first, early Slovenes of Cleveland settled in Newburgh and not St Clair. But the St Clair community grew much larger, quicker and established St Vitus and the larger National Home there first.
The community was large and vibrant in the 1920's and 1930's with the large, Slovenian Catholic families in each home of the neighborhood there.
The parish was closed and the church de-consecrated on 20 June 2010.
Location of Parish
According to editor Charles Kazcynski of the People of Faith book on the Cleveland Diocese:- The first mass was held on December 11, 1901. The cornerstone for the church was laid on May 11, 1902. Work was begun on a permanent church in 1923. Finances only allowed them to built the basement and this served as the church until 1940 when the present church was constructed. Today this church is located at 3547 E. 80th Street.
From this and other sources, we obtain the following locations for the center of worship at various times:
| 1901 - 1906 | Rural near Union |
| 1907 - 1915 | E. 81st near Union |
| ~1925 - ??? | 3510 E. 81st |
| ??? - 2010 | 3547 E. 80th Street |
These are all believed to be the same location with simply a refinement of the address over time. For example, the numbered street names replaced word ones in Cleveland in 1906.
Priest and Pastors
Priest performing ceremonies such as weddings, are (Pastor listed first):| 1901-1908 | Rev. Francis L. Kerze |
| 1909-1915 | Rev Joseph Lavric |
| 1915-1962 | Rev. John. J. "JJ" Oman |
| 1962-1968 | Rev Francis Baraga (assoc pastor before - 1955) |
| 1968-1979 | Most Rev. A. Edward Pevec |
| (1975) | Rev Joseph Varga (assoc pastor?) |
| 1979-1997 | Rev Anthony Rebol |
See Also
St Vitus Catholic ChurchExternal Links
Slovenes in Cleveland in Encyclopedia of Cleveland HistoryClosing of St Lawrence in ClevelandSlovenian
Newburgh in Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Postcard from Cleveland Memory
Cleveland Church History Blog