Abstract
This interview with Father John T. Lane, Pastor of St. Paschal Baylon Parish was held in the rectory to document the history of the parish. Father Lane has a history with the parish since childhood. There is some discussion about the Blessed Sacrament Order in Cleveland, New York and Chicago. The early part of the interview focuses on the founding of St. Paschal in 1953 in Highland Heights, Ohio and how the Blessed Sacrament Order came to Cleveland and the parish. The Seminary located here in 1969 and is the headquarters. There is some discussion of other Blessed Sacrament parishes. The interview turns back to where St. Paschal originally held Mass, the school and then about the master plan for the church. Talk continues about architectural features, church and school. The end of the interview focuses on the parish community and changes within the congregation.
Loading...
Interviewee
Lane, John T. (interviewee)
Interviewer
Lanese, James (interviewer); Valore, Kenneth (interviewer)
Project
Sacred Landmarks
Date
8-11-2011
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
49 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Father John T. Lane Interview, 2011" (2011). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 127012.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/375
Transcript
John Thomas Lane [00:00:00] Good morning.
James Lanese [00:00:01] My name is Jim Lanese and I’m joined by Father John Lane of St. Paschal Baylon Parish and Ken Valore to conduct an interview for the center for Public History and Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University to document the history of St. Paschal Baylon Parish. The interview is being held at the rectory of St. Paschal’s located on Wilson Mills Road in Highland Heights. Could you please introduce yourself and state your name and affiliation with the congregation?
John Thomas Lane [00:00:38] Sure. I’m actually John Thomas Lane. There is another Father John Lane, but I have a double first name, Blessed Sacrament Father. I’ve been ordained since 1992. I was the second native son of the parish to be ordained here in the church the 1992. The first was Father Fickle, who was pastor from 1985 to 1990, but I’m blessed. Second religious for almost 25 years now and pastor since 2009. I grew up here in Richmond Heights, Ohio, went to school here at St. Paschal’s from 1973 to 1979. Then I went on to be a student at St. Ignatius High School, University of Akron, with a music and education degree. But I joined the religious order in 1987. My parents have been involved with the parish since 1973, since we moved to the parish on June 18, 1973. So that was the 25th anniversary year of St. Paschal Baylon Parish. So from that time forward, I’m very familiar with its history, having lived many of it, many of the moments of it. And my mother was very instrumental in starting the first pastoral council with the second pastor of the parish, Fr. Joseph Bernier, who coincidentally started and welcomed us as his first parishioners that he registered back in 1973. So she helped start that. And also both of my parents helped start the first liturgy committee here in the parish back in 1973 when things were growing here in the parish’s life. And my parents are still members of the parish and very much affiliated. As we’re starting to get ready for our 60th anniversary as a parish, my mom is part of that anniversary team that’s being formed at this time.
James Lanese [00:02:39] This is a little bit related to what you’ve already mentioned, however, comment on how long not only St. Paschal’s congregation has been here in Highland Heights or in the Heights area, but also the Blessed Sacrament Order, if you would.
John Thomas Lane [00:03:00] Sure. The Blessed Sacrament Order has been in the Diocese of Cleveland since 1931. When we came here to create a seminary to train men to become Blessed Sacrament priests and brothers, we chose the Diocese of Cleveland. We were Invited by Archbishop Hoban at the time because it was between New York and Chicago, our two main houses in the province of St. Anne. And there was a St. Anne Shrine here as well. So this location being between the houses, was thought to be a good place to create a formation. Well, as the Diocese of Cleveland was growing in the early 50s, Archbishop came to us and invited us to start a parish. He saw the need for a parish in a growing area of suburbs of Cleveland here. So 1953, he invited us to come to the village of Highland Heights, which had not been developed at this time. It still was a farm area. But seeing that Gregory the Great parish, St. Clair, St. Margaret Mary, St. Felicitas and St. Paul were growing so big, he thought that this would be like a good overflow parish to develop. So a school was created in 1955 to be able to have the overflow students from all those schools come to this new area. And which it did grow become.
James Lanese [00:04:32] Now, how does.
John Thomas Lane [00:04:34] So we were invited from the beginning to host this parish and have done so then. The interesting thing of how the name of the parish came to be about is kind of a curious thing. You know, most orders, when they take over a parish, they’ll have their founding member, like the saints of their order, be the name of the parish. But our founder was not a saint, yet. He was still a blessed. And the rules of the Catholic Church at that time, before the Second Vatican Council in 1965, were you had to be a saint to name a parish. Now you don’t have to be, but at that time, he was just blessed with Peter Julian Eymard. But in 1962, he became fully canonized as a saint. But at that time, of course, the parish had already had its name given. Now, the name was given because of couple of reasons. First of all, Father Don Jetty, he was a student at the time in the 1950s, and he was secretary and helping with the offices of our order. And when they were asked to pick a name, well, his religious name was Paschal, Brother Paschal, named after Paschal Baylon. He was a person who grew up in Aragon, Spain, 1540. And he was devoted to the Eucharist as a little boy. He would go out in the fields as a shepherd, and he would kneel in the fields, pointing his body to the church. So he would always be in adoration. He always wanted to be in church praying. But his parents would always make him do his chores and be out in the fields watching sheep. So he was finally allowed by his family to go into the Franciscan Order when he was 24 years old. So Father Jetty, knowing the name and the history of Paschal Baylon being a Eucharistic saint, thought that that would be a good name for this parish. He was the patron saint of eucharistic congresses. And in the neighborhood there was St Francis of Assisi Parish and St Clare, which were also Franciscan saints. So we had this little enclave of Franciscan spirituality here in the Hillcrest area, which allowed it to be done. And then, of course, it was accepted by the bishop to be able to be the name of the parish. But St Paschal has always had a strong devotion to Our lady of the blessed sacrament, which St. Peter Julian Eymard promoted. That was a title that Eymard gave to Mary. And so that devotion, well, of course, of devotion to St. Peter Julian has been various significant in the life of this parish. Eymard died in 1868 in Paris. Sorry, in France. Our order was founded in Paris, France, but we spread around the world doing parish missions around the Eucharist.
James Lanese [00:07:21] Now, just an aside related to your order. How common is it that the diocese invites or establishes a parish that is staffed and led by a particular order, as opposed to diocesan priests? That seems to-
John Thomas Lane [00:07:47] Sure. It depends where you are in the country. You know, the priest shortage and the needs. You know, how many priests are there in an area? You know, it was pretty common throughout the years in the United States of America to have that happen. Because of the growing Catholic population in the U.S. This part of the country, there was always a wonderful collaboration between diocesan clergy and religious orders. So you had the history, like the Jesuits here, Franciscans, Capuchins. And so the diocese was always concerned about getting us involved in. In the life of the diocese by giving us parishes, as well as helping to support our orders, because we need to be able to do that type of stuff. And so it’s because of the mission that we’re able to fulfill our charism, our gifts, and share them with the local church, too. Some orders, yeah, they refuse to take parishes they’ve been offered and they say, no, that’s not our mission. But for us, we see this as a way of being able to share the charism of the life of St. Eymard and other things that help people get to know about us and our order.
Ken Valore [00:09:00] Was the seminary ever established?
John Thomas Lane [00:09:02] It was. And actually the seminary moved here and was here until 1969. Of course, after the Second Vatican Council, there was a tremendous drop off in vocations to religious life in the priesthood, not only for sisters and nuns. And brothers and monks, but of course, in our order too. So the part of this building, then when you drive by it, you see it’s a long, big building, high windows. There was a library on the top floor, and the classrooms were on the lower level. And now that is the headquarters of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for the United States. Our main offices are here. Our development office is here, vocation office. Our St. Anne Shrine and Emanuel magazine are housed here. In our publication arm for our. For our order is all within this building, within this complex. So as you’re driving by, you’ll see two signs on Wilson Mills, one naming the parish, but the other end of the property, it’s actually Blessed Sacrament Order property and the headquarters sign for our order here.
James Lanese [00:10:05] Do the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and Brothers staff any other parishes in Cleveland or Ohio?
John Thomas Lane [00:10:14] No other parishes in the Cleveland area. We have two priests who help as chaplains. One’s at Hillcrest Hospital, one’s at the Cleveland Clinic main campus. But we have six parishes in the United States other than here that we staff. Two in New York City, one in Chicago, one in San Antonio at the Riverwalk, one in Houston, the Astrodome parish, and one in Holiday, Florida, which is about an hour north of Tampa. We were invited to the Diocese of St. Petersburg, and we’ve gotten these places in the South because bishops read about us and wanted us to come. And over the years we were invited to those dioceses as well.
James Lanese [00:10:56] If we could turn to Saint Paschal Parish and its facility. Give us a little bit of background about the church, the school, previous church.
John Thomas Lane [00:11:09] When it was first built. Well, the Paschal’s Baylon used to first gather in the Richmond Theater on Mayfield Road for its first couple of years to worship there. Unfortunately, that theater was torn down now in 2009 to make a shopping mall, shopping center, parking lot for the Aldi grocery chain. So that’s gone. But from at the very beginning, the first Masses were held in that Richmond Theatre on Sunday morning. But very quickly they broke Ground on August 15th of 1954 to create what you see from the Wilson Mills is the original church building, which still has a monstrance on the roof of it and eight classrooms for school and church and with also a gym. And that was built right away and put up within a year and dedicated on the Feast of The Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1955. The Congregation of Notre Dame Sisters from Montreal had been working with us in New York City at our parish that we worked together in New York City, and they were invited to come here and be the first teachers in the school. In those eight classrooms. The church was just a church and had exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at different times. And the gym was a cafeteria as well as a gymnasium and a place where people would gather. They have little festivals to build things. And the school quickly grew and grew tremendously that they had to expand. Almost every year they were adding more and more classrooms, up to 24. Now we have 26 because we have a modular building. But for many years there were 24 classrooms and 900 students in that school. It was very full. And then once the 70s came, things kind of got to a more manageable, I guess you could say, level. And lay teachers were invited. The Sisters of Notre Dame here in Chardon, Ohio, were invited to take over the management of the school. There was an interesting controversy with the C and D sisters. They wanted a new convent built and they were living in houses in the neighborhood here. And there was some controversy about that. And so Father O’ Brien, who was the first and founding pastor from 1973 to 1953 to 1973, built the Sisters of Notre Dame a convent on the property. In the late ‘60s, they came in to staff the school. And with the church growing, the parish family growing, the church, which is now Father o’ Brien hall, it’s a cafeteria and the bingo hall and a meeting room space for the parish that was just too small for all the masses that were being held in it. Father O’ Brien had a master plan that the church would be built in the center of the property. It’s about 26-acre property. And in his mind, he knew that the school would grow back on the property from the north part of the campus to the south. And that in his master plan, he thought the church should be in the center, because the church is the center. The Eucharist is the center of our lives. It’s the source and summit of our lives. So he as well as the architect at the time, in 1969, he first met Richard Fleischman. An interesting little aside fact. Father O’Brien would vacation with a priest friend of his from Warren, Michigan. And Richard Fleischman had just done a church up in Warren, Michigan, St. Edmund Church. Father O’Brien first got to meet him and get introduced to this architect, and he liked his style. And Richard Fleischmann, who’s still alive here in Cleveland as an architect in his firm, he’s in his 80s now. He and father O’Brien hit it off really well. Similar theology and ideas about how the Eucharist is The source and summit of our lives. This was an exciting time in the church. In the Diocese of Cleveland, right after the Second Vatican Council. The theology about the Eucharist was growing and people wanting to be able to participate. Now from Latin into English, they were singing like crazy, and there was guitar Masses here. And people were just alive and wanted to build a facility that really reflected that. So Richard Fleischmann started that in ’69, and there was a strike in the middle of those years so that the church was just steel beams for two years. And it wasn’t finished until First Communion, April 3, 1971. So that First Communion class was the first group to go in there to have their Mass in the new church, which now is 40 years old. They had this idea of building a church because of the hills here. The Scripture passage. A lamp on a lamp-stand can’t be hidden. The light sheds itself for all to see. That scripture passage. The image, of course, being with Lake Erie and a lighthouse is what Fleischman wanted this church to be. A beacon to the community, showing the faith of the community, showing the Eucharist as the center of this faith community. The church purposely was facing north and was designed to look like a lighthouse. And when the trees around here were all cut down, you really could see the church from all over. And the light from the top of it would really emanate from the roof. When you’re on the roof, you can still see Lake Erie to this day, but of course, you can’t see from Lake Erie this church as easily. But that was the design that was taken into effect, that it would be a lighthouse, that it would be the center of the campus, because the Eucharist is the source and center of every Catholic Christian’s life.
James Lanese [00:17:17] That’s an interesting story, to say the least.
John Thomas Lane [00:17:25] I know a lot of this, by the way. When I was eight years old in 1973, I became part of the first liturgical arts committee that would design and make banners and different things for in the church. So the people at that time who just started this liturgy committee in 1973, and we just started an art and environment committee, they were talking about that history when I was a kid, and it just fascinated me. I love architecture. I was thinking of being an architect growing up. So as a young person, it really made a huge impression on me and on all of us who went to school here, you know, to have this. This thing being built in our midst. It was a rocky garden area, so they had to move a lot of rocks and, you know, big Granite, rocks and stuff like that. It was the school playground. So a lot of kids were mad when the church was built because they lost their playground. But once it got built, and then the whole new parking lot that was created to the south of the church became our playground. We got, in a sense, a good deal out of the whole thing because our playground, like quadrupled in size. It was still. It was all gravel, of course, at the time, it wasn’t paved, but it was great to play kickball or run around. And I remember myself and many of us would get a lot of scraped knees and we’d have to go to the nurse’s office a lot to get our bandages on our knees from falling on the gravel.
James Lanese [00:18:53] Have there been aspects of the architectural features of the church that have enhanced services or what have been some of the reactions over the years?
John Thomas Lane [00:19:10] I think people liked some of the older parishioners, I think at first were very perplexed. Why would you want to look at someone during Mass? You know, because it’s a fan-shaped seating, it gives you an impression maybe more of an auditorium or more of a, you know, a concert hall than a worship space. Especially in light of people’s perceptions or views about liturgical seating and how, you know, they’re all meant to look and focus one way. But when the theology of the body of Christ and the people of God reemerged in our church’s life, I think there was a lot of catechesis about that in the ’60s and the ’70s, after the Second Vatican Council, people realized that we need to symbolize who we are. We’re the body of Christ, Christ is our head, and we are his members. So the church with its fan-shaped seating really helped symbolize that. We used to have a wonderful tradition here. During the Lord’s Prayer, people would hold hands and it would go from the priest at the altar, altar servers, all the way down into the pews, making a full circle around the altar, which is the symbol of Christ. And it’s a very big altar, huge piece of Dakota granite. And it was really- It’s moving. And so, you know, even at the beginning, people would take pictures of that and seeing us all holding hands in a big circle around together. And it was very symbolic of our communion, you know, the Holy Communion. We were about to receive the Communion, which we share with one another through the Eucharist. So that had a huge effect on people. Although some people even to this day still struggle and they make little comments. I wish it was more traditional, but at the same time they like the openness, the glass, being able to look out into the world, to see the beautiful nature, and to realize that we’re part of the world and the world is part of our lives, and we’re called to be Eucharist in the world. And so with the windows, the glass windows, and it was purposely reflective glass so that you would see yourself as you walked to church to see that you are the church. The church is just not a building, but it’s people. That’s where the root of the word comes from for church. For ecclesia, from the Greek, that means people. We had lost that sense of that theology in our church for centuries. Richard Fleischman wanted that to be front and center for all of us, that we would walk and see ourselves and see that we are becoming church by coming to this church building as well as from the. From the north side, then the reflective glass to the north helps people see that the world is also part of the church. And that was very much apparent when they took and made this reflective glass. A little cute story, though. Growing up here in the parish, we couldn’t help when Star Wars came out in 1977, feeling very proud that our church looked like Darth Vader’s mask and making jokes about that and that, you know, that probably Lucas, when he was creating Star Wars, he probably had our church in mind, you know, with the mask of Darth Vader, looking very much like this helmet to this church, this lighthouse building. So we all loved about that. We felt like Star Wars was here. And Star Wars is very theological. The Force be with you. It’s very much like a church liturgical greeting. The Lord be with you and the Force is with you. Well, yeah, the Lord is with you. So I believe his name is George Lucas. He created all this. But it was so theological at the time. I still remember us kind of like playing with our bats and doing a lot of that Star Wars stuff in the ’70s, late ’70s, because of our church’s focus. And we would joke about that a lot here. It was kind of a fun time.
James Lanese [00:23:06] Turning attention to the community and the parish here at St. Paschal’s if you could describe the community as it’s related to the church or the parish. I should say the parish members as they’re related to the church and the surrounding community and some of the.
John Thomas Lane [00:23:27] Sure. We have so many ministries here. And I think from the beginning, St. Paschal’s was always a very active, very involved community. You know, it started small. Everyone really knew each other very you know, neighborhoodly type of things. And that just really helped it grow in so many ways. First with, you know, having like a Ladies Guild, Our lady of the Blessed Sacrament Ladies Guild and the Holy Name Society, the men and the women joining forces which doing different fundraisers and events to build the school and the church initially and keep it growing, paying off its debts, putting in a parking lot to then other spiritual groups that developed over the years. But there’s always been a huge social outreach here helping the poor. And you know, we’re very reflective of our patron saint, Saint Paschal Baylon, who now he was always known as a Franciscan to be. He’s the patron saint of cooks. He would be cooking for his Franciscans in the kitchen and at the same time going to the front door or the back door and giving food to the poor. And this parish has always had a huge outreach to the poor and we still do to this day. We have over 250 people who help with what’s called clown and helping hands ministry. So we have 62 ministries here in the parishes or organizations. The two different things like children’s Liturgy of the Word or counting the ushers, the communion ministers. We have associates of the Blessed Sacrament or an aggregation of the Blessed Sacrament, which is lay branch of our order to pto, the parent teacher organization, Athletic association. We’ve always been a strong athletic parish, very proud of its, of its teams from football to volleyball. You know, they’ve grown over the years that we’ve. That’s why we have two gyms on the, on the premises because of all the, all the sporting events that go on here. So it’s been a very diverse, well rounded group. There used to be an organization here which no longer exists, but I thought this group symbolized the parish in a lot of ways. It was called Sesa, it was a singles group, but it stood for social, educational, spiritual and apostolic. And those four qualities of this singles group I thought also mirrored what this parish was about at the time and still is to this day. It’s always been a very social place. A lot of great cooks, a lot of great potlucks. You know, educational, you know, we have, we have a blue ribbon school, you know, just got that announcement in 2009. But as a student here, we knew we had the best teachers and loving, caring, hard working teachers. Very dedicated, an incredible PSR program, Very dedicated people who come every Monday night to share their faith. So we’ve always had a lot of education programs for adults as well. And spiritual. We have prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament 24 hour adoration. The church has always been open for that. As well as lots of retreats. We had Christ Renews His Parish retreats in the 70s and 80s, life in the Eucharist, retreats in the 90s, and we still have those retreats today. And then Apostolic, you know, just always reaching out. You know, it’s been no coincidence that in Highland Heights, Richmond Heights, the mayor of Richmond Heights has been always a parishioner. The Highland Heights mayor and council members have been parishioners, very involved in civic activities here that we see that we have to live our faith. And that’s been always a hallmark of our parish and its members. Saint Paschal’s people, we Green Knights, we’re out there living our faith. It’s one of the curious things. I don’t know why we got the mascot of Green Knights. I think the Green. Because the first pastor was Irish, Father o’ Brien. But no one ever can confirm. It was kind of interesting. You know, it’s kind of an Italian neighborhood. And the first pastor was Irish, and I think his way of showing his Irishness was able to make the colors for the. For the school are green and gold. So we’ve always been very proud of our kind of heritage. We even have a song from the school that the kids just sing with gusto. And the theme of the song is, you know, St. Pasch School Baylon is a great school. It’s a school where you can always find people who care and a spirit that’s rare, things that are good for the heart and the mind. Oh, it’s good to praise you, Saint Paschal. And then I don’t remember the rest of the song right now, but maybe, you know, it’s a fight song almost, you know, and it’s one of those things that has always endeared the kids to, you know, be of service too. You know, our kids go on to the schools here, the Mayfield School System, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, Lyndhurst, St Ignatius, Notre Dame Cathedral and all those high schools always say, boy, your kids are just so prepared. They are a couple grade levels ahead. The testing is wonderful of our kids. There’s just always this wonderful. I call it competitiveness, you know, to really be your best and to be of service.
James Lanese [00:28:42] What kind of changes have you seen in the community and within the parish over the years?
John Thomas Lane [00:28:51] I think, you know, there’s been physical changes to Saint Paschal’s you know, as far as we added more buildings for meeting spaces here and another gym. You know, we’re always known for our great landscaping and the people who dedicate themselves to the flowers. And I also noticed, you know, I was away for 25 years, living in other parts of the country and kind of coming back, there’s more of a diversity in our community that’s growing. You know, there’s other different ethnic groups and races that have been moving into the Hillcrest area and into our parish. African Americans, Asians from Philippines, Vietnam, India. Several of our families have adopted children from China, from Russia. And that’s, you know, that’s something. It’s not as big as perhaps in other parts of the country, but it’s a change. It’s a very big thing to notice when you’re at the chair and standing at the altar, you look out, you see more, a little bit more diversity because the parish kind of grew up being very Italian, very Slovenian, some Polish people, some Irish people. But it’s become a little bit more diverse ethnically, which has been very good. We’ve had a Filipino parochial vicar for a number of years that I think that seeing different priests up there has helped people realize that they have a home here, too. And definitely the Hillcrest area is having that change as people have been, we grow up and we die, we go to our maker. And that’s a big change I’ve noticed here. You know, as we age, you know, the parish is 58 years old. When people first started the parish, they were just newly married, having their kids, and, you know, so now it’s the grandchildren or the great grandchildren now that are coming to the school and, you know, keeping that cycle of life, that circle of life going.
James Lanese [00:30:51] Parish size, has it varied over the years?
John Thomas Lane [00:30:54] It has. It got as big as, I think, 3,500 families. But then St. Noel Parish was created in 1980, and again, like I mentioned earlier, people have died off and people moving into the area and people being involved in a church or a faith community. It’s not like it used to be. That used to be like the first thing you do in shopping for a new home and shopping for a new school. Unfortunately, in our culture, in our world today, that’s not necessarily the first thing people look for. But our current membership is around 2,700 familiar families. And our school is about 480 students, preschool through grade eight. But there are less children. You know, people have had less children in the days of the school’s heyday here, a family that had six, seven, eight kids. Now it’s one or two. So that’s a cultural shift that’s very much reflective here in the parish’s life.
James Lanese [00:32:01] As a result, have you sensed any changes in parish ministries and outreach and so forth with respect to the community and maybe comment on. Your connection with St. Clair, for example, under the diocese reconfiguration?
John Thomas Lane [00:32:24] Yeah, there’s been more of an effort to reach out and go down into inner-city Cleveland. We had had for years a connection with Christ the King parish. When Bishop Pilla started the Initiative for Twinning Parishes, Church in the City initiative, our parish connected with Christ the King. And of course, that went through its changes and merging to become a community of saints parish and everything. We started to figure out, well, where else could we serve? Because we’re not part of that community anymore. We’re not sharing choirs or something. So we started doing ministry in the Flats, doing ministry on Public Square. And there’s been more of a conscious effort to help, like St. Vitus Church. And we’ve been invited to do meals at different places, but we still. We have a van that goes out every Wednesday and a truck that goes out every Saturday that they cook the meals here and then they go down and serve them wherever they find people, you know, living under the bridges or whatever. So that has grown and that need to be like hands on ministry, not just. Not just collect food, but then go and serve the food. So that is one aspect that has really grown and developed, which is nice to see, and people here really appreciate. We are proud that we do this ministry. And people love- If they can’t do it themselves, then they will give money to support it. But since the Church in the City initiative evolved into this new church reconfiguration of the Diocese of Cleveland, which I applaud to recognize that we can’t just be isolated, parochial settings. We need to work together as churches. We were clustered and it was determined that in the Hillcrest area here, we had been doing stuff with Saint Clare’s and Saint Francis of Assisi. The three parishes support the Hillcrest Hospital’s pastoral care department. So we thought maybe we would become a cluster team of three. But when the diocese came out with its final plan, it was just the two of us, St. Clair and St. Paschal Baylon. So for the last couple of years, then we’ve been cluster mates, as I like to say, with father Klasinski at St. Clare. And we think togetherness, I guess you could say. We’ve done retreats together. We have a spiritual formation committee that we share together with members from both. So we plan like missions and retreats and Spiritual things together. Our youth ministries are doing things we do pre-cana couples ministry together. Rather than kind of feeling like we should be reinventing the wheel or starting something, we share things together. Scouts have done things together. So there’s these little projects between the parishes that help us work together. One of the big things now in this year 2011, is the church is implementing a third edition or third translation of the Roman Missal texts. The liturgical texts we say at Mass are changing, and there’s 19 changes for the folks in the pew. The priest has the majority of the changes. We’re getting new prayers written and everything and updated. But we’re doing workshops together to be able to help our parishes together learn that. We have weekday Masses schedules that are different. So it’s very convenient for people to come to Mass at different times and to scout out a parish that works in their weekday schedule, especially for the retired folk. So we plan that way together when we do things. Because of that. That’s one reason why, too. We’ve been doing these workshops together because people are attending Mass at either spot, and we want them to feel comfortable and know that. That we’re working to make sure that they know what’s going on. Why we do what we do and what we say at Mass is important to us. We’ve had those opportunities together, which has been wonderfully enriching. The other big thing that is a new initiative. Bishop Lennon asked are parishes his, especially here in the Hillcrest, to do this, what’s called Inviting Catholics Home. It’s a way to reach out to inactive Catholics or other people who might want to learn about the faith. But in the last two sessions we’ve done, it’s been an opportunity for us to welcome people back who’ve been away from the church for many, many years. Maybe they were offended, maybe by a priest that said something or someone did something to them 20, 30 years ago, and they’ve been really upset. And it’s been a chance for them to reconcile and come back to the faith and to get back involved in the parish’s life. We’ve had two sessions, both sessions having seven people each coming. They’ve seen our sign, our billboard on the street, and it’s brought them back to the church and made them inquire and learn how the church has grown. The church doesn’t stay still. We grow and change and develop over the years, and they grow and change and develop. So it’s an interesting reconciliation process in a way, but it’s helped people recognize, it’s helped Our parishioners be proud that we are reaching out. We are a welcoming community and they like that. And they like seeing that sign and are proud that we invite people back to the church and try to do what we can to renew one another and reconcile.
James Lanese [00:38:09] Do you interact formally or informally with other congregations, Catholic and non Catholic alike in the community?
John Thomas Lane [00:38:18] Yes, among Catholic. We have what’s called districts here. So among the priests and the other pastoral staffs at the other churches, we have quarterly meetings together where we talk and plan and have workshops where we learn something that’s going on here in the diocese. But I participate in a Hillcrest clergy gathering that’s a monthly thing with other leaders from the other Christian churches. We don’t have any one of Jewish or Muslim tradition in our group or other religious traditions, but we do gather once a month and they’ve had a Good Friday service every year. Unfortunately, because of our Good Friday schedule, we’re not able to participate in it. But we’re looking forward to planning a Thanksgiving service together. We hope to host that for the first time here this year. But we gather once a month and talk about issues in our community. One situation we’re promoting together is a workshop on doing something to stop shooting people. There’s a lot of gun violence. There’s been a lot of gun violence. So to do something about that awareness and to stop gun injuries and bullet injuries. So that’s a coming thing that we promote together. It also includes Notre Dame College. The campus minister for Notre Dame College participates in this Hillcrest Clergy Association. So many of the churches are along Wilson Mills Road, but there are a few that are in Richmond Heights as well.
Ken Valore [00:40:00] What is that sign on the door? It looks like it’s in Arabic.
John Thomas Lane [00:40:05] It is. It’s my name in Arabic. I was pastor in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before coming here. And in our neighborhood, a Muslim mosque opened, the first one, and Albuquerque and in New Mexico, and they had a welcoming open house ceremony to invite people to come and see what a mosque looks like and different things about the Muslim and Islam traditions. And they had a table where say your name and they’ll write it out for you in Arabic. So I’ve kept it on my door somewhere. And it’s interesting. People say, oh, I didn’t know some people knew Arabic. And they said, oh, there’s your name, you know, but it’s always a question. So I brought it from my door and Albert would be to here. My door here. That’s my old office sign. That’s why I never forget what I’m about And who I’m supposed to be, my identity. But also, you can see our blue ribbon that we got for our school is there. And our knights are green, Knights are mascot. SPB stands for Service, Prayer and Belief. So we tried to live that motto out. But my office here is kind of eclectic version. I try to make it look like a living room with my collection of folk art and all the books I’ve read, with all the degrees I’ve gotten over the years and different things. And people give me stuffed animals because I preach, what’s with the homily with stuffed animal? And then boom, everyone gave me more stuffed animals.
James Lanese [00:41:47] Is your list of books representative of your travels?
John Thomas Lane [00:41:50] And yes, I do have a shelf of my travels. When I was a little kid going to school here, I’ll never forget when they pulled down the map of the United States and then they pulled down the map of the world, and we would take classes on different countries. And I just thought, you know, I want to go see these countries. I don’t just want to study about them here, I want to go there. And both of my parents were educators, teachers as well, my father being a social studies teacher. And I just always had a desire to travel. And so that’s what my. I guess you could say my big hobby is. I save my money to travel and go see the world. So just came back from China, being two weeks in China and having that experience. So it’s a little passion of mine to understand the world a little better. And hopefully also for me, I feel like an ambassador, too, to be able to share a little bit about the church, a little bit about the United States, because there’s a lot of misconceptions about us, too. I always wore my cross wherever I go, outside of my shirt, because when I went to Vietnam, I found out that they’re not allowed to wear any public symbols of their religion. So I pray I wear mine out until the day that comes that they will be allowed. And so, you know, I noticed that in China, too, it’s like every now and then, you would certainly see a Christian because they are probably wearing their cross. But for the most part, you know, those millions and millions of people I came across, they don’t wear any religious symbols. There’s not a religious culture there. So I just find it fascinating. It was interesting. A lot of people would ask me when I was on vacation, what do you do? Sometimes they were very interested. Most of the time they ran. I ran into some Buddhist monks and was talking with them about their background, their Tradition. And they were very uncomfortable once they found out we were Roman Catholic priests. But again, I felt, well, I’m an ambassador. They’re finally meeting one, maybe for the first time or something. But I’m also tall, and I can be towering and fearful. So I had a lot of people wanting to take my picture because they saw me as a giant, you know.
Ken Valore [00:44:04] Have you gone to Japan?
John Thomas Lane [00:44:06] Just the airport in Tokyo. I’ve never been outside the airport. Yes, well, Vietnam. When I was in Vietnam, I was there for a meeting for our order, our orders all over the world. And so that’s what a lot of times helps me get around because of a meeting here and there. But in Vietnam, yeah, they were all, like, just above my chest or below my chest. So it was always. I was always like the giant. And they loved taking pictures with this giant white guy.
James Lanese [00:44:40] Back to Fleischmann, the architect. Just thought that occurred to me, in the 40 years since he was involved here and designed this. Are there. Does he have similar projects or is this inspired anything else? Because the unique architectural style.
John Thomas Lane [00:44:59] Yeah, a little of both. You know, he- This church really did help put him on the map. He won a lot of awards for this church over the years. In fact, we won an award again in 2002 for architecture that stands the test of time award type of thing. Because a lot of people still think, like, this building is built, like, yesterday. And now that it’s 40 years old, it’s nice to see the symbol enduring. Kind of like the Arch of St. Louis or something. Very avant garde at the time, but it really stood the test of time. So he came back here. I invited him back here a couple years ago. I wanted to. I’m interested in doing some refurbishing of our baptismal font because the ritual has changed since the church was first made. And we talked about some different things about it, but unfortunately, we don’t have the money right now to implement some of the ideas. Just also pick his brain. And what was he thinking when he built the place? And he’s built other churches, and he always uses glass. That’s his hallmark. His first church in the Cleveland area was Holy Family in Parma, where there’s not much glass, but interesting shapes and design. There’s a couple pieces of glass, but I believe that was his first church in the Diocese of Cleveland. He’s done a number of churches, like in Diocese of Youngstown. He’s done a couple, I think, other churches. I actually have a book on the shelf here that he gave me of his retrospect of his life, but he’s done. Most of his other buildings now are with glass. He did a big building in Cincinnati. I think it was a power company building headquarters, he did with glass. So all his buildings have glass. That’s kind of his signature. He built his home, his house in Bratenahl and a little group of houses there, all with glass. So he believes we should see this beautiful world, the world should see us.
James Lanese [00:47:03] Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
John Thomas Lane [00:47:08] I’m just really proud and pleased that we’re part of this project with Cleveland State University and the Urban Studies division. It’s an interesting history thing for me, growing up having a dad as a social studies teacher and taking classes at Cleveland State or teaching at Cleveland State in the urban Studies department and learning about cities and the vibrancy of cities. It’s neat to really focus this and to talk about how cities are people and people and children, churches and congregations working together, they demonstrate that vibrancy. And so I think it’s great that this church, which has been a vital link for Highland Heights and the Hillcrest area, is being featured. It’s a wonderful achievement. It says a lot about the people and the people that have made up this community. And we’re very grateful that we’re part of this project. And I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity, as well as to be grateful that the St. Paschal’s people, who’ve worked so hard over the years, mostly behind the scenes, tirelessly, quietly doing what they do, that they’re being recognized, too, for the great stuff that they’ve done over the years. It’s a wonderful tribute. So thank you for that blessing.
Ken Valore [00:48:30] When I was in the parking lot - I got here early - there were a number of people in green T shirts. Is that some kind of lay group?
John Thomas Lane [00:48:41] That’s the Helping Hands ministry. They’re preparing themselves for the next either sharing of clothing or the next meal that they’re preparing. They, throughout the week will gather and, you know, organize what’s next. Organize their. I call it their distribution center, which is two rooms or just getting things ready for meals. They’re here cooking Saturdays and Wednesdays, just whatever it takes to organize. That’s what they’re here for. So that’s probably what you saw when you came. They work in our Blessed Sacrament Order kitchen. It’s part of our mission of the order, too, to want to reach out and feed the poor and feed those in need. So it’s always been a hallmark of our order as well, to be part of these eucharistic ministries.
James Lanese [00:49:37] Father John Thomas, thank you very much. We appreciate your time and your story.
John Thomas Lane [00:49:41] You’re welcome.
Ken Valore [00:49:42] Thank you very much.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
