St. Cecilia's Last Neighborhood Fair

St. Cecilia's "A Fair to Remember"

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2009
10:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.
ST. CECILIA CHURCH
3476 EAST 152ND STREET
CLEVELAND, OH 44120
Need more information 216-921-3310

I know a few of you may be struggling with my promotion of a local parish that is being closed down as it could be construed as some sort of religious evangelism which I assure you isn't the point. My main concern is that a neighborhood is only as strong as its constituents. Removing a shared space where people can gather and share pleasantries harms the intrinsic sense of community which weakens the neighborhood.

I admit I have a personal attachment to this particular church however I find we should celebrate all our community centers, especially as our modern isolated lifestyles have disconnected us from our real communities making them seem at times less controlled and more unsafe.

We should all lament the dissolution of these vestiges of community, especially though whose focus on the less fortunate for they may truly indicated the ruination of our neighborhoods, in Cleveland our older neighborhoods, which form the backbone of our urban core. I am sure the parishioners of St. Cecilia's and the other affected churches will find new homes to practice their faith, however they will be relocated from their own neighborhoods, the neighborhoods they have established connections with and work to the betterment of, to do so.