Our Lady of Peace Parish

Who We Are

One hundred years ago the guns fell silent, the Armistice was signed, and boats full of war weary soldiers made their way back home from the battlefields of Europe. Among them was a young infantry chaplain from Cleveland, Fr. James Cummins. After visiting his family Fr. Cummins reported to Bishop Farrelly for a new assignment. The Bishop directed him to found a new parish to serve the Catholics of the far-east side of Cleveland and the growing community of Shaker Heights. That parish – born out of war - was and is Our Lady of Peace.

There were many parishes in the area established by and for particular nationality groups. Hungarians, Italians, Slovaks, and African Americans, Germans and Irish all had their own churches, but Father Cummins wanted this parish to be different. When he gathered the first parishioners together for the mass in the billiard parlor at Luna Park he told them that he had seen more than enough of people fighting each other because of the language they spoke or where they were born. This parish was to be for all people, a community of believers where all were welcome and equal. In 2019 that doesn’t sound all that remarkable. In 1919 it was beyond revolutionary.

For one hundred years the people of Our Lady of Peace have succeeded in keeping Father Cummins’ vision alive. Our parish today is one of, if not the most, diverse parish in the Diocese of Cleveland. On any given Sunday at Mass you will meet parishioners of various European backgrounds, as well as parishioners from India, the Philippines, and other Asian countries, African Americans and Africans, and from Latin America. At that same mass the wealthy and the poor will kneel side by side to pray as true brothers and sisters. People of different orientations and differing faith backgrounds always are greeted with genuine affection.

But Our Lady of Peace, commonly known as OLP, is defined by more than its prayer. That prayer is what gives us the strength to serve as Jesus served. Each week at least 40 families are fed from our food pantry, children are educated and formed in the faith, the ill are visited in hospitals, nursing homes, and in their own homes. The boys and girls in the Juvenile Justice Center are counseled and filled with cookies baked by parishioners. Refugees are welcomed and oriented to a new country by people who themselves are often recent immigrants. Our partnership with Edwins helps formerly incarcerated men and women to rejoin society. A church and an infirmary in Africa were built by the prayers and generosity of this parish.

In September Our Lady of Peace will begin a second century of life and faith and service. Certainly we will celebrate all that God has accomplished through us, but, even more, with open hearts and minds we look forward to where he will call and lead us in the years to come. Wherever and whatever it may be we have the memory of Father Cummins and the faithful strength of this community to lead and guide us.