The Immaculate Conception Church, at left, has stood on Superior Avenue at East 41st Street for nearly 150 years. Its future is now uncertain. Its rectory is at center and school is at right (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Population outmigration, parish decline cited
Immaculate Conception Church, 4129 Superior Ave, opened its doors to a young, Irish immigrant-heavy parish in 1878 on Cleveland’s near-east side. But with later generations of its parish having fled to the suburbs over the ensuing decades, services at the early English Gothic structure are due to end May 24, 2026, possibly forever.
Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Edward Malesic decreed on March 11 that the church would be closed by “extinctive union” with the nearby Parish of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 1007 Superior, downtown.
An extinctive union means that two parishes will be merged causing one of them to become extinct. The decree was published March 24 in parish bulletins and on their Web sites…