I am not going to comment on St. Malachi parish, since it is against forum rules to criticize a specific parish or priest, and in any case my knowledge goes back about 20 years. Note that the second “community” listed is a non-territorial parish, which are historically common in the Cleveland diocese. There were the regular territorial parishes, usually staffed by German or Irish priests (St. Malachi is one of the oldest of the original Irish parishes) but as more immigrants from Italy, Eastern Europe etc. came they wanted priests of their own language and culture, esp. after the turn of the century when priests were allowed to preach and give the readings in the vernacular, as well as nuns to teach their children. So non-territorial ethnic parishes operate side by side.
It is also becoming common for two established parishes to share buildings and facilities as parishes close and combine. St. James (English) and Blessed Sacrament (Spanish) in my former diocese share a pastor church and plant, and stagger their Masses and other events. They have separate parish councils, finances and liturgies.
Neither of those scenarios explains St. Malachi Community. The blurb says it all. The bishop in the 60s was rather conservative and too slow for the liking of some people to implement the changes in liturgy of V2. So some parishes jumped the gun. Also because of its location, near West Side, high-poverty area, they always had a strong awareness of “social justice” issues and amazingly remain a vibrant parish, when so many of the older close-in parishes have closed because the Catholic and ethnic populations have moved out to the suburbs. There developed what amounts to 2 separate parishes with different outlooks, the traditional Irish parish, and the very avant garde group, so they took the route making the de facto situation a reality.
Because the neighborhood has some strong anchors, St. Malachi, the West Side Market, Lutheran Hospital, St. Ignatius High School, Pilgrim Church (congregational) and other institutions it remains strong and fairly healthy in spite of its problems, and there has been a move toward “gentrification”, and some areas are becoming rather fashionable, growth of restaurants, night life etc.
St. Malachi, in cooperation with other organizations has been a large contributor to the health of the neighborhood, which has had its ups and downs, and it is home to some very good people doing some very good things, but it does have a rep as one of the more overtly liberal parishes in town (in the sense we on this board usually assign to that word).
