This book speaks to the activities of some Greater Clevelanders during the last three decades of the 20^th Century in their efforts to establish a new way of expressing their faith in the Catholic tradition. 

It is the review of various official documents as well as remembrances and visions of people who have been touched by the Community of St. Malachi. Not an official history, it is a memento of the celebration of 25 years as an officially recognized personal parish of the Cleveland Diocese. It celebrates also the intense formative years prior to 1975—that work of faith that became the Community of St. Malachi.

It is a chapter in the living history of the Community which is integral to the life of our Community in valuing people and their experiences. We believe that this history will live on in the stories, actions, prayers and Gospel witness of those who come after us.

We hope that these pieces of Community history will not only add to our sense of celebration of our Silver Anniversary, but will contribute to the forward thinking and discernment of future generations of our unique personal parish.

We are truly a Eucharistic Community giving thanks for the gift of what has been and what will be, and for the grace of breaking the bread of our lives together with gladness, generosity, and good will for all God’s people. As we are called to this table with Jesus Christ, let us grow in compassion, spirit and energy, knowing that God and Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus are here with us. Happy Anniversary!

-- Rebecca Rocco, Council President

Since coming to St. Malachi in 1993, I have noticed that most Community stories I have heard revolve around "the early days," when what would become the Community of St. Malachi was first being gathered and formed. My memories of the Community are necessarily different, because I was not "present at the creation." When those first "founders" gathered for that 11:00 Mass on the First Sunday of Advent in the late 1960s, I was still in high school. In 1975, when the Community of St. Malachi received official status as a parish of the Diocese of Cleveland, I was a student at St. Mary Seminary and ordination was two years in the future.

I remember those years as filled with a great deal of energy and creativity. New initiatives, organizations and movements were being established throughout the diocese, across the country and the world. A number of new communities were formed during this period. One I remember very well was "The Community of the Servant of Man" (later, "Christ the Servant") located at St. Augustine when I was a seminarian and a newly ordained priest there. Many such groups and communities flourished for a time; most are now gone. The Community of St. Malachi has endured. Why?

I remember discussing this with Fr. Paul Hritz. He noted that many groups were founded at this time in response to a particular need or to advocate for a certain cause. When the need was addressed or circumstances changed, the group often dissolved shortly thereafter. Fr. Hritz said that the Community of St. Malachi was different and that it has endured because its foundation was not a particular issue or need, but the liturgy.

I believe Fr. Hritz was right about this, as he is about so much. "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the church is directed; it is also the source from which all its power flows. For the goal of apostolic endeavor is that all who are made children of God by faith and Baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of the church, to take part in the sacrifice and to eat the Lord’s Supper." (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #10) The liturgy has been, is, and must always be the center of the Community of St. Malachi’s life. Furthermore, as a Community we must always cultivate "that full, conscious, and active part in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the Liturgy, and in which the Christian people, ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people’ (1 Peter 2: 9, 4-5) have a right and to which they are bound by reason of their Baptism." (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #14)

In the same way, collaboration has been an important quality of Community life and I believe it will only become more significant in the future. From the beginning, the Community has been a collaborative enterprise, calling forth the gifts and abilities of its members in many and varied ways. A fundamental tenant of the Community is that each person is called to active membership, living out one’s Baptism consciously and intentionally in daily life. In a sense, the Community believes that "full, conscious and active participation" applies not only to the liturgy, but also to the entirety of Christian life.

While the Community has always been collaborative with members serving one another and sharing their gifts and talents in ministry, collaboration is also a vital characteristic of the Community’s relationship within the Church and society. From the beginning, the Community of St. Malachi has been in collaboration with St. Malachi Parish, sharing the same facilities, creating St. Malachi Center, supporting the various "Malachi Ministries" and West Side Catholic Center. More recently, the Community has collaborated with other parishes, for example with St. Patrick in the R.C.I.A. and annual Pentecost Lecture. Bishop Pilla’s Church in the City initiative both recalls the Community’s commitment as a Church in the City and the need to continue to build partnerships and work in collaboration to renew our neighborhood and city.

A third characteristic of the Community of St. Malachi can be epitomized in the call to Jubilee Justice. In the early days of the Community’s formation, the founders heard and accepted the teaching of the 1971 Synod of Bishops: "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation." (Justice in the World, #6) The Community has a long history of advocacy and involvement in justice issues: participation in the Sanctuary Movement, sponsoring refugee families, the Sweatshop issue, concern and advocacy about Welfare Reform, homelessness, women’s equality, peace and nonviolence and a host of other issues. Making the Jubilee Pledge for Charity, Justice and Peace as we did both personally and as a faith community at the beginning of our Jubilee/Anniversary, commits us to action not just during an Anniversary/Jubilee Year, but also for a new century and a new millennium, until justice and peace ring out on the earth.

I am certain that others might hold up additional attributes vital to the Community of St. Malachi for reflection and as guideposts for the Community’s future. I believe the centrality of Liturgy, the collaboration of members, the Community’s collaboration and partnership with others, and the witness and action on behalf of justice and peace not only describe the Community of St. Malachi in its history and life today, but will continue to call us forth to living and fulfilling the Gospel’s call.

Jubilee blessings, Community of St. Malachi! Ad multos annos!

--Fr. Anthony Schuerger, Pastor of the Community of St. Malachi