It was just a little more than a year ago that St. Procop's parish on Cleveland's near West-side was closed as part of the Diocesan Reconfiguration plan. Media attention focused on the fact that St. Procop's would no longer be offering local residents a hot meal program. In a prime example of what the clustering program was designed to achieve, two nearby parishes, St. Rocco (traditional Italian) and St. Boniface (with a large Vietnamese Congregation) stepped into the void. This month marks the one year anniversary of the monthly, first Friday dinner held in the school hall at St. Boniface. Organizations from both parishes share the month-to-month duties ans serve up to 80 persons from the neighborhood with the Friday dinner which can vary from a traditional summer barbecue to spaghetti and meatballs.
In order to continue the hot meal program, the parishes are sponsoring a benefit Reverse Raffle and Lasagna Dinner on Sunday, October 3 at the St. Rocco parish hall on Fulton Road. Raffle items, including a Prosciutto ham, will be offered. Tickets are available through either parish.
As one parishioner pointed out, both parishes have cooperated in sharing the responsibilities, an effort spurred by the parish clustering process and the understanding to fulfill the Gospel command to help the less fortunate.