St. Patrick’s Day festivities will begin with the traditional Masses at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland and at many other parishes throughout the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland.
Bishop Edward Malesic will be the celebrant at the 10 a.m. Mass at SS. Robert and William Church, 367 E. 260th St., Euclid. Members of the Irish America Club East Side and many of those who will participate in the parade downtown will attend.
Members of the West Side Irish American Club will attend the traditional St. Patrick’s Day Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Colman Church, 2027 W. 65th St., Cleveland. Father Ryan Duns, SJ will be the principal celebrant. A social in the parish hall will follow Mass and there will be a benefit 2-6 p.m. in the hall with pipes and drums, Irish dancers and more. Admission is $5 per person or $30 family maximum. Food and beverages sold separately.
There will be a special St. Patrick’s Mass at 10 a.m. at the cathedral, as well as the regular noon liturgy, which will be livestreamed as usual. After the 10 a.m. Mass, the cathedral doors will be locked – except for the north door (by the handicap ramp and parking garage/surface lot). Those attending noon Mass or coming for confession should use the north door.
St. Patrick Parish, 4427 Rocky River Drive, in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood, will have Mass at 9 a.m. on St. Patrick’s Day. The parish, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary, had its first Mass on March 17, 1848. Parishioners will participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Cleveland later that day.
St. Patrick Parish, 3602 Bridge Ave., Cleveland, will have its patronal saint feast day Mass at 9:30 a.m. with Auxiliary Bishop emeritus Roger Gries as the main celebrant. The liturgy will be livestreamed on the parish YouTube channel. After Mass, there will be a social in the parish hall.
St. Patrick Parish in Wellington will have a Mass for the intention of its parishioners at 8:45 a.m. March 17 at Sacred Heart Church, 410 W. Lorain St., Oberlin. Father David Trask is pastor of both parishes.
The 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Parade, presented by the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland, will step off at 1:04 p.m. in front of the Bishop Cosgrove Center at East 18th Street and Superior Avenue. Bishop Malesic will bless the parade. The national anthems of Ireland and the United States will be sung and Grand Marshal Michael “Mickey” Coyne will blow the ceremonial whistle signifying the start of the parade. The theme of the parade is “A Salute to Irish American Athletes.”
The parade, one of the oldest traditions in the state and the largest attended event in Cleveland, will begin at the intersection of Superior and East 18thStreet. It will travel southwest on Superior to West Roadway, head northwest on West Roadway for a block and northeast on Rockwell Avenue to East 6thStreet, where it will disband. There will be about 100 marching units including civic officials, parade committee and honorees, safety forces, honor guards, Irish organizations, marching units, drill teams, floats, novelties, pipe bands, high school and college bands.
Coyne, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Willoughby, is a charter member of the Irish American Club East Side. He has been a funeral director with McMahon-Coyne-Vitantonio Funeral Home for more than 50 years.
Coyne attended St. Aloysius School in Cleveland and has been active at Immaculate Conception Parish as well as with other civic and professional organizations. Since childhood, he said St. Patrick’s Day has always started with Mass, a family gathering and then the parade downtown – which he will lead this year. Coyne is the father of five, grandfather of 13 and great-grandfather of three.
The 2023 Irish Mother of the Year is Bridget Conway, a native of County Mayo, Ireland. She emigrated to the U.S. at age 17. Conway met her husband, Manus Conway, during a trip back home to Ireland. The couple married, moved back to Cleveland and raised their six children in St. Mel Parish in West Park. She also has six grandchildren.
Conway is a longtime member of the West Side Irish American Club and a founding member of the Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland. She lives in Fairview Park.
Co-chairs of the 2023 parade are Kevin McDonough of Fairview Park and Maureen Cavanaugh of Aurora. Cavanaugh is a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Aurora (Diocese of Youngstown).
McDonough attended Saint Ignatius and Fairview high schools. He and his wife of 38 years, Linda, raised her two children. McDonough has been involved with food service for many years. He retired from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department in 2010 after three decades of service.
Cavanaugh, a graduate of Notre Dame Academy, worked for more than 30 years at the Regional Income Tax Agency. She has been active in Irish organizations for many years, including the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and Murphy Irish Arts Association.
Click here to read the statement from Bishop Malesic about the dispensation he granted for St Patrick’s Day
Get more information on the parade here and this year’s honorees here. Answers to frequently asked questions about the parade can be found here.