History’s John Grabowski discusses Franciscans leaving historic parish

Franciscans leaving Cleveland’s Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus after century of service

The Plain Dealer: After 105 years, the Franciscan order of priests is leaving a historically Polish parish in Cleveland’s Slavic Village. The Franciscans took over in 1906, when waves of Polish immigrants came to Cleveland. “Of course, the vast majority was Catholic,” said John Grabowski, Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor in Applied History. “The Franciscans were there when this immigration was mushrooming.”