St. Malachi’s has had a long tradition of concern for people struggling with abuse of alcohol amd other drugs. During the mid-1800’s, many immigrants who worked along Lake Erie loading and unloading the boats, settled around the Irishtown Bend neighborhood—an area known as the “Old Angle,” which now is part of the West Shoreway.

In 1865, to serve the Old Angle’s population of mostly Irish immigrants, St. Malachi Church (named after a 12th Century Irish monk/bishop) was built.

Fr. James Molony (St. Malachi Church Pastor from 1865-1903, pictured here) showed concern for those abusing alcohol from the Church’s beginning. He had a practice on Saturday nights (payday at that time) of walking down the Washington Avenue hill to simply stand in the door of local taverns and saloons. The men drinking inside would see him and quietly leave with some pay still left in their pockets to take home to their families.

Over the years, as families moved to homes further west, the church membership dropped and then rebounded in 1935 with the construction of Lakeview Terrace. During that same year, the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, OH. By the early 1940’s, St. Malachi’s began hosting a weekly AA meeting called “The Angle.” Except for some brief hiatuses, that AA meeting, one of the oldest in Cleveland, has continued to meet at 7:30 PM every Thursday in the School Hall.

In 1947, Fr. Otis Winchester (pictured here) became Assistant Pastor of the re-built St. Malachi Church, which had been destroyed by fire in December, 1943. Like his predecessor, he also had concerns about people with substance abuse problems.

So,  in 1948, Fr. Winchester, along with seven AA members, founded Stella Maris (pictured here),  one of the first treatment centers in the U.S. to house and support men experiencing homelessness through their recovery from alcohol dependency.

Still standing today directly across from St. Malachi’s on Washington Avenue, Stella Maris has expanded over the years and has continued to provide excellent care to individuals abusing alcohol & other drugs (pictured here).

In the early 70’s, John Miclea was a heavy drinker (pictured below with wife, Inez). At the urging of his wife, Inez, John agreed to talk to a priest about how to stop drinking. However, once there, he minimized his alcohol use and basically convinced the priest that he wasn’t an alcoholic. So, he continued to drink for a while longer before finally getting sober through AA—most likely as a result of Inez’s continued prayers.

While working with other alcoholics, which became John’s mission in life, he realized that ”conning the priest” was common. In most cases, “helping” individuals, including priests, did not understand enough about alcoholism and alcohol addiction to help inflicted individuals or their families. John knew it was essential to equip clergy and other “first responders” with the knowledge required to better understand the disease and to provide effective counseling and direction when struggling alcoholics and addicts sought help.

So, in the mid-70’s he teamed up with St Malachi Parish’s new pastor, Fr. Paul Hritz (pictured left), to create the “Samaritan Ministry,” taking the name from Luke 10 in which a “good Samaritan” helped a robbery/assault victim who had been ignored by all the others along the road to Jericho.

With Fr. Hritz’s support, John led the first Samaritan Ministry workshop in 1978 and he and others continued to offer educational sessions for 11 years. Following John’s death in 1987, Fr, Hritz made sure the workshops continued.