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February 2, 2012
Read the last paragraph of the article that follows and
tell me hypocrisy cannot get any greater than this:
Catholic Bishop Richard Lennon condemns new federal policy
on providing birth control
Published: Wednesday, February 01, 2012, 6:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday, February 01, 2012, 6:57 AM
Michael O'Malley, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bishop Richard Lennon has joined a chorus of Catholic bishops
across the country in condemning a new federal requirement that employers,
including Catholic institutions, offer insurance plans providing free
contraceptives to their employees.
Starting next year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will
require plans such as those at Catholic hospitals, colleges and charities to
cover birth control without employee co-payments.
The health department sees the new rule in terms of health and medical issues.
But the Catholic Church sees it as a violation of its religious rights under the
Constitution.
"Unless this rule is overturned, Catholics will be compelled either to
violate our consciences or to drop health care coverage for our employees. . .
," Lennon wrote in a letter read by priests throughout the Catholic Diocese
of Cleveland during last weekend's Masses.
The bishop wrote that the Obama administration is "denying to Catholics our
nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty."
Related stories
"We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law," the bishop
wrote.
Lennon's letter echoed statements by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in
Washington, D.C.
But Sister Christine Schenk, a local nun and certified nurse midwife, says the
bishops are being disingenuous because the new rule does not force anyone to use
contraception. Schenk heads FutureChurch, a Lakewood-based national organization
working to liberalize the church.
"No Catholic is being coerced into using birth control," she said.
"On the books, church teachings say that birth control is not
allowed," said Schenk. "But the vast majority of Catholics have not
accepted the church's teaching on contraception.
"So, you have to ask yourself," she added, "'Who are the bishops
speaking for?' It sounds like they're speaking for themselves rather than the
Catholic people."
Schenk questioned why bishops, who don't raise children or give birth, should be
issuing statements on birth control without input from other Catholic voices.
"There's a big disconnect on where most people are with this issue and
where the bishops are," she said.
"We're really suffering from this little oligarchy, a small number of men.
They're not raising three or four children, trying to get by in life, trying to
make sure their kids go to good colleges."
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops' conference, said the issue
is not about the bishops.
"This is about religious freedom, about the government intruding into the
sanctuary," she said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "You're telling
Catholic colleges to do something that's opposite to the teachings on
contraceptives. It violates the First Amendment."
In his letter, Lennon called on Catholics in the Cleveland diocese to pray and
fast for "religious liberty" and to contact Congress to adopt
legislation that would reverse the new rule.
"Our parents and
grandparents did not come to these shores of America to help build America's
cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and
culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God-given rights,"
Lennon wrote.
February 1, 2012
http://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/2012/02/who-first-wrote-this-to-whom.html
the picture is important
February 1, 2012
This is a letter to the editor written by Dan Flowers, who lost his parish
to Bishop Lennon's program of scorching the ethnic parishes from memory, of
course not until after taking their usually large bank accounts and 100 year old
sacred artifacts, and as the diocese would put it, "rescued the
artifacts from these closed churches". However, it is possible
for the parishioners of a closed parish to BUY the artifacts for some quick cash
to the diocese. This has been documented in Cleveland. The
people of these closed parishes get an opportunity to pay twice for the same
sacred artifacts that they, or their parents, or grandparents originally
purchased. A real good deal, but then Bishop Lennon did say in Akron
at a forced church closing, he owns everything (What about the concept of his
holding it in trust for our benefit? What do the deeds indicate?).
Now the open letter to the editor is in response to a February 1, 2012
Plain Dealer article in the Metro section, pages B1 and B3. The
question is, if Bishop Lennon wrote this about these immigrants who did so
much for the American church, then why did he close the churches they broke
their backs to build for perpetuity ( self-sustaining parishes).
In the ethnic church of today, people of all backgrounds belong. As time
has gone on, these ethnic churches have evolved into
territorial parishes, and customs and forms of worship are shared by all.
In essence, we learn more about each other and we enrich ourselves from these
experiences. This is America, a land of many, molded into one country.
Example; would our bishop outlaw pizza ( Italian), pierogi (Polish), or
corn beef and cabbage (Irish) at a parish dinner for a church that survives
his purges? Would not this be un-American in the eyes of our bishop to
eat these foods in the church social halls. This my friends is the real
Richard Lennon, quite complex but predictable in his actions. Lennon's
own writing hand has now caused a contradiction of his actions during his
reign in Cleveland. Who will call him on it? Will the real Richard
Lennon stand up?
In the Middle Ages, the Christian world would say, "Save us from the
Vikings". In the 21st century in Cleveland we can say, "Save
us from Richard Lennon". Think it over, and then take out
your pen, and write the truth while we still have the right. How much
more can we endure? Tell your friends who have not been effected, that
one day, they too may be expendable Catholics. Ask them to join us.
Now read one Catholic's open letter in response to Bishop Lennon.
--Joseph Feckanin
In response to the Federal Policy on Health Care and contraceptives, Bp.
Lennon writes, "Our parents and grandparents did not come to these
shores of America to help build American cities and towns, its
infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have
their prosperity stripped of their God-given rights."
The same sentiment can be applied to the church closings in the Cleveland
Diocese, orchestrated by Bp. Lennon himself. Wasn't it the same Europeans of
whom Lennon speaks that built neighborhood churches as cultural
institutions? Wasn't it the parish activism that brought these Europeans
together to promote American growth and idealism? And isn't it the Europeans
who are now confronted with ethnic cleansing by the Diocese, as they are
evicted from the the sacred structures that their parents and grand parents
built?
On one hand, we have the federal government imposing a directive that some
may consider intrusive. On the other hand, it is the Diocese that
is imposing a directive in its effort to re-shape the church by
extinguishing culture. Isn't it ironic that the people who are being
stripped of their God-given rights are the sons and daughters of the people
that helped build our cities and towns?
DAN FLOWERS
January 31, 2012
My friends read the second paragraph from the bottom. If you
have any doubts why your church was closed.this should clear it up.
May of us are a direct targeted market because of where our parents or
grandparents came from. What did we do to deserve this kind
of treatment by our bishops? We are their fundraisers.
Also note in this article how the dollar figures are portrayed.
Dollar figures can say anything you want them to make your point if you
manipulate them. This is
all for the money and we Catholics are the victims. If your
parish survived the first cuts, then if you still want to exist as a
parish ,you will have to Pay to Pray. Of course the
hierarchy-- has a different verison of Pay to Pray they
call it Rooted in Faith .
While diocese has seen big infusions of cash in the last two years,
it won’t last.
MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com
SCRANTON – When Joseph
Martino became Diocese of Scranton
bishop in 2003, his mantra quickly evolved: Finances were dire and
drastic steps were needed.
|
He followed through with sweeping cuts in the number of schools and
churches, sparking fierce criticism from many of the faithful. But he held
firm, insisting it was necessary for fiscal solvency.
A look at some key figures from administrative budgets published in The
Catholic Light in 2007 and this year suggests his moves – and those of his
replacement, Joseph Bambera – worked.
Comparing the years 2005 and 2006, before the consolidations, to 2010 and 2011
shows:
• Total revenue and support rose from $26.3 million to $40 million. Cash and
equivalent rose from $5.7 million to $14.5 million.
• Despite cutting the number of churches roughly in half, income from the
diocesan assessment levied on churches rose from $3.5 million to $4.2 million.
In an email response to questions, diocesan spokesman Bill Genello said this
is due mainly to an increase in the rate of assessment, from 8.5 percent to
9.5 percent. When school consolidations were announced, one reason given was
to ease the drain on many churches that ran schools so they could more readily
meet their assessments.
• General insurance premiums – the diocese is self-insured and builds up a
fund to cover risks – have dropped from $4.7 million to $3.9 million. This
was the result of sale of buildings that were closed as well as the sale of
St. Michael’s School, which took in students with particularly challenging
problems, Genello said. The diocese also enrolled Little Flower Manor nursing
facility in Wilkes-Barre into a separate insurance program.
The numbers are not all rosy. The diocese medical insurance premiums rose from
$2.8 million to $8.4 million, though that’s understandable. The
self-insurance program was implemented in 2005 and has risen steadily ever
since.
Payments for the unemployment fund jumped from a low of $340,000 to $859,000,
and a new line item was added, “Liability for Pension Benefits,” set at
$12.4 million in 2011. Genello’s email said the diocese is setting aside
money for previously under-funded items, and that the pension changes were
required under new standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards
Board, which sets accounting standards for private sector organizations in the
United States.
And while the diocese has seen big infusions of cash in the last two years, it
won’t last.
The closing of churches brought in $5.1 million in 2010 and another $2 million
in 2011 from a controversial decision by Martino. When parishes merged and one
closed, assets of the closed church typically went to the remaining one.
Martino determined that Church Law allowed the diocese to take about 42
percent of the assets from a closed “ethnic” parish built to serve
immigrants of a specific ethnicity when that parish merged with a
“territorial” parish built to serve a specific area. The diocese insists
the money is used first to pay off any debt owed by the church. With most of
the closings completed, that revenue will drop off dramatically.
Likewise, the church has profited from the sale of property, a category that
previously stayed below $40,000 in most years. In 2011 it hit $4.8 million,
though Genello noted that was primarily due to the sale of St. Michael’s, a
sprawling complex that was not closed but transferred to a private company as
an ongoing business.
January 27, 2012
The
Irish Times - Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Cardinal's profit mission and an FBI investigation into sale of church
property
JASON BERRY
RITE AND REASON: IN 2005
parishioners of St James in the farm belt town of Kansas, Ohio, recoiled when
Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair, facing a tight budget, closed the parish, steering
them to one several miles away. They filed an appeal to the Vatican. It failed.
Then they sued in a local county court, arguing that the bishop was a trustee
but parishioners owned the property. The state sided with the bishop. “We
spent $100,000 in legal fees,” said parishioner Virginia Hull. “Bishop Blair
paid his lawyers with $77,957 from our parish account.” Blair had the church
demolished.
Canon law says a parish is “a juridic person”. But that “person”,
like an olden slave, does not own itself. The bishop does. Nevertheless, a
federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts barred the bishop there from razing
a church deemed a historic landmark. Parish ownership is unresolved in American
law.
A US Catholic parish has closed on average once a week for the last 20 years.
Many bishops have sold churches to plug deficits, or pay for abuse cases caused
by their negligence or their predecessors’.
The idea that each bishop stands in a lineage going back to Jesus’s
disciples renders them immune from prosecution for recycling abuse predators or
selling churches to cover mistakes. Since 2005 at least 95 parishes from 21 US
dioceses have appealed to Vatican courts. At least 12 closures won partial
reprieves in the Syracuse, Buffalo, and Allentown, Pennsylvania dioceses.
The Apostolic Signatura (Vatican supreme court), in a split-the-baby ruling,
decided that the protesting parishes were “sacred” property not to be sold,
but would not restore them as active churches. Juridic “persons” slumber in
the folds of legal farce.
In July 2003 Boston’s then new archbishop Cardinal Seán O’Malley visited
Rome seeking financial help to resolve 552 abuse cases. He met Secretary of
State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, then in charge of
the Congregation for the Clergy, which oversees the liquidation of diocesan
assets.
They gave O’Malley carte blanche to sell properties. In Boston, parish
sit-ins ignited bad press and a deep slide in donations.
Cardinal Sodano saw profit horizons. He installed an under-secretary at the
Vatican who fed information on closing churches to a New York company, the
Follieri Group. Its vice-president was Andrea Sodano, a building engineer in
Italy and a nephew of the cardinal. The cardinal greeted potential investors at
a New York launch party.
The Follieri website promoted its ties to Vatican officials. Its business
plan: find churches, buy low, sell high. When an investor sued Follieri for
profligate spending, the FBI investigated.
Follieri had wired $387,000 to the Vatican Bank account of a lay staffer in
cahoots with Andrea Sodano. Cardinal Sodano’s nephew’s invoices netted more
than $800,000 for work the FBI deemed worthless. Raffaello Follieri today is in
prison for fraud and money laundering.
Nepotism, from the Italian “nipote”, means nephew. The FBI considers
Andrea Sodano, the Vatican under-secretary and a lay staffer there to be
“unindicted co-conspirators”. It helps to have an uncle in robes.
Pope Benedict should empanel constitutional scholars to create a court system
for criminal issues and church property. But first, he should sack Cardinal
Sodano – now Dean of the College of Cardinals and who will oversee the
election of the next Pope.
It would give some sign of papal belief that St Augustine was correct:
justice is a virtue.
Jason Berry is a multi award-winning journalist in the US for his pioneering
work on clergy child abuse. His latest book is the newly-released Render
unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money In the Catholic Church.
January 19, 2012
Nominations will now be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Monday,
January 23, 2012. The nomination form is online.
Projects must be located within Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga,
Portage, Summit, Medina or Lorain County, have been completed according to the
Secretary of Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation, and be put into
service as of January 16, 2012. Nominations in preservation, renovation,
restoration and adaptive use of historic buildings will be considered, as well
as the long-term stewardship of historic properties, organizational
accomplishments and individual achievements.
Contact Michael Fleenor of the Cleveland Restoration Society,
216-426-3109 or via
email, with any questions.
January 17, 2012
An article explaining that the closing of parishes is a national program by the
bishops. Their reasoning and their so-called justification for what they
do. So even if your parish is vibrant and self-sustaining they will make
it fail to justify their actions. Hitler, Lenin and Stalin also had
programs and they were justified by false statements given out as the truth.
You see these bishops think they have all the answers and they will make you and
your parish the reason for their failures. They are above us in
their reasoning and they think they have or are the only true way to the truths
of Jesus. In essence they think they are above us and more
important. In reality they are killing the church ,killing the
faith, driving Catholics away. The bishops have failed and they do
anything to cover their actions. What they are doing is wrong . In
Cleveland we have seen our bishop in action, destroying the faith. This is
not the gospel of Jesus. Lennon says they are only buildings, then
why does he want to build a new building on the site of the chancery?
A hypocrite that is all. The people are terrified that their
churches will be next. It is a shake down of Catholics for money.
Stand up to them and say no.
See article here: http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/seismic-shifts-reshape-us-catholicism
January 12, 2012
More U.S. Catholics take complaints to
church court
January 11, 2012 3:48 PM
NEW YORK (AP) - Parents upset by the admission policy at a parochial school.
Clergy and parishioners at odds over use of their building. A priest resisting a
transfer to another parish.
It was once assumed that disagreements like these in the Roman Catholic
Church would end one way: with the highest-ranking cleric getting the last word.
But that outcome is no longer a given as Catholics, emboldened following the
clergy abuse scandals that erupted a decade ago this month, have sought another
avenue of redress.
In recent years, clergy and lay people in the United States have increasingly
turned to the church's internal legal system to challenge a bishop's or pastor's
decision about even the most workaday issues in Catholic life, according to
canon lawyers in academia, dioceses and in private practice. Sometimes, the
challengers even win.
In one example cited by veteran canon lawyers, parishioners wanted to bar
musical performances in their church that weren't liturgical. Their priest had
been renting space to a local band. In another case, a nun filed a petition
after a religious superior disclosed the nun's medical information to others - a
potential violation of privacy. Regarding bishops' often contentious decisions
to close parishes, the liberal reform group FutureChurch posts a guide on its
website called "Canonical Appeals for Dummies" on seeking Vatican
intervention to stay open.
The reasons for the uptick are complex and reach back decades, involving
changes in the church and broader society. Canon lawyers say the American
concern for individual freedoms likely has played a role. So has the explosion
of information on the Internet. But the change is also an unexpected consequence
of the clergy molestation crisis, with the scandal exerting an influence far
beyond cases that directly involve abusers.
"The focus on canon law and penal procedures in the case of sexual
misconduct has made people aware that the church has a law system, it can work
and people can take advantage of it," said Michael Ritty, founder of Canon
Law Professionals, a private practice in Feura Bush, N.Y. "For so long,
especially in the United States, many of the lay people did not speak up and did
not know how to speak up, and many people in the hierarchy did not know how to
accept things when people did speak up. I think that is changing."
No one knows the exact number of formal petitions before tribunals or
agencies at the Vatican, or before church officials in the U.S. or in any
country. The cases are guarded by pontifical secrecy, which bars advocates,
judges and other parties from revealing details of the proceedings.
Still, U.S. canon lawyers say they have seen more widespread use of church
law to resolve disputes.
Edward Peters, a canon lawyer and professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in
Detroit, said the increase in canonical litigation is "indisputable."
The Canon Law Society of America, a professional group for church lawyers,
held a workshop on the trend called "Hierarchical Recourse: Can't We All
Just Get Along?" Ritty founded his private practice in 2000 to keep active
after he retired and now employs three other canon lawyers. Abuse cases are a
significant part of his work, along with marriage annulments, but Ritty also has
many cases relating to everyday church issues, such as use of money.
"Most of us, when we were training, were preparing for marriage
tribunals, marriage annulments," said Monsignor Patrick Lagges of Chicago,
a canon lawyer for three decades who helped lead the canon law society workshop
last year. "Now there's such a broad range of things. It's a much broader
field."
Until recently, the only canon law most American Catholics knew related to
annulments, church declarations that a marriage was never valid. (For years, the
majority of annulment petitions to the Vatican have come from the United
States.) The first complete code of canon law, published in 1917, was also the
first to be translated from the Latin into English. Even then, the system
remained obscure, considered the province of an educated clergy-elite who were
fluent in Latin and could quote directly from centuries-old papal decrees.
The Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that ushered in modernizing
reforms, aimed to make canon law more accessible. A revised legal code was
eventually issued in 1983 by Pope John Paul II that placed new emphasis on the
rights and obligations of all Catholics, lay and clergy. "The Christian
faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend the rights which they possess in
the Church in the competent ecclesiastical forum according to the norm of
law," canon 221:1 says.
Yet, no flurry of canonical petitions followed.
A few prominent cases played out in public. The ex-wife of former
Massachusetts Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert F. Kennedy, wrote a book
about her appeal to reverse the church decision to annul their marriage of a
dozen years. The Vatican took about a decade to decide the case, but ruled in
her favor. In the 1990s, some parishioners appealed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's
decision to close their Chicago church. They succeeded in a phase of the appeal,
but the building was ultimately shut down. Still, the numbers of cases remained
small.
Then, 10 years ago, a crisis unfolded that became the worst in U.S. church
history.
The Boston Globe persuaded a Massachusetts judge to unseal documents that
showed the Archdiocese of Boston kept clergy who had molested priests in
parishes without warning parents or police. The outrage that the news reports
generated spread nationwide.
Soon, every American bishop was pressured to disclose diocesan records on
abusive clergy. In June, beleaguered church leaders gathered in Dallas, trailed
by more than 750 reporters, to adopt a new child protection policy and
discipline plan for guilty priests.
Suddenly, canon law was front-page news.
In many cases, the church's internal legal system was the only recourse for
church officials who wanted to remove clergy from public ministry or the
priesthood. Most victims came forward decades after they had been molested, long
after the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in civil court had
passed. So over several months, American bishops began a closely watched
negotiation with Vatican officials over how they could change church law to
streamline the removal of guilty priests. Canonical due process rights for
clergy emerged as a key issue. In a public meeting that November, bishops
discussed plans for new church tribunals for accused priests who said they were
innocent and would not leave ministry.
Bishops spent hundreds of millions of dollars on child protection programs
and more on settlements with victims. But the damage was done. Trust in the
bishops' judgment plummeted. So, when bishops in some dioceses announced the
next round of parish closures, part of a consolidation that started years ago,
angry parishioners didn't only protest and pray. They also hired canon lawyers.
"We just Googled it and got some information about who was
available," said Patricia Schulte-Singleton, a 52-year-old parishioner who
has helped coordinate resistance to church closures, including her own St.
Patrick Catholic Church, throughout the Diocese of Cleveland. They hired a nun
who was a canonist in Rhode Island.
Layman Peter Borre spearheaded a movement of canon law challenges to church
closures in the Archdiocese of Boston where he lives. A semi-retired energy
consultant who grew up in Italy and studied Latin in school, he began flying
regularly to Rome to meet with a canon lawyer experienced in the Vatican court
system.
Word of Borre's effort spread and parishioners in other dioceses contacted
him about how they could petition to stay open. He estimates that two dozen
appeals over the issue are currently before the Holy See. Some of the parishes
in New York State, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have won partial victories so
far, keeping their cases alive at the Vatican, in what some canon lawyers
described as landmark victories.
"The secular courts, in the United States at least, hate like hell to
get between the flock and the bishops. They just won't touch it, " Borre
said. "So by default, we're left with canon law."
Rejecting the idea that the church has entered a new age of litigiousness.
Peters said petitions challenging decisions by bishops and other church
officials have grown from a "tiny" to a "small" share of the
church's total canonical actions. Still, the increase comes at a sensitive time,
while bishops struggle to reassert their authority as teachers and leaders, and
the church, like the culture around it, is more polarized.
"A lot of times you're delivering messages that maybe the bishops
doesn't want to hear," Lagges said. "You have to go in and tell the
bishop, 'You can't do this.' Bishops don't like to hear that."
January 10, 2012
The bishops of Ohio and Michigan will report to Rome
February 1st. This includes Cleveland's. It may benefit the Cause of Saint
Casimir (and all the people of eight counties) for some letters to be read in
Rome before that day. We all must know, that, Monday's 'press conference' was
staged to 'show' everything is fine here, now get along there is nothing to see.
The papal nuncio is the Vatican's ambassador to a country. It seems, the Vatican
(Rome, and the papal bureaucracy) prefers letters to be sent to the nuncio, and
he will forward them in a diplomatic pouch. So, you are asked to write a letter
to him, or send letter(s) to (a) curia chief(s) in another envelope to him. You
may send the same message in open envelopes to different recipients, within
the outer envelope to the nuncio.
Apostolic Nuncio
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano
The Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC. 20008
Other individuals that might be the addressees inside this outer envelope are:
1 Benedict XVI
(contact Benedict through his Secretary of State: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Ask
that
Bertone please bring this matter to the attention of the Pope)
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
2. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect
Congregation for Bishops
Palazzo della Congregazioni
00193 Roma, Piazza Pio, 10
3. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Prefect
Congregation for the Clergy
Palazzo delle Congregazioni
00193 Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 3
4. Cardinal William J. Levada. Prefect
Con gregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del Uffizio II
00193 Rome, Italy
5. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke
Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura
Palazzo della Cancelleria
00186 Roma , Piaza della Cancelleria, 1
January 12, 2012
I noticed a couple of "happy" news articles about
the church closings on local news websites today but cannot find any right now
to link to.
January 9, 2012
A response to the recent news about the closed churches:
A fancy show from Lennon however it really leaves many questions
unanswered. This is just a sham to make people think it is all over.
A good question would be--Lennon how can you sell churches to a charter school
operator, David Brennan who sits on the diocesan fund raising committees with
his wife and did you Richard Lennon finance any of his church campus
purchases. David Brennan has even given money to the head of
Cleveland City council for election campaigns for good council people.
Example Martin Sweeney the head of council has stopped the interiors of
landmark churches from also being land marked. Conflict of
interest! One hand is washing the other . This is just a cover up.
Another question Lennon said churches have to close that cannot pay their
expenses--then why do the remaining churches need a cash transfusion if they
have monies. The answer Lennon closed the ethnic churches because
they had big bank accounts, were in excellent physical condition and had 100
year old artifacts that he could sell. The so called Museum
that Lennon used for a prop had 1.3 million dollars in the bank, was in
excellent condition and had income producing properties. This was a
Polish church St Hedwig. This story will repeat itself time after
time upon examination of each case. If your parish had monies and was an
ethnic parish then you could be sure Lennon would close it.
This is reality. If Lennon said a building is not important then why
does he not sell the most underused building in the diocese that is downtown
on prime real estate and then take the money and give it to the poor.
Afterwards he can celebrate Mass in one of the two stadiums with all the
followers who agree with him. Lets face it Lennon has failed as a
bishop-his way of conducting business is un-Christian in all aspects.
Lennon serves himself and shows his power. Lumping everything together
will fool most of the people who are busy with their everyday lives and if you
are not one of those who has had the doors of your church closed and had the
interior looted and sold for pennies on the dollar, then maybe you can buy
into Lennon's vibrant church plan. This sounds to me like the old
Bolshevik saying " All power to the Soviet". We
all know how the Soviets worked with their propaganda, need I write more.
January 9, 2012
Have
a look at
this old
wooden
church in
Poland
Use
the
pointers
to
look
all
the
way
round
the
church,
or
the
+
sign
to
zoom
in
-
Its
incredible..
dont
try
to
drag
the
mouse,
it
moves
too
far.
just
click
in
the
direction
you
want
to
go.
|
|
Thanks, Rick
January 9, 2012
I will make no comments, though I have many in mind, on the
article below that discusses the amount of cash raised by the Diocese on the
closed churches. The article discusses the 26 closed churches. I do not believe
that includes any of the funds held by those parishes that were confiscated by
the Diocese. It also should not include those parishes under appeal.
I heard that St. George sold to the Community Partners
Greenhouse sold for under $200,000. I have no information on other properties
sold. If you do send the information. I will post anything that can be cross
checked with another reliable source.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/224036/45/Cleveland-bishop-195M-net-from-church-closings
January 9, 2012
It is with great sadness that I report the death of our
former Treasurer. Richard will be greatly missed at Alumni meetings and events.
He was a tireless worker and a good friend.
January 9, 2012
The following link has a video interview with the new
pastor, Father John, of the new St. Casimir Church on Neff road. Also in the
video is an interview with Community Partners Greenhouse that took over Father
John's church, St. George and an interview with a lady from the Lady of
Perpetual Hope that had been renamed St. Casimir Church.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oyUFG8LMIOs
January 8, 2012
Due to the unusually warm weather, today's prayer vigil
lasted longer than usual.
A report on St. Casimir Church from the Cleveland Dioceses
can be view here.
If you want to see all the Churches closed click here.
January 5, 2012
Bit late of a notification everyone but if you happen upon
this there is a show tonight and tomorrow on:
History, architecture, community and
congregations of Cleveland's places of worship.
10:00 -
11:00 PM WVIZDT (25.1)
- Thu 1/5
- 10:00PM-11:00PM
- 25.1
- WVIZDT
-
- Fri 1/6
- 2:00AM-3:00AM
- 25.1
- WVIZDT
January 4, 2012
On the 8th of November, the bishop of
Cleveland, Richard Lennon attempted to suppress Saint Casimir parish with a Mass
of Eviction. The congregation opposed him. They still do.
The parish has continued to meet every Sunday at 11.30 a.m. They are communally
active, and they are far more than the minimum required by Jesus and canon law.
That number is three. On the 13th of December, about forty souls sang and prayed
in a continuous rain that was just above freezing. It traditionally has taken a
full century to finalise a suppression. That suppression would entail no meeting
of the parish community. The first grains of the sandglass have not descended.
The parish has not been extinguished.
Richard Lennon did not build these parishes, but he is selling their parishes as
cash cows, because they have property and possessions. In a parable the servant
says to his lord, "I know that thou art a
hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast
not strewed." * Here the poor and beleaguered one issues a modest
and accurate assessment of his superior. It is a devastating indictment. Yet,
this is not how the entire parable is presented in protestant, capitalistic,
establishment american society. We americans, especially in the last generation,
weigh against the poor and the laborer and for management and official,
authoritarian power. That parable about the talents has been spun falsely. A
talent is a vast weight of coins, it is not the gift of ability. The hard man in
the parable angrily admits to the accusation, and berates the servant, and in
the beratement demanded of the servant the transgression of religious law.
And his lord answering, said to him: Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest
that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou
oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming
I should have received my own with usury.
The lord demanded money. He did not care how it was accumulated. Now, this is
against the first principle of catholic christian ethics, ends must be achieved
by honorable means.
A duty of a bishop is the salvation of souls. Richard Lennon is drivings souls
away from the church. In many afflicted parishes there are people that will
leave the church of their families of ages past, not just that destroyed parish,
but the one true church that Jesus founded and left to his apostles. Some will
follow or take comfort in another faith community, some will become totally
inactive. This is the reconfiguration that Lennon is forging. He wants what he
wants, and does not care about consequences. He does not act as a pastor but as
a despot. There are many in the diocese who do not wish to be steamrolled.
Many of the fervent and tenacious congregants of Saint Casimir were born in the
old country. Some saw nazi, and then communist, suppression of their church and
society. They did not like to be bullied in Poland, and they do not like to be
bullied in the United States.
They, like St. Faustina, believe in Jesus and his Divine Mercy. They trust in
Jesus. They do not trust in Lennon. They are christians and not leninists, nor
lennonists.
_____________________
* Matthew xxv. 24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are asking for the removal of Cleveland's ordinary, Richard Gerard Lennon.
These reasons apply:
Canon 1741-3 loss of a good reputation among upright and responsible
parishioners or an aversion [latin aversio, previously odium] to the pastor
which it appears will not cease in a brief time;
Canon
401 §2. A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office
because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to
present his resignation from office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Lennon will be in Rome, with other bishops from Ohio and Michigan, the first
week in February (1st-6th). These bishops will make their first ad limina
reports, since the last pontificate. These visits are to be made by every
bishop, once every five years. They have been delayed. Benedict XVI has not seen
the several bishops of Ohio and Michigan yet.
It would be good for these signatures to be seen in Rome before the 1st of
February. It could be the stimulus for an interesting conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
attached are forms to gather signatures
send originals or photocopies to:
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
PP.
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano
or
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
Vatican City
or
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican City State, 00120
or
Marc Cardinal Ouellet
Sacred Congregation for Bishops
Piazza Pio XII 10
00193 Rome, Vatican City
The
Papal
pro-nuncio (the Pope's ambassador) in Washington D.C.
In the USA
Archbishop Carlos Maria Vigano
U.S. Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington DC 20008
December 31, 2011
Happy blessed New Year to all.
Coming Cleveland area religion events
Published: Saturday,
December 31, 2011, 7:00 AM
Unless indicated, events are free or will have an offering.
SUNDAY
Vigils at closed churches
When: 11:30 a.m. weekly.
Where: St. Casimir Catholic Church, 8223 Sowinski
Ave., Cleveland, and St. Patrick West Park Catholic Church, 4427 Rocky
River Drive, Cleveland.
Details: Simultaneous prayer services/vigils outside
each closed church. Each church has appealed its
closing to the Vatican. Call 216-642-0576 for St.
Casimir, 216-269-9560 for St. Patrick.
|
December 24, 2011
For all of you
who replied to correct Sister saying that there are only 5 Sorrowful Mysteries
and not 7, I must clarify my use of 7.
Yes that is true, but Sister Margaret Mary added 2 additional ones since she
started teaching in the Catholic Elementary Schools, she added adolescent
Boys& Girls and that is why she uses 7. She confuses young adolescent boys
with testosterone," the curse of male puberty", that makes young boys
not listen, get in trouble, smell like barns, not behave well, fidget, not pay
attention in class and worse of all, gives them constant and unrelenting dirty
thoughts that pervade in their young minds.
Then there is
"the curse of estrogen" for adolescent girls, which makes them cranky,
disrespectful, preoccupied with their hair, nails and mammary glands, how short
they can wear skirts, and see how many phone numbers they can give to boys to
call them. Now do you understand where Sister is coming from? Now
you know why they made 14 inch wooden rulers and paddles to hit ping pong balls
with for sister.
Thank you &
Merry Blessed Christmas!
Sister must lie
down and rest because just thinking of those sorrowful mysteries, she gets
stressed and worn out.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes,
yes, it really is me, "Sister Margaret Mary of the Seven Sorrowful
Mysteries" wishing you a Merry Blessed Christmas!
I
am also checking in on you to make sure you are still a good practicing
Catholic, like I taught you to be. I was praying the other morning and your name
came to mind.
I
was only hoping it wasn't Satan who made me think of you and if it was, then I
must be checking in on you for sure. I hope you are still praying hard and
several times during the day and evening. Prayer is good for keeping dirty
thoughts out your mind and keep you from sinning. It helps keep you sincere and
focused in your prayers if you kneel on uncooked lima beans while you pray (just
like I used to make you do during Lent and Advent and when you were
late for class or Mass),
your prayers will be heard before anyone else's in heaven. Are
you going still going to daily Mass and weekly Confession? It is important to
purge your soul of sin at least weekly. Keeping busy is another virtue I hope
you are practicing daily in your spare time like cleaning the church, baking and
cutting out little communion wafers, ironing and folding altar linens and
visiting sick and old nuns and priests at your local Catholic Nursing Homes.
Don't forget the little babies and children still stuck in the orphanages (most
of them were pagan babies). Now
for my parting final words I want you to remember all that wonderful
"Catholic Guilt" that Sister worked so hard to instill in you. Aren't
you glad because it has helped you not be a sex fiend, drug addict, alcoholic,
movie star, corrupt politician and it saved you from having multiple marriages.
You have me to thank and the other good sisters who took an interest in
your soul. Do keep me in your
daily thoughts (especially when you think or feel like you might want to sin)
and it will help you temper the temptation and then give thanks and pray for me,
that I have helped you be such a good "Catholic Child of God".
Remember
"God always sees what you are doing and He always knows what you are
thinking", so behave yourself and never mind
what
those pagan songs say about Santa.
"Sister
Margaret Mary of the Seven Sorrowful Mysteries"
Thanks
John Prokop
December 24, 2011
Please note in this interview how Lennon is trying to improve his image
to the public. First the questions are all soft, second the
interview is done on his home court. Third Lennon minimizes the closings
of " SOME" churches. How about
the number 58, roughly 25% of all churches in the diocese closed.
How about the devastating percentage wipe out of ethnic churches
in the diocese. Very heavy handed. The
same pattern is occurring of ethnic churches being closed across the USA with
great dissent from the people. This is not acceptance
nor is this vibrant.
Review of ethnic churches conditions find them self-sustaining contrary
to what the people are told by the hierarchy. Occasionally a
bishop or spokesman will have a slip up of the tongue and state a ethnic
church is not needed whether it is Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian etc. The
bishops want money so the ethnic parishes are the cash cows.
Unfortunately many people cannot make the correlation between the
need for money,money and more money and where it can be obtained
quickly.
One hundred years ago the American Bishops attacked the
ethnic churches and showed clear bigotry. Large rebellions took
place. The Slavs of the Byzantine Rite (Greek Catholic) left
in huge numbers after this discrimination against them.- The American
Bishops at that time paid no attention to Rome when Rome tried to
get the American Church to stop it's discrimination. So much for
the obedience that our bishops want from the laity but do not give to Rome.
Now they confiscate the closed churches bank accounts, loot their sacred
artifacts and sell church properties for pennies on the dollar.
Hypocrites--just like Jesus Christ myself said about the pharisees, scribes,
and priests of the Temple. We have the same situation in
Cleveland and other places.. Some bishops serve themselves--not the
people of God as they are supposed to. Since the year six hundred,
the Pope himself St. Gregory the Great (590-604) signed himself as 'THE
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD'-- And his successors
have used the same verbiage for their role as Pope.
What is wrong with our bishops? The Gospel according to Jesus is not
being followed..They may repeat the Gospels but their actions show their true
intent. Now when you watch this interview keep these
points in mind and tell others what you think. We the laity must
put into effect the Gospel if our bishops have failed us.
---Joseph Feckanin
December 23, 2011
This is one of
the most touching stories and should be sent to the Associated Press. This
is our Cleveland History that is being affected by these unnecessary closings.
Andrzej’s convictions in
Poland
changed the World for the better. Let’s all pray his conviction each
Sunday outside the locked St. Casimir can lead Rome to change the decision and
have our Landmark re-opened.
December 19, 2011
Thirty years ago in December of 1981, martial law was
declared in Poland. A declaration against a nation and people that
demanded workers' rights and social change. In the middle of the night, starting
on December 13th, thousands were arrested and put in prisons throughout Poland.
Their sin, they disagreed with the communist regime.
At the closed St. Casimir Church on Sowinski Avenue stands Andrzej Sobolewski, a
native of Augustow, Poland who was one of those activists thrown into prison for
their beliefs.
Every week, since November of 2009, Andrzej has stood at the Casimir Prayer
Vigils with his wife, Czeslawa and daughter, Dorota. Andrzej, a
dedicated Catholic, strong in faith, holds high the Solidarnosc Flag for which
many have died. An original member of the Solidarity exiles who built
and installed a replica of the Gdansk Shipyard Workers' Memorial (in 1985)
at St. Casimir, he has refused to accept the tryanny of the forced closing of
his church.
This Sunday, December 18th, Andrzej was recognized for his commitment to his
faith. Surprised, a tearful Andrzej accepted a bouguet of red
and white flowers, presented to him by Ania and Edek Adamczewski in appreciation
of his never ending support and tenacity. Touched by emotion, Andrzej
and his wife humbly thanked everyone for this caring gesture.
This is one of the many stories of the men and women who stand shoulder to
shoulder every Sunday, united in hope that their prayers will be heard.
This is a true story of a man steeped in faith, who will not let the locked
doors of a prison cell or the locked doors of his church diminish the promise of
renewal, the meaning of Christmas, a day a light came into the world.
December 19, 2011
A nice turnout at our Annual St. Casimir Alumni Christmas
dinner.
December 12, 2011
We are not alone folks, the following email was received
concerning our dilemmas:
To all: I am sending you this beautiful letter from a
lady in Pennsylvania who somehow read something I wrote and responded to my
e-mail. Read this and you will be able to feel the truth and
the pain of good Catholics who are targeted for their beautiful churches,
patrimony and monies in the bank. These bishops think that they can get
away with this because they are telling people it is for the betterment of the
faith. It is their greed that is driving them and their unchallenged
power as the phony representatives of the Christ. They must be
challenged! The truth needs to get out. People need to
stop being afraid. The Catholic Faith is good, these men have hijacked the
real meaning of their role. They are false shepherds. The laity is being called
on to protect the faith and we must respond. It is our duty as
Christians. Spread the news ,tell everyone, write letters
to Rome and demand help to stop the dismantling of the Catholic Church in
this country by those who have--betrayed.
Joe
Dear Joe: Thank you so very much for your kind
response and for the links. You are valiant in your battle and I wish you
victory!
We are all undergoing trial and suffering throughout the USA. The Bishops
plot and plan, and we have become mere pawns and our beautiful churches which we
built with great love and sacrifice have become little more than sources of
revenue for a corrupt and dictatorial hierarchy.
I have fought for over three years to save Saint Kunegunda's. I received
the final death knell decree from Bishop Barres on the 26th of Nov. this
year.....the ink was barely dry on the bishop's decree-- when the crane
and trucks moved in to remove all our magnificent stained glass windows. I
have no idea what they'll do with the Polish themes in two windows, since it
seems--as you say--the ethnic cleansing has become a reality in the American
Church. Maybe they'll sell them to a church in Poland! It is
heartbreaking to see these hurtful actions of bishops against so many lay
faithful. The diocese is peopled by cold-hearted men who act little better
than common thieves. They show no compassion, only greed.
Joe, Saint Kunegunda is indeed a Polish saint. My grandparents came from
the Gorale region of Southern Poland--Zakopane. Kunegunda (Kinga) was
beloved in Southern Poland (Wieliczka salt mines). When my ancestors came
here to N.E. Pennsylvania, they worked in and around the coal mines.
Hence, they chose this Saint who was also the patroness of the salt miners in
Poland. My maternal grandparents have a window dedicated at the Our Lady
of Czestochowa Shrine in Doylestown. It is a two-hour drive from where I
live. It is a very beautiful shrine, as I'm certain you'll agree.
My church was built in 1962. The sanctuary was purest carrera
marble--valuable...the finest in the world. The stained glass is beautiful
and now rare---the studios cannot duplicate the colors. We had
hand-painted oil canvasses of the Stations....An artist in New York carved a
life-size corpus of Christ on a wooden cross for all altar....All these items
were taken from us. No explanation. No apology. We are left
with nothing. The diocese is now starting on the Slovak Church...removed
her beautiful bells a few days ago.
May God forgive them for what they do.
You, and all those who suffer injustice with the Churches in Cleveland will be
in my prayers, Joe. Be assured.
May Our Lord bless and keep you. Wesolych Swiat!
Fondly,
Vicki
December 10, 2011
Great music here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBkYm-Mpqk&feature=endscreen&NR=1
December 10, 2011
Working on my last newsletter. It will be nice for a break
from the anxiety in getting the newsletter out before the next alumni meeting
which is December 18. Don't forget there will be a Christmas meal after the
meeting free to those who attend.
Soon the Alumni will accept "friends" as members
so $5.00 will get you a newsletter and at least one or two free meals if you
want to be someone's friend.
Since St. Stanislaus was one of the Churches St. Casimir
was clustered with to determine who would close, I'm posting the information
below:
What is the real story? Ask yourself who gains by this move?
What pattern have we seen before in parish closings? As Paul
Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story!"
? Is the order leaving by their own accord?
I see the hand of Richard Lennon working behind the scene.
Note that both letters have the same date, and that they both say essentially
the same thing. Also Lennon has the power to tell them to
just leave Cleveland and they can do nothing. The letter, in
my opinion, (from the Franciscans) is just an easy out, not exposing the
real reason they are leaving. The timing of both letters with the
same date (Dec.1) is suspicious. Has the UB echoed the same
slant? If you plant an idea in media and it is repeated often enough,
does it substitute for the truth? This is how the fascists
and communists worked with print, and all forms of media, and even with their
use of slogans: "Vibrant Parish", "Rooted in Faith",
etc. What has been the effect of these two slogans. First,
interpret "Vibrant Parish", what is the result--locking
people out of self-sustaining churches, or "Rooted
in Faith"---bring me the money: either pay, or you cannot pray.
It is clearly extortion of the faithful. In addition,
it looks like only clergy, educated and trained in this diocese are welcome in
Cleveland. Is there a pattern of religious orders from outside the
diocese leaving, and what about the special ministries, for example; the
interfaith dialogue, the deaf, and the prison ministry? Examine them.
Are home grown priests only welcome in this diocese? What about
the dismissal of select popular foreign born priests? Was dismissal
brought about because these priests were following the teachings of Jesus and
were always available to their flocks (too popular) ? These
priests were truly the servants of the servants of the Lord. Is it
total control of their education, thought and loyalty to the ordinary and not
the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Is this in line with the
Ethnic Cleansing Program of the American Bishops! Make us all the
same by giving bogus reasons for parish closings, only to grab the usually big
bank accounts, and loot these one hundred year old churches of their sacred
artifacts and sell them for quick cash. A clear pattern of closing
Ethnic Parishes has indeed surfaced in the Midwest and the Eastern
States.
Some people have commented that no matter what you think, or what
your conscience tells you, the bishop's direction comes first because
the Holy Spirit advises him [is not the Spirit available to us all].
These same people should read St Thomas Aquinas on primacy of conscience,
or the writings of John Paul II, or Benedict who question total obedience to
the hierarchy if your inner self knows it is wrong. Obedience
is not more important than faith. Lennon is very predicable in all
his actions, he controls everything like a despot of the pre-Christian age.
He even uses the same means to obtain his end results. He
will do anything to win [not very Christian]. I hope this causes
you to think about what has happened in this diocese and across this country,
and what is yet to come if you do not 'go along with the program'.
You can do something. You can organize, and say no! Tell
these bishops no! Demand an end to this attack on the faith. This
is your Christian duty: to stand up for the faith. Do not run
away, it is too easy. Let the Holy Spirit make you like the
apostles, get active and pray everyday for that strength to speak out.
Be not afraid.
Joe
You can read another version at this website: http://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/2011/12/lennons-second-five-year-plan-begins.html
December 7, 2011
Posted for my Mother-in-Law:
On 20 December 1907 The New York Times front page reported details
of a mining disaster in Pennsylvania. Although hundreds of coal miners had
lost their lives, the newspaper carried the unusual headline of The
Pittsburgh Press: ‘St Nicholas Feast Saves the Russians’. And other
headline captions at the time included: Pittsburgh Gazette Times:
"Majority of Victims Americans - Foreign Workers Lay Off to Go to
Church and Escape Death"; Pittsburgh Dispatch: "Many of
the victims are English-speaking men. Foreigners escape owing to religious
holiday." What was the story behind these headlines?
On 19 December 1907, at least 239 coal miners were killed in an explosion at
the Darr Mine in Van Meter, in the south-western corner of Pennsylvania.
This remains the fourth worst coal mining disaster in U.S. history and
everyone inside the mine was killed. However, it could have been much worse
- the number of victims could have been double. The death toll was not some
500, because 19 December is St Nicholas’ Day [Old Calendar] and some 250
faithful Carpatho-Russian immigrant coal miners had taken an unpaid day off
work to celebrate his memory. For even the greedy coal mine owners, who
otherwise had virtually complete control over the miners with their threats
of dismissal, knew that they could not force Carpatho-Russians to work on 19
December, St Nicholas Day. For St Nicholas is the patron saint of shepherds,
one reason why he has been the Carpatho-Russian patron saint for centuries,
and thanks to his intercession, men and boys, some perhaps as young as ten,
survived to become fathers of hundreds and grandfathers of thousands. Had it
not been for this miracle, more than a thousand would have been widowed and
orphaned, which in 1907 would have meant financial destitution, for there
would have been no assistance from companies or government agencies in those
days.
Newspaper reports of the 11:30 am explosion that took place in the middle of
the church service record that there was a terrible noise and the ground
shook, as if there were an earthquake. Immediately everyone realized that
there had been an explosion in the mine and they rushed to help find
survivors. Although it was against the few regulations that did exist at the
time, the mining company had allegedly interconnected more than one mine,
which devastated a large area of the mine on both sides of the river. In the
end, many bodies could not be identified and were placed in a mass grave,
and although probably higher, the official death toll was 239.
Life was very harsh for the Carpatho-Russian miners. They were worked like
animals in the bowels of the earth, exploited by ‘the English’ -
anglophone American businessmen and coal barons, and often worked seven days
a week. At that time the Carpatho-Russians were supported in their labour
struggles by a priest, Fr (now St) Alexis Toth (1854-1909). Fr Alexis not
only supported every labour struggle and won the respect of the people, but
supported the immigrants in other ways too. For, having been forced into
outward Uniatism in their homeland by the threat of starvation in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, from the 1880s on the Carpatho-Russians
had been forced into emigrating by the cruel Hungarian Roman Catholic
authorities in their homeland. In America they struggled to retain their
identity and traditions. However, as a result of the religious freedom they
found in North America, many of their priests and tens of thousands of
people had since 1892 been returning to Orthodoxy to become part of the
Orthodox Church in North America. And it had been St Alexis who had led the
way. Indeed, the Roman Catholic Uniats were as a rule anti-labour and
supported their Irish masters. The Carpatho-Russian miners remained close to
the Church and many later revered the memory of the Russian Tsar-Martyr,
Nicholas II, under whom all Orthodox in North America had been united.
In response to the return to Orthodoxy of the exploited and misled Carpatho-Russians,
in 1907 the Pope of Rome was so worried that he appointed a Bishop Soter
Ortinsky as ‘Greek Catholic’ bishop for America. It is notable that Rome
had never made any similar effort to provide for a specific nationality that
had emigrated to America. However, Ortinsky was not even Carpatho-Russian,
but a Polish Galician, and he had virtually no authority. In reality,
relatively few Uniat churches and priests remained under the authority of
their local Roman Catholic bishop, who typically had limited knowledge of
the Orthodox rite, let alone Orthodox teaching, and refused to recognize
married priests. The 1907 miracle in Pennsylvania, which took place
according to the Orthodox calendar date of St Nicholas Day, only served to
hearten the exploited Carpatho-Russian immigrants who had returned to
Orthodoxy, confirming them in their choice of Faith and encouraging others
to do likewise in later years.
19 December 2007 was the centenary of the Miracle of St Nicholas at the Darr
Mine and at 7 pm an Akathist to St Nicholas was celebrated at the St
Nicholas Orthodox Church at Jacobs Creek close by. A new troparion and
kontakion were composed for the occasion and new content describing the
miracle of the saving of the coal miners were added to the service.
December 5, 2011
You can read up on the St. Barbara prayer vigil here:
December 4, 2011
Interesting developments going on see the following
notices: Here and Here
November 29, 2011
St. Barbara's Parish will be holding an outdoor prayer
vigil this Sunday, December 4th at 3:00PM. The vigil will be held on
the front steps of the church regardless of the weather, in honor of their
patron saint, St. Barbara.
St Barbara, closed by order of Bishop Richard Lennon on Mother's Day, May 9,
2010 was one of ten Polish founded churches eliminated in the chancery's vibrant
parish program. According to Michael Minich and Christine Dziedzina, two
of the organizers of this special vigil, the parish still exists. The
parish has filed an appeal at the Vatican questioning the bishop's actions and
requesting re-opening.
During the appeal process, Canon Law states, neither the church nor patrimony (
sacred artifacts) can be sold or marketed. ( The parish is not extinct per
church law.)
This one hundred and five year old parish was self-sustaining and left a void in
the Denison Neighborhood. Donna Cuevas said, "The
parish was strongly supported. Members came from over 40 different zip
codes."
Members of St. Barbara's have been attending the weekly St. Casimir prayer
vigils and have asked the Casimir parishioners to join them for this special
vigil. Other closed parishes will will also send repesentatives.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend this vigil in celebration of the Feast
Day of St. Barbara. Mike Minich said it all, " St.
Barbara's was like a Mother to us, our faith was developed and nutured here.
We were a family. It will always be our home."
St. Barbara's is located right over the Harvard-Denison Bridge at 1505 Denison
Avenue. This Sunday afternoon, come and join them in prayer and
song. The church doors have been closed and locked but the people refuse
to go away. They believe and their strong faith learned at St. Barbara's
can once again open those locked doors.
by: Joseph Feckanin
November 27, 2011
On St. Barbara's Day, Sunday the 4th of December, the
parish of St. Barbara will meet outside their church building on Denison and
West 14th at 3 o'clock in the afternoon to mark the day.
More posts after today's prayer vigil.
November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone. Enjoy the photo of the
crowd at Marotta's Bar on 79th Street between Korman and Simon. The picture was
taken during the early 40s by a photographer who took photos of surgeries at the
Cleveland Clinic. Ray Kasperski is front and center, Eddy Kasper is in the back
row in the shirt that shows the address, 1045 E. 79th, the gentleman in the dark
shirt on the lower left was killed by a train while working in the Boston
Subway. At some point in the bar's history, Ray Kasperski leased the front of
the bar and ran it with someone else. He said he had better business in the
front than they had in the back.
November 21, 2011
Disgraced Ex-Boston Archbishop
Resigns Post
Pope Accepts Law's
Resignation As Archpriest Of Rome Basilica
VATICAN
CITY -- Cardinal
Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as Boston's archbishop in
2002 after the priest sex abuse scandal exploded in the United
States, has left his subsequent job as head of a major Roman
basilica.
The
Vatican said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the
80-year-old Law's resignation as archpriest of St. Mary Major
basilica and had named as Law's replacement Spanish Monsignor
Santos Abril y Castello.
Law's
2004 appointment as the archpriest of one of Rome's most important
basilicas had been harshly criticized by advocates for clerical sex
abuse victims, who say bishops who covered up for pedophile priests
should be punished, not rewarded.
Law
turned 80 earlier this month.
While
the pope could have kept him on longer - the dean of the College of
Cardinals, for example, turns 84 this week - Benedict decided to
replace him.
The
Vatican announcement made no mention of Law's resignation, though,
merely noting in a perfunctory, two-line statement that Benedict had
named a new archpriest for the basilica.
Law
became the first - and so far only - U.S. bishop to resign for mishandling
cases of priests who sexually abused priests.
He
had been named in hundreds of lawsuits accusing him of failing to protect
children from known child molesters. After 18 years leading the nation's
fourth-largest archdiocese, Law resigned in 2002, having asked Pope John
Paul II twice before receiving permission to step down before reaching the
mandatory retirement age for bishops of 75.
Ten
months after he left office, Law's successor, now-Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley
helped broker an $85 million settlement with more than 550 victims of
pedophile priests.
Law
remains a member of a half-dozen important Vatican congregations, including the
office that helps the pope select bishops. Such appointments are for renewable
five-year terms and it's not clear when each one expires or whether he'll seek
to stay on.
While
he was in Rome, Law was a frequent presence at all major Vatican ceremonial and
diplomatic events, a lifestyle that galled many abuse victims who have long
insisted that the Vatican crack down on bishops who transfer abusive priests
rather than report them to police.
Law's
successor at St. Mary Major - one of the four basilicas under the direct
jurisdiction of the Vatican - retired earlier this year as the Vatican's
ambassador to Slovenia and Macedonia.
Abril
y Castello, 76, is also the No. 2 prelate who helps take care of matters dealing
with a papal death and runs the Vatican until a new pontiff is elected in a
conclave.
Now
that he is 80, Law can no longer vote in a conclave, though he remains a
cardinal.
Neither
the Vatican or the Archdiocese of Boston commented on why Law resigned.
Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29820617/detail.html#ixzz1eLtqGFEQ
November 20, 2011
The Historic St. Casimir Alumni met today. 37 members came
to consensus on making 2 $1,000 scholarship gifts to The Polonia Foundation and
a $1,000 gift to the Polish League of American Veterans, Post 31 with one half
of those funds to be used by the Ladies Auxiliary for their purposes. We the
Alumni are currently 261 individuals of paid membership. If members are not paid
by April 1 of the year they will be dropped.
Please note that the address for membership will be
changing next year. Theresa Karpinski will be taking over the membership duties
at the January 2012 meeting.
I will be reconfiguring this website and hopefully adding
some more sophisticated additions that will allow people to register with the
website and post and exchange information in a real time format. I am in the infancy
stages of development but hope that my education on this will allow it to be
available this summer.
I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.
November 20, 2011
Please note a new blog has surfaced. Some of this news is old but the
news is spreading . Peiple are catching on to the injustices.
One man made a statement recently and I will quote him, he said,
"Ethnic churches are not closed because they don't have the money .
They are closed because they do have the money! "
Every Ethnic church in Cleveland that has
been closed, had big bank accounts. Put two and two together
and," now you know the real story" as Paul Harvey used to say.
Pass this on every one needs to be reminded of the truth.
November 19, 2011
Just to let everyone know ,Stan also spoke and did a wonderful job.
The hostess, Eugenia Stolarczyk, when introduced to Stan said, " you must
be Zadnik". He said how did you know. Eugenia then
stated, "I've read about you in the paper".
Really, you must hear Stan's description of events. He spoke of the final Mass
at Casimir. of what he saw and felt at the time. To remind
everyone, prior to Lennon"s Mass of Eviction the church of St
Casimir had a procession and at that procession the church was dedicated to
the Blessed Mother with an appeal for her intercession and help.
So tune into public radio this Sunday night-and hear Stan's witness. It
explains much of the struggle and why.
My friends,our voices will be heard,we,all of us,are not afraid. Nothing
is easy and none of us should ever give up---many Catholics are depending on
us to bear witness to these injustices and un-christisn acts by men who
have betrayed the Faith. Instead of the Vibrant Parish theme, their
campaign against Catholics should be called; Vibrant Souls Traded
For Cash and Power.
Much thanks to our radio host,Eugenia. For two years she has told our story
with passion. We invite you to listen in.
November 17, 2011
UPDATE:
The interview can be heard at this link.
Let it 'load' silently, and then beginning about 18.30 (minutes and seconds) the
interview begins. Start listening at that point.
My father-in-Law and I had a conversation on the direction
of the Alumni and the PLAV. We both agreed that both organizations are losing
their Polishness. We debated for hours on how to bring about changing that but
came to no consensus. Please send your thoughts.
With this in mind here are some Polish things going on:
Zatańczmy:
A Celebration of Polish Folk Dance
The
Polish Arts Club of Youngstown
November 15, 2011
Joseph Feckanin will be interviewed by Rita Cosby live.
He will be talking about Cleveland's churches. Joseph will be on the radio on
the radio 4.30-5.00 pm Wed
Here is the station's homepage:
http://www.wor710.com/
And you can click to stream live:
http://www.wor710.com/pages/7049861.php?
November 14, 2011
The next two links are videos of our struggles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-95WMis0vI&feature=related
Please note that the above two links are not on this
website and do take up any space on the website. Please setup you-tube accounts
and save your videos. Here is one of me sailing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V7uPDfCuwI
just before I found it is best not to eat on days like that.
Send them and I will link them.
And a Note from Joe:
Just to let everyone know that Rita Cosby WOR Radio 710AM New York will
have me as a guest on her program this Wednesday, Nov. 16th
time slot 4:30 to 5:00 PM.
The topic you guessed it, St Casimir and all the churches in Cleveland.
You can download from the internet the following;
Radio.OnlineRadioBar.com
Keep me in your prayers. I will speak as always only what is true.
Joseph Feckanin
November 13, 2011
from to-day's latin rite Gospel reading (NAB)
the byzantines had the good samaritan
Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not
sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. (DRC)
|
November 11, 2011
There is a petition going on to protect our churches, the below link will get
you to it and you can decide if you want to join. I believe it is something
sponsored by Elizabeth Kucinich.
http://www.change.org/petitions/religious-political-and-community-leaders-stop-the-deconstruction-and-demolition-of-our-churches
It is related to SCANCTUS which can be found at: www.SANCTUScampaign.org
SANCTUS
S
ave
A
ll
N
eighborhood
C
hurches
T
hroughout the
U
nited
S
tates
November 11, 2011
Happy Veteran's Day! Keep all our men and women abroad in your prayers.
I was going through boxes in the basement and happened upon a yellow three ring
binder that was used for past Alumni picnics. There was nothing special inside
except for notes on past picnics: It was inscribed as follows:
1990 - 756
1991 - 705
1992 - 640
1993 - 647
1994 - 435 (rain)
1995 - 409 (very hot)
1996 - 485 (perfect day)
1997 - 418 (terrible weather, rainy cold)
1998 - 435 (perfect day)
1999 - 505 (beautiful day)
2000 - 400
2001 - 423 (rain / sun)
The above list is the year, attendance and weather comments. I recognized my
hand writing for 2000 and 2001 so Rich and I took over the picnic then and ran
it until 2009 or 2010. Before I pitched the binder I thought I would share that
information with anyone interested.
November 10, 2011
Stanislav sent me the text below in connection with my OWS St. Casimir post.
It has a lot of relevance to our activities and events taking place around the
world.
Then there is dharna of the Hindus. Dharna is an
attempt to gain justice or payment. The form it took was the plaintiff would sit
at the entrance of the offender's home, or business, and wait, wait continuously
till he got his justice, or died waiting for it. This is a genesis of the
peaceful protest that had Gandhi and millions sit on the doorstep of the british
empire. "We shall not be moved" is a stand for justice. Occupations of
property are attempts to obtain justice. It is an attempt to shame people to do
right. Centuries ago, the transgressor or the debtor had a fear, that this
implacable soul would haunt his conscience, or being, for all time. The fasting
until death at a doorstep was put in play creating a spirit that could not be
appealed to--an unforgiving perpetual ghost.
November 8, 2011
Two people said they saw me on the news talking about St.
Casimir and I was calm and the message was good. It didn't feel that way when I
felt like a deer in the headlights staring at the two cameras. I looked on
channel 5 and 8 websites and only found this link http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/parishioners-pray-in-the-street-for-church-to-be-reopened
it doesn't show any interviews. If anyone has them send them to me and I will
post them here.
After some thought, what I would like to have said was:
"This is our Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement except we are occupying the
sidewalk in front of our closed church which began two years ago. We used to
gather here at this Church until the Bishop closed it against our will. Now we
gather here in front of our closed Church. We are Occupy St. Casimir!"
Oh well hind site is 20/20. For those that don't know
what the OWS movement is about it can be summed up as follows: "The
Occupier movement is still in its infancy in the United States, but it cannot be
stopped. Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged
game – an economy that won’t respond, a democracy that won’t listen, and a
financial sector that holds all the cards ~ Here, as elsewhere, the people are
rising.”
I will be making major changes to this website and will be
following the Prayer Vigil movement more closely. If you have any suggestions,
please send them to me.
OWS St. Casimir
Dan
November 6, 2011
from: http://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/2011/11/two-years-on-streets.html
go to this website for photos of the prayer vigil.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 Two Years on the Streets After two full years after
a Mass of Eviction they still come. Not one Sunday has been unobserved. The
Casimiri pray, sing, celebrate and invite everyone. They have been put out
because of one man, their abusive bishop, Richard Lennon. Lennon was likened to
the bad shepherd in Ezechiel, and the hard man in the parable of the talents in
Matthew.
The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not
healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven
away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost:
but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand. — Ezechiel xxxiv.
4.
But he that had received the one talent, came and said: Lord, I know that
thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where
thou hast not strewed. —Matthew xxv. 24. They also said Canon 1741§3 [odium
populi] applied and should be invoked, for Lennon had earned hatred from the
people, which "will not cease in a brief time"; and therefore, should
be removed. The parishioners asked for his resignation
November 6, 2011
There was an extremely good turn out for the 104th prayer
vigil held today as the faithful entered their second year gathering in front of
their chained and boarded up St. Casimir Church. I counted 92 people 94 if you
include the camera men from channels 5 and 8. I found that I do not like to be
interviewed and if they show me on the news, I apologize in advance for my stutter.
The prayer vigil welcomed Bill Patmon, former councilman for the area
including St. Casimir Church and our Ohio State Representative.
The sign I liked the most was "Welcome to Lennongrad" it was just
perfect.
I will post more about the gathering and provide links to
any coverage as it comes in.
November 1, 2011
The Alumni held elections Sunday and the following officers
will be replaced at the January 2012 meeting:
Daniel Horn will be replaced by Theresa Karpinski as 2nd VP
Raymond Michalski will be replaced by Richard Feimer as
Treasurer
Raymond Kasperski will be replaced by Ted Sabat as Sergeant
at Arms
All other officers and trustees will remain the same.
For the time being continue to send dues to Dan Horn as he
is the lame duck 2nd VP.
November 1, 2011
The flyer for the 2nd anniversary prayer vigil will be held
in front of The Historic St. Casimir Church on November 6, 2011. Click
here to see.
October 31, 2011
St. Casimir urges all to attend
their prayer vigil this
Sunday, November 6, 2011
. This vigil will mark a milestone
for the Faithful Parishioners of the closed St. Casimir Church.
St. Casimir, the church that
refuses to accept the closure and go away will conduct its 104th
prayer vigil in the streets of this neighborhood adjacent to
Rockefeller
Park
. It will be two years since Bishop
Richard Lennon (on
November 8th, 2009
) forced a closure of this historic church built in the grand Polish Cathedral
Style Architecture.
Though parishioners have been
evicted from their church, they and their supporters have not given up hope that
one day they will be able to worship inside.
No matter the weather, every
Sunday since the bishop’s “Mass of Eviction”, the Faithful have returned
at
11:30
and to pray, sing and share news of their quest to overturn the order of Bishop
Lennon.
The church was self-sustaining:
was in excellent physical condition, had a large bank account, a strong alumni
and dedicated priests.
Casimir has a re-open appeal in
Rome
at the highest
Vatican Court
, the APOSTOLIC SIGNATURA which could take years to be heard.
In the interim, they have petitioned Bishop Lennon in letter, three times
to let them re-open. They even
presented the bishop with nearly a thousand signatures supporting the petitions.
Only once has the bishop replied to their letters and told them to await
Rome
’s decision on the appeal. The
Casimir Faithful have stressed that the bishop closed the church - not
Rome
.
The St. Casimir prayer leader,
Wojtek Fleszar has stated, “We vow to continue the vigils, we will not give
up. The closing of all these Catholic Churches is wrong.
It only drives people away from the faith.”
Representatives from other closed churches with appeals in
Rome
are expected to participate on this special vigil.
The media will be present and so will a documentary film producer.
The plight of the ethnic church closures has attracted national attention.
In April of 2010, Ralph Vartabedian, a national investigative reporter
for the Los Angeles Times came to
Cleveland
on a fact finding trip. St.
Casimir, along with St. Lawrence and St. Emeric were featured in his article.
The story went international.
The Casimir prayer vigils have inspired four other appealing parishes to
hold their own weekly vigils.
The words of the late Pope, Blessed John Paul II, “NIE BOJCIE SIE”
which in Polish means “BE NOT AFRAID” have given guidance and strength to
the Casimir Faithful to continue the struggle.
October 28, 2011
Note: Our Alumni was in the same position but Frank
Baganski obtained our tax-exempt status and began operating independently from
the Church. Our thoughts go out to this lady.
Dorothy Swital is willing to go to jail for what she feels
is right.
The Rev. Monsignor John Prendergast, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Church,
confirmed he filed a report with the Streator Police Department accusing her of
stealing $35,622.16 in two certificate of deposit accounts formerly in the name
of St. Casimir's Altar and Rosary Society.
He believes that money belongs to the church.
Swital, the 86-year old president of the society, does not see it that way.
She said the non-profit organization always has operated independent of the
parish. The money was raised by the group through fundraisers and not through
church collections.
"You made the money,"said Swital to 15 members of the society Monday.
"Therefore, Ifeel it belongs to you ladies. You worked your butts off to
make this money, it should be up to us in how we spend it. If they want to put
me in jail, they can throw me in jail. I'm going to fight for it."
Swital said she will give her report to the police this afternoon.
In a letter dated Jan. 28, Prendergast notified Swital he would prosecute. In
it, he said she closed two certificate of deposit accounts in the name of St.
Casimir Altar and Rosary Society at Streator Home Building and Loan Association
and transferred money into an account which does not belong to St. Casimir.
The closed accounts, Prendergast stated, received tax-exempt status from the
church's federal identification number. According to him, "all funds
carrying this number belong to the parish, which is an Illinois Religious
Corporation governed by state law and the statutes of the Diocese of
Peoria."
After Streator's four Catholic churches merged Sept. 29 and St. Casimir Church
closed, the altar and rosary society changed its name to the Polish Rosary
Society to protect its funds.
With it, the group changed its tax code and placed the money into a separate
account at Streator Home Building and Loan. Since then, the organization has
donated $50 to the Salvation Army and $50 more to The Times Red Stocking drive.
Swital said the group always acted independently of the church, so she did not
think anything of the transaction. She said both the loan association president
and its lawyer approved it.
"In the past, we purchased a new organ, a new roof, made repairs to the
rectory, but the priest always asked us for the money,"Swital said.
"They never ever took it like it was theirs."
Prendergast declined to comment on the situation beyond confirming the letter
and filing a police report. The Streator Police could not confirm a report was
filed, but Swital said she was approached by an investigator Monday.
In his letter, Prendergast stated as the administrator of the former St.
Casimir, he considers himself the responsible agent for all parish assets and
did not authorize the move. Since she signed on the corporate parish accounts,
he said she was required to follow the parish rules governing them.
The monsignor put his name on each of the certificate of deposit accounts about
two years ago in place of the late Geraldine Smith, the group's longtime
treasurer, according to Swital.
Since the society's bylaws only require one authorized person to sign off on the
account, Swital utilized that opportunity to save what she believes is property
of her club.
"We plan on continuing our charitable efforts," Swital said. "We
have always given to organizations we felt were a good cause. We're not about to
stop just because we lost our church."
The organization meets once a month and boasts 23 members.
The function of a rosary society is to pray the rosary, a Catholic prayer, for
deceased, sick or troubled parishioners, along with supporting activities and
charities.
According to Swital's legal advice, the case is likely to be turned over to the
state's attorney to decide whether there will be charges. If not, the church
could file a civil lawsuit.
Swital told Prendergast in an October phone conversation she had "deposited
the funds in another account and will not return them."
"I'm going to tell you something, (Prendergast)has met his match,"
Swital said. "I'm not backing down. And if they arrest me, I'll have plenty
of people there to bail me out."
October 19, 2011
The
Church is made up of all its members. The Cleveland diocese is made up of 8
counties. The church and the diocese is not one individual, even though he has a
special hat, and likes to flash his ring. These events are not in parish
bulletins, but they still occur.
3.00
p.m. Saturday, 22 October -- outside the cathedral church
on East
NinthStreet, Cleveland -- Marian service, including the recitation of the
rosary, and songs -- sponsored by Saint Emeric's Parish -- for all evicted
parishes and Christians
1.00
p.m. Saturday, 29 October -- outside the closed St.
John the Baptist at 1044 Brown Street in Akron a
march against the abuse of children by clergy and the episcopal coverup, and
financial scandals all of which is related to the closure of 58 parishes
11.30
a.m. Sunday, 6 November -- outside the closed St. Casimir on
East 82nd there will be the 104th consecutive service since eviction, yes it has
been 2 years
October 18, 2011
St. Casimir Church 8223
Sowinski Ave.
(Adjacent to Rockefeller Park/Ansel Road Exit off
MLK Blvd.)
Church of St. Casimir in Exile
Two Year Anniversary Prayer Vigil
"NIE
BOJCIE SIE", in Polish means "DO NOT BE AFRAID". These
words are the famous words pronounced by the late Pope, Jan Pawel II on his
first visit to Poland as the Vicar of Christ. These words ignited a nation
to throw off the chains of tyranny.
On Sunday, November
6th, outside the locked gates of St. Casimir Church, the 104th prayer vigil will
be held at 11:30 AM.
This date marks two
years of continuous vigils held in the rain, cold, snow and heat. We urge
all to join us and show solidarity on this special day.
At St. Casimir,
Poles and non-Poles stand together for all Catholics who have been unjustly
treated.
We vow to pray
"FOR OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND YOURS".
Please join us, your
church may be in a second round of closures.
As our beloved Karol
Wojtyla inspired us in the past, let his words, "DO NOT BE AFRAID" ring
out to be heard by all.
Before the Mass of
Eviction [11.08.09], St. Casimir's was dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Since
then, Our Lady has been Our Guide and Strength.
For More
Information: Joseph Feckanin 216-642-0576; Wojtek Fleszar at 440-384-0723
October 11, 2011
This Nov 6th will mark two years on the street every Sunday at 11;30am..
We thank each and everyone of you for your attendence and support.
Please pass these on to others and bring your friends and neighbors.
Together we Catholics can stop the unjust suppression of our faith by our
bishops. There is nothing wrong with the church,the church is the
people,however the bishops have failed us and now they are hiding the
truth..THIS IS VERY UNCHRISTIAN OF OUR LEADERS. The Catholic
Faith is beautiful. Stand up for your fellow
Catholic.
October 4, 2011
I have received a few notices that people who paid their
dues have noticed that the last newsletter had not given them the credit. I have
traced the problem to my merge of the newsletter with a backup of the membership
database. I was having problems with the merge process when preparing the
newsletter for mailing by the Dioceses and somehow used the backup to create the
mail merge. Sorry for any confusion. If you feel you paid your dues and didn't
get credit just drop me a line. Dan
September 27, 2011
Here is a touching article about the destruction of St.
Catherine Church on East 93rd Street near Union. Click
Here
September 23, 2011
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Vatican has given itself another extension to
review appeals from churches closed last year by Bishop Richard Lennon of the
Cleveland Catholic Diocese.
This marks the fourth time that the Congregation for the Clergy -- a Vatican
panel handling the appeals -- has extended the deadline for reviewing the
churches' cases against the diocese.
The new deadline is March 1.
"It's kind of disappointing, but it's still a good development,"
said Patricia Schulte-Singleton, president of Endangered Catholics, a group
fighting church closings. "We're still alive. We have to be
patient."
Singleton's church, St. Patrick in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood, is one
of at least seven parishes that received letters from Rome last week notifying
them of the extensions.
The others are St. Emeric, St. Wendelin, St. Barbara and St. Adalbert, all of
Cleveland, St. James of Lakewood and St. Mary of Bedford.
Lennon over the last two years closed 50 churches as part of a diocesewide
downsizing he said was necessary because of changing demographics.
The closings, mostly of inner-city churches, prompted appeals to Rome by at
least 14 parishes. But it wasn't immediately clear this week how
many are still pursuing the appeals.
It's also not clear why the Vatican keeps extending its deadlines. The
two-paragraph form letters sent to the local parishes simply
say, "It has been necessary to extend the time limits involved . . . in
order to effect a more exhaustive in-depth examination."
Nancy McGrath of Akron, head of Code Purple, another group fighting church
closings, speculated that the delay could be related to a recent investigation
of Lennon by the Vatican.
In July, the Rev. John M. Smith, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Trenton,
N.J., representing the Vatican, spent five days here interviewing priests and
parishioners about how they perceived Lennon as a spiritual leader.
The timetable and results of the highly secret investigation, known as an
apostolic visitation, are not expected to be made public.
"The extensions may be providing more time for Bishop Smith to conduct
his study," said McGrath.
Robert Tayek, a spokesman for the Cleveland diocese, said: "I don't
believe these extensions by the Vatican are out of the ordinary. The Boston
cases took more than a few years before they were resolved."
The church closings prompted a flurry of letters to Rome from angry Catholics,
many of whom represented ethnic churches.
Miklos Peller of St. Emeric, a Hungarian church near the West Side Market,
said he sent 28 letters to Rome, pleading for the reopening of his church.
"I got no responses," he said.
Peller said he holds a hint of hope because of the recent extension, even
though the new deadline will come almost three years since he filed Emeric's
appeal.
"If they don't respond, we can take that as losing the appeal," he
said. "But we haven't lost yet. The appeal is still on somebody's desk or
in somebody's drawer."
September 13, 2011
September 13, 2011
Cleveland Bishop to Undergo Surgery - Most Reverend Richard
Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland, will undergo surgery on Wednesday, September 21 for
a chronic back ailment. The surgery will be performed at St. Vincent Charity
Hospital with an expected recovery period of six-to-eight weeks. During that
time, the Bishop will manage some of the affairs of the Diocese with assistance
from Auxiliary Bishop, Most Reverend Roger Gries, and Diocesan Judicial Vicar,
Reverend Gary Yanus. Your prayers of support are requested for a successful
surgery and recovery. Any correspondence should be sent to: Office of the
Bishop, 1404 East 9th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44114
September 11, 2011
It was not the usual street vigil outside the closed Saint
Casimir church this past Sunday. It was September 11th, and like the rest of the
nation the faithful of Saint Casimir focused on the horrific events of ten years
ago. The horrific events of the attack by extremists that shocked the nation and
killed thousands of innocent, unsuspecting people.
The prayer vigil that is always conducted right in front of the closed church
was moved across the street in front of the vacant convent, where a restored
statue of the Blessed Mother stands. The site by Mary, Queen of Peace was an
appropriate place to conduct this vigil of remembrance.
One week earlier, a Casimir parish member, John Niedzialek spearheaded an effort
to restore the Marian Statue. John enlisted the aid of Paul Kish, a professional
painter, and along with a third volunteer, they repaired and painted, restoring
the statue to its former glory.
Before the prayers began, an attendee, Maureen stated, "My brother is a
fireman, and to him this is a solemn day". The prayer leader Wojtek
Fleszar then proceeded to ask for prayers for the victims, and their families,
of the three crash sites: the Twin Towers of New York City, the Pentagon in the
District of Columbia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He also asked for prayers
for those that had given their lives in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and those whom
are still in harm's way.
After the rosary was recited, and other prayers, the singing started with ,
"Let There Be Peace on Earth",
and continued with alternating Polish and American religious and patriotic
songs. The service ended with the "Star
Spangled Banner" being sung, and not a note missed. The acoustics of
the vigil location, in front of the convent and across from the school,
magnified the singing voices of the participants to the point that they
remarked, that they themselves were surprised at the power of their voices.
The sheriff deputies who often ride by during the service paused longer than
usual, and waved, somewhat surprised to see the Casimir faithful in a different
location. Their smiles and nods were a sign of approval. For truly indeed,
it was a day to remember as the large sign attached to the gates of Saint
Casimir by Ania and Edek Adamczewski said it all—9·11·01 NEVER FORGET.
September 8, 2011
Hell-o
Dan,
Maybe someone is interested in the following:
--Stanislav
August 29, 2011
Sorry everyone for the lack of posts. The Picnic was well
attended by almost 400 people. Tina, Sutton, Theresa, Helen and many others put
on a great picnic. I believe almost four thousand dollars was raised for the
Alumni. Next years picnic is scheduled for August 19, 2012. Plans are already in
the make for the date. Mark your calendars. Happy Birthday Tom!
July 17, 2011
At to-day's (17 July) sidewalk prayer vigil at St.
Casimir's-in-exile, Ray Michalski told the assembled about his audience with the
retired Bishop of Trenton, New Jersey, John Smith and a Monsignor. He told of
the cluster process, and the Day of Eviction, when Richard Lennon came with 14
patrolmen. Bishop Smith was attentive and quite surprised at the last mentioned
detail. Bishop Smith has come to Cleveland, this week past, to investigate
the manner of Bishop Lennon in administering the Diocese of Cleveland, and not
to review the causes pending. He also met with a representative of at least four
other parishes.
Other people have written to me noting, "one thing Rome abhors is a Bishop
who abuses or maligns his clergy, especially in a public manner or in the
presence of his brother priests". The suggestion is, that, Bishop
Smith may be particularly interested in eyewitness accounts of Richard Lennon
treating priests rudely and unfairly.
address letters to:
The
Most Reverend John M. Smith
Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Trenton
701 Lawrenceville Road
Trenton, NJ 08648
July 15, 2011
More on the Vatican representative:
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/more-clevelands-apostolic-investigation
July 6, 2011
| http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wfcr/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1822339/WFCR.Local.News/Mater.Dolorosa.Parishioners.Start.Vigil |
The above link is radio broadcast of members of a parish
refusing to leave their closing Church.
http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2011/07/apostolic_visit_raises_hopes_f.html
The above link is a letter discussing the Vatican
representative coming to Cleveland.
Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.
June 30, 2011
Rumor has it that the Vatican has sent a representative to
Cleveland to see why Bishop Lennon is closing all the ethnic parishes. Will post
any news on the subject when received.
June 29. 2011
Has any of you who have been bothered by the information
proceeding this post. Please let me know your opinions dlhorn@stcasimir.com.
June 28, 2011
Sorry everyone for not having a post in so long. The paying
job has been a bit too busy and no one has sent me any information for a while.
Joe sent me what follows. Thanks Joe.
To all,this is an important document to read. It cites Cleveland and our
Bishop Lennon who has closed the ethnic parishes because they are all in
excellent condition, all have large bank accounts and 100 year old artifacts
and stained glass windows which he can plunder and sell off to replenish the diocesan
empty bank accounts. Lennon hopes that no one notices that the whole
closure process is based on untruths. He wants everyone to accept what
he says because he is the bishop.
Canon law is broken by this diocese and parishes in appeal are having their
patrimony marketed-in a black market setting. The media is not
doing the job they should be doing. This destruction of old
Catholic parishes is not being questioned and investigated.
Example St Stephen's Church in a suburb of St Petersburg Florida--had an
article in the local on-line publication that they are hoping to buy the
windows and bells of St Casimir for pennies on the dollar.
We at Casimir have written documentation of this violation of Canon Law.
The Cleveland Diocese found out so they had the writer of this publication
omit three paragraphs and insert new ones to cover up this violation. We
have the proof. Again we have now caught them selling statuary of
St Peter's Church. Both Casimir and Peter are in appeal and Canon
Law clearly statesw unless a parish is extinct you cannot and I repeat this,
you cannot sell, market etc any patrimony or church buildings.
A year ago we found St Casimir liste3d with A COMMERCIAL REALTOR FOR $975,000
. A few later this real estate listing was withdrawn
from sight. Nothing will be left of this diocese when
Lennon is finished with us. And greater Cleveland will
lament that they were caught sleeping.
Also ,censorship has taken place, after the closure of Casimir the diocese
banned TV cameras from the closing Mass of Eviction. What is
this, communism taking place on the shores of Lake Erie. The
people can stop this if they stand up and say NO. You cannot do
this to my fellow Catholic. For what you do to them you do to me.
This comes right from the Bible.
Digest this article and see the few who have stood up to this failure of a
bishop have made a difference. Now I ask
you to tell others it is their time to stand up and be counted.
It is you duty as a Catholic or even if you belong to another Christian
Denomination.
Vatican
document on the reorganization of U.S. dioceses
The
tsunami of child abuse cases has devastated the life of the American
Church
Marco
Tosatti
Vatican City
The
huge wave of child abuse scandals has dramatically altered the life
of the American church. Not only from a moral point of view - as is
obvious and right - with an examination of conscience that has been
going on since the 90s when US bishops met in Rome in front of
John Paul II and, at the time, the Prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger. But also, and above
all, from an economic point of view.
The
lawsuits brought forward demanding tens of billions of dollars in
damages, which have enriched the victims of abuse from decades ago
and the team of specialized lawyers in the field have forced several
dioceses to seek judicial protection for bankruptcy. The first was a
diocese of great importance, Portland, followed by others, including
Spokane, Delaware and Wilmington.
There
is great concern in the Vatican. Not just because the United States,
historically, has always made large contributions to the Holy See's
budget, a budget which receives very little revenue and so is
normally in the red without the contributions of the dioceses of
the various donating countries throughout the world, among which the
most important are the U.S., Germany and Italy. The Holy See,
however, also fears that economic problems could lead to
repercussions on religious life and even on maintaining the basic
living conditions for priests, especially pensioners.
For
this reason, the Congregation for the Clergy in agreement with other
departments has prepared a specific document, which will be released
after the summer, possibly in October, that is specifically
dedicated to the reorganization of American dioceses. The document
is currently being examined by the Pontifical Council for
Legislative Texts, chaired by Archbishop Francis Coccopalmerio.
Obviously the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is also
interested in the matter. It will provide guidelines on how the U.S.
Bishops' Conference, and each individual diocese must act to rebuild
its presence in their area.
A
"classic" negative example of the reorganization linked to
the economic problems is that of Cleveland, where the Holy See has
decided to send an apostolic visit, or rather, an investigation to
look into whether the decisions taken by the Bishop Ordinary Gerard
Lennon were adequate. He announced that 29 parishes will close and
another 41 will be merged. The restructuring plan which will cut 52
parishes out of 224 is already in effect. Other cities in which word
about closure has been heard are Camden, New Jersey, Allentown,
Pennsylvania and New York City. The reasons that prompted the
decision to close parishes in Cleveland have been the flow of
population to outlying areas, the financial difficulties that have
seen 42% of parish budgets finish in the red and the shortage of
priests. Now this last point is questioned by the Vatican and the
apostolic visit will serve to ascertain the facts. The Vatican has
asked Lennon to stop his policy of savage cuts. In Boston, amongst
many other controversies, he closed 60 parishes. So far the Vatican
has not had any luck.
The
protests of the faithful against these cuts have been numerous and
loud and have even reached the Vatican. This uprising inspired the
creation of a document which is based precisely on the nature of
participation at the grass roots level that the Church in the United
States has, therefore giving an important role to the laity. The
philosophy is that of making a distinction between parish and the
church. A diocese in difficulty does well to reduce the number of
parishes, but must maintain churches and chapels where they exist,
perhaps entrusting the care to families of the faithful who are
willing to look after them and keep them open. Then on Sundays it is
easy to send a priest to celebrate Mass. This solution would take
into account various factors, the first being the singular issue of
distances, which in the United States are so large. Outright
closure of places of worship often oblige the private faithful of
the parish to take long journeys to participate in the holy Sunday
service.
A
second problem that the document will take into account is the sale
of and management changes at Catholic hospitals. The first
recommendation is to preserve an ethical perspective in the case of
a change in management. If this is not possible, then one can sell,
but must anyway favor organizations and institutions that are
ethically sound. Finally - and this will not be in the document, and
will probably be part of recommendations provided to the individual
bishops, there is great concern about the consequences of the
payment of damages for the abuses. Some dioceses, such as Boston,
led by the Franciscan Cardinal O'Malley that have been particularly
affected by the abuse phenomenon, are extremely generous. But
they may run the risk of not being able to pay for pensions and
healthcare assistance to elderly priests. The document will advise
the creation of a guaranteed safety net for people such as these who
are particularly vulnerable.
|
This large gathering of Catholics who have had their
churches stolen from them thru the closure process will meet outside the closed
doors of St Emeric, the last church that was forced to close by our Bishop
Richard Lennon last year in June. Reps from
all these closed churches will be in attendance for prayer, commentary and song.
Prepared speeches will also be delivered.
It starts at 7:00PM and ends at 8:30PM. At conclusions
candles will be lighted to mark the sadness of what this persecution of
Catholics has done to the faithful of this city. Please come and ask 5
people to come with you. Bring banners ,flags,etc.
This church is right next to the westside market so plenty of parking is
available. Bring our families. REPS FROM CHURCHES IN
APPEAL will be in attendance. St Casimir,
St Procop, St Wendelin, St Barbara, St Peter, St Patrick, St James St Emeric
,Community of St Malachi will all be there. THIS
IS IMPORTANT THIS IS A MUST, COME AND BE ONE VOICE FOR JUSTICE
Joe
May 7, 2011
The scavengers appear to be on the prowl. Want to see hear the bells of St.
Casimir ring again? Want to see the sun shine through the magnificent stained
glass windows of St. Casimir Church? Well if things go as the following
article says you will need to travel to Valrico Florida to see them again.
I ask all to read the article linked to below. It concerns the
patrimony of St Casimir Church. First be advised that St Casimir
is under appeal in Rome. This means nothing according to canon law can
be sold or marketed with price tags. After you read this article
you can clearly see what Lennon and Company are up to. Just
disgusting how this man operates. One priest high up in the
diocese told me and I had a witness with me that Lennon gets revenge and is
vindictive (Jan.2009). This faith will be destroyed by
moneychangers unbless the people speak up and it is our duty as Catholics to
expose these acts.
http://bloomingdale.patch.com/articles/st-stephen-launches-campaign-to-build-new-church
Here is the website with contact information for St.
Stephens in Valrico, Florida.
http://www.ststephencatholic.org/
It is a shame that the wealth of those who built St.
Casimir Church will be sold for pennies on the dollar.
April 27, 2011
I received an email requesting a St. Casimir medal from our
organization. We have nothing to offer since our Church was boarded up by Bishop
Lennon and we cannot help this individual with that request. However we can
offer our prayers for the child, Casey Bush, who is in a coma after an incident
in a pool near Nashville Tennessee last week and is the reason this matter is
being posted. Our Sympathies to the parents for all they are going through.
April 5, 2011
We at St Casimir are in this annual parade held on Sunday May1, at 2:00PM in
the Fleet Ave Area. I earlier sent out a web site for
info and application form to march in this parade. This day also is the
day that John Paul II is beatified in Rome so I am sure that the media will be
covering us and asking questions. Please
note that the web site I gave out is not the most direct to the application
form/info about participation.. Please use this web site
that follows;
polishconstitutionday.com
Also you can call me directly and I will complete the form for
your church group. My telephone
number is 216 642-0576 and of course you can use my e-mail
jfeckanin@yahoo.com
let's show our solidarity
Joseph Feckanin
March 23, 2011
Attention all: our two lobbyists Colleen and Krysia have
been attending almost all city council meetings for the last 16 months,talking
to the councilpeople, making friends,explaining how much this city and the
people of Northeast Ohio are losing by the ruthless actions of our bishop who
has been closing and looting churches. His actions remind of
the Vikings who raided the coasts of Europe and plundered. These two young
women have quietly and with such class have educated many members of council to
what is going on. Of course the big law firms have conveyed to the City of
Cleveland Administration that if they stop the diocese from doing whatever they
want with our sacred artifacts and windows of these sacred buildings then then
will send the attack lawyers after the city and tie them up in the courts.
The city council president, Martin Sweeney is doing the dirty work for the
diocese so they can loot, loot and loot with a free hand. this is the
case. Of course you probably heard the news this pass Monday and Tuesday.
We need to organize many people to go to the next Monday city hall meeting to
voice our opposition. Talk to your friends.
Joe
March 22, 2011
Happy Spring Time to All
NEWS UPDATE
On Thursday, March 17th, St Casimir (in exile), marched with three other
parishes unjustly closed, by Bishop Richard Lennon, in the downtown St Patrick's
Day Parade. The other three churches were St Patrick (West Park), St
James, and St Wendelin. St Casimir bore flags: the American, the Polish
and the Old Irish flag. They also had banners that read: St Casimir; St
Casimir Salutes Our Irish Brothers and Sisters; We Trust In Jesus. They even had
a Polish flag with a shamrock attached to it.
The Irish supporters who come to St Casimir every week to pray had a banner that
said, "Irish in Solidarity - Save St Casimir's". Leading
the Casimiri marchers was a parishioner, a member since 1949, the year she came
to Cleveland from Warsaw. This parishioner, Jane Hayes, along with her brother
obtained over 300 signatures. The people signing said , "Open St
Casimir". The bishop received nearly one thousand signatures, and the
signatures kept coming. Jane was asked to carry the banner of Jesus, the
Divine Mercy. Jane is not young, but she carried it high for over a mile.
This is devotion, and it was appreciated; a young boy said to her, "I like
your banner. It has Jesus on it." John Paul II always said,
"Nie bójcie się! (Be Not Afraid)"; and Jane was not afraid.
People have the power to change things; but they need to support each other.
As the Casimiri marched, along the parade route, thousands of people cheered.
There were upwards of 250,000 spectators. People were recognising the Polish
colors, the Jesus Divine Mercy banner, and they took pictures of them and the
signs. The Irish really loved the sign that read: St Casimir Salutes Our
Irish Brothers and Sisters. All along the route people were familiar with St
Casimir, they knew of them, the Polish Parish that meets in the street. As
they passed the Cathedral they turned the banners in that direction, just in
case Bishop Lennon was peeking out a window. Friends of the closed
churches, who were on the sidelines, said that when the four closed parishes
marched pass there were very loud cheers of approval. The voice of the
people was sympathetic towards the disenfranchised Catholics, and not their
bishop.
As the Casimiri approached Public Square, and the reviewing stand., they were
warmly greeted by the announcer. He named each of the churches, and said they
are all appealing and not giving up. And then he said, "Here is St Casimir,
the Polish parish, with their Polish colors". St Casimir, he said, is one
of the most beautiful churches in this city — "just beautiful". And
he said, this is the first time the Polish Falcon has ever appeared in this
parade; and he thanked them, and said to come back again. Of course, the
announcer meant the Polish 'Eagle' not 'Falcon', but to the Casimiri this was
sweet music to their ears. This announcer praised them strongly, and with
much enthusiasm; and the crowd reflected his words. A quarter million saw them
in the flesh, marching with their flags and banners. The multitude of
viewers appreciated and respected the inclusion of these new parade units.
It can be said the 'Polish Eagle' has landed. These first time marchers
will be back next year, and they hope to come from an open St Casimir's.
There is an old Polish motto, "W imię Boga za wolność naszą
i waszą [In the name of God for our freedom and yours]", can certainly
be applied to St Casimir, and to all the churches unjustly taken from the
faithful. In this case — "In the name of God for our religious
freedom and yours" — applies. In the meantime they invite all
to join them at St Casimir. "For where there are two or three gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." — Matthew
xviii. 20.
-30-
Joseph Feckanin
March 11, 2011
Attention all St Casimir marchers, we gather
together with the St Patrick Church marchers. However I
recommend we get there at least by 12:30PM and then we will form as a unit,
We must wear some outward green on our clothes that is visible.
Of course we will have our St Casimir Banner and the American and Polish Flags.
You can wear some red and white if you like but again I repeat we must have SOME
GREEN ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. ANY QUESTIONS
PLEASE CALL ME AT 216-642-0576.
We will also carry the Divine Mercy Banner.
Joe
I was thinking that assembly at 12:00 noon is even better. It gives us a
chance to assemble correctly. Joe
March 10, 2011
Attention all St Casimir supporters.. We are
marching in the parade with the closed St Patrick's Church of Westpark. They
are registered and we are part of their group. Of course we
will have the St Casimir Banner, our American and Polish Flags, the Divine
Mercy Banner and we all must wear some outward garb of green even if it is
only a large green sash, In this e-mail is the
location and the time, however I think we need to be there earlier than the time
listed. I will find out.-- Any questions please call me
or if you are coming with friends then have an appointed person contact me.
My telephone is 216-642-0576 Also you can
wear Polish colors if you want but you must have green too.
Also try to call with the number of people you will have so I can get an idea of
our numbers. - Joe
St.
Patrick’s Day Parade- Downtown
– Thursday, March 17th @ 1:00 PM
We are in the 2nd
Division (2N) and will meet at 1:00 PM.
Meeting Place:
South Side of Superior between East 19th & 21st in
front of Artefino’s Art Gallery & Café.
Please wear your
“St. Pat’s green” and festive Irish gear. Your “green” must be
outwardly visible as you walk the “Avenue.” Please NO SAVE ANY PARISH
Signs, but signs of faithfulness, hopefulness, solidarity, evangelization and
the like. Positive signs such as “St. Patrick was a Good Bishop”, “St.
Patrick – Good Shepherd of Souls”, “St. Patrick – Cultivator of
Churches”, “We are One in Spirit”, “Blessed Mother Mary, Our
Advocate”, etc. Be creative & festive. ANY offense signs
will not be tolerated. No Lennon bashing (sorry!)
Parishes may wear
sashes with their Parish Name on it or something that will identify them as a
parish.
So far, we have St.
Emeric, St. Casimir, St. James, & St. Wendelin.
DRESS
FOR THE WEATHER!!! Umbrellas are allowed if raining.
March 8, 2011
My father in law just called about a headline in the Polish
American Journal. It talked about four churches in Allentown that have won their
appeal and were ordered reopened. The churches that won their appeal had members
holding prayer vigils outside their churches like St. Casimir Church. While we
hear that the bishop in Allentown is trying to minimize the reopenings by
limiting what can be held at those churches it is a step in the right direction
and gives supporters of St. Casimir some hope for the future.
March 8, 2011
Remember?
You have to be a certain age to appreciate this. I can hear my mother
now ...
THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES: (if you don't know what clotheslines
are, better skip this)
1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes - walk
the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang
"whites" with "whites," and hang them first.
3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!.
What
would the neighbours think?
4.. Wash day on a Monday! . .. . Never hang clothes on the weekend, or
Sunday, for Heaven's sake!
5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide
your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)
6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather ... clothes would
"freeze-dry."
7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins
left on the lines were "tacky!"
8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each
item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins
with the next washed item.
9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the
clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
10. IRONED?! Well, that's a whole other subject!
POEM
A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbours passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link
For
neighbours always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line
You'd
see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth
From folks who lived inside -
As brand new infant clothes were Hung
So
carefully with pride!
The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!
It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.
It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare!
New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbours carefully raised their brows,
And
looked the other way .. . .
But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!
I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbours knew each other best
By what hung on the line.
March 5, 2011
Here is some more old news,in case you have not seen this. A good
rerminder what we face in the accomplishments of our shepherd,our
bishop----Lennon. He spreads the good word and loots our churches.
And this from an outside observer---Patrick Richard---this man is an honest man
who presents the facts as they are. Joe
St. Hedwig is on Madison and West 129th. It’s our sixth
Polish parish that’s being closed – and not clustered with another
parish. So out of the twelve parishes I’ve visited so far, six were
Polish and none were clustered – seems a little strange, I guess I’m
missing something here.
St. Hedwig, founded in 1914, was probably the first Polish church on the
far west side; it’s located in Lakewood. As with many churches it is
built on an upper level with the basement used for social gatherings.
It’s a relatively small church that’s in excellent condition. There
is a painting of The Risen Christ on the ceiling above the main aisle
and no matter if you’re going up the aisle or down the aisle the
painting looks like it’s facing you.
One of the ushers I met told me he had been married at St. Casimir, was
now a member of St. Hedwig and soon would be looking for a new parish;
I’m not sure there are many Polish churches left standing. |
March 4, 2011
As I was going thru old e-mail, I came accross this wonderful blog written by
Patrick Richard about the churches that have been closed. In fact I THINK
THIS MAN SHOULD PUBLISH HIS FINDINGS.. His words tell a true story
compiled thru observation and reflection. Also today is
the feast day of St Casimir. Maybe you read his blog in the pasr but
if not here it is again. Our Wladek, Walter of St Casimir is
in his commentary. Read it ,you will enjoy it. Joe
--- On Sat, 2/5/11, Stanislav wrote:
http://closingcatholicchurchesincleveland.blogspot.com/
March 3, 2011
May 1,is a big day in Polonia this year. First the 3rd of
May Polish Constitution of 1791,modeled after the US Constitution celebration
starts and then this day in Rome, Karol Wojtyla known to all as John Paul II
will be beautified. And then this movie will be on the
airways. It is because of people like these two, who show us through
Christian example that we at St. Casimir stand up for all people who
have been scattered from their churches by bishops who look at us as fast cash
for their diocesean bank accounts. When you are the victim of
tryanny you must say no. We must stay the course. Pass this on.
Joe
March 1, 2011
Sorry for the lack of updates. Again. Busy time of year but
"I will work harder" and a free year membership goes to the first
three people who can identify the name of the horse who said just that. Send the
name to dlhorn@stcasimir.com
Please note the entry for March 13th's annual cornbeef
dinner on the main page. I noticed that I neglected to put it in the calendar of
events for the newsletter so spread the word. I will see if there is a flyer,
look for it here.
February 21, 2011
Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog. I hope to keep a
more consistent updating. We have heard of at least three parish suppressions in
Boston that were declared invalid by the Vatican. So we may hope for the future
of St. Casimir Church. The newsletter is going out tomorrow with luck. It will
not be going out in bulk rate non-profit because of interruptions.
February 27 will be our meeting and a spaghetti dinner.
Only $8.00 for an all you can eat dinner!
February 1, 2011
TO Everybody
FROM Joseph Meissner
Here is my Fifth Letter to the Bishop,
I would appreciate any comments.
Take care.
JOSEPH PATRICK
MEISSNER
Attorney at Law
5400 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44102
USA
Tele: 1-216-961-6005
Email: meissnerjoseph @hotmail.com
January 30, 2011
His Excellency, The Most Reverend
Richard G. Lennon
Bishop of Cleveland
Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
1404 East 9th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
SUBJECT: Letter of Appeal for
Reconciliation
Dear Most Reverend Excellency, Bishop
of Cleveland, Richard G. Lennon,
BACKGROUND: I have sent four earlier
letters seeking reconsideration for the Church
closings/mergers that have been carried out by the Diocese.
These letters especially requested that churches that are
formally appealing, not be closed until at least their
appeals had been heard. I also urged that churches that were
actively seeking to remain open should be provided an
opportunity to do that. Thank you very much for receiving my
letters.
It is now a New Year and this seems
like an appropriate time to write again and to make
recommendations, especially concerning reconciliation, for
this new Year of 2011.
I have struggled very much with
writing and then sending this Fifth Letter. I always
remember my History Professor Father Eugene Shields at
Xavier University. He one time asked us History Majors what
was the cardinal virtue for a writer and historian. We
responded: “Tell the truth.”
“No,” he replied, “the greater
virtue is charity.”
By that he meant we should strive not
to hurt anyone when we wrote. So I write this letter not as
a critic or as an advocate, but as someone who is praying
for reconciliation.
I am not much of a Catholic. I am a
nobody in this Diocese. So what gives me any privilege to
write?
Like many, I am very concerned about
our Church and our religion. I sense that our Church and
religion are all slipping away. I heard a statistic in a
recent speech from our Diocesan leader that only 27% of
registered Catholics regularly attend Mass. What a terrible
statistic. Furthermore, the direction is downward and the
percentage seems likely to further decrease. In fact, is
that not one of the major reasons for suppressing Churches?
So I will slouch over this wide-screen
computer, try to focus my one-still-active- eye on the key
board, and type my hopefully charitable message.
THREE CRISES:
I begin with the viewpoint that we are
suffering a profound set of crises in our Diocese. The first
has to do with the closing of various parishes that did not
need to be closed and should not have been closed. Even
though some down-sizing may have been necessary and there
were reasons for merging and closing many of the churches
that were merged and closed, there were other parishes that
should have been kept open. Second, the whole process for
the closing/merging violated fundamental standards of
fairness and justice. Third, almost everywhere I
look--whether locally in our Diocese or throughout the
world--I see the deterioration of our faith. Let me explain
all three of these statements.
A. FIRST CRISIS: For various
reasons, a number of the closed/merged Churches Should Have
Been Kept Open.
In past letters, I have already
explained my Titanic Analogy. If we are on the
“Titanic-hitting-the-iceberg” in our Diocese and we are
sinking fast, then the Capitan must save all he can save. In
order to salvage some churches, others may have to be
sacrificed. But if we are not on the Titanic, then we do not
have to and should not adopt that drastic survival strategy.
No one from our Diocesan leadership has ever stated that our
Diocese in terms of finances, church attendance, and numbers
of priests resembles the Titanic.
Various closed/merged Churches in our
Diocese have respectfully requested that they stay open.
Since we are not on the Titanic and the Diocese is not
drowning, why not let them try?
Look at some of the results of the
Diocesan suppression. Here are just a few of the detrimental
consequences.
We have lost five out of six parishes
that had Hungarian backgrounds. What the Communists could
not do, we have done.
Consider the dynamic Church of St.
Emeric rising over the Cuyahoga River near the West Side
Market. Here was a vibrant parish with a priest who came
from outside the Diocese. When the parish closed, the
Diocese did not gain a priest who can be assigned elsewhere.
We lose a priest who departs from our Diocese. Furthermore,
where will this congregation find a suitable church to
express its Catholic spirit within its cultural roots?
Then consider St. Adalbert. This is
the oldest parish in our Diocese with an Afro-America
tradition and it has been closed. Here was and is a parish
with a very active Catholic elementary school for some 200
students. Many of these young people and their families,
although not Catholic, are attracted by this school and its
spiritual roots. But the school has lost its heart with the
closing of the church. Where is the Mass to be celebrated
which must be the center of the St. Adalbert education?
Furthermore, the priest of this parish, coming from a
special religious order, has now departed from the Diocese.
Here again is an actual loss in the number of priests in our
Diocese. We have also lost the richness and diversity that
this special religious order once brought to our Diocese.
(It does not help that the Diocese turned down a plan to
have another religious member of that order stay on site and
watch over the church building and other facilities. Perhaps
someone in the Diocese should consider how to protect St.
Adalbert from the metal thieves who have already looted St
James in Lakewood which was also suppressed.
Consider St. Patrick’s Parish. Here
is another church whose elementary school continues, but the
school lacks the Mass and Church. What kind of Catholic
education is left?
St. James is another parish that
sought to continue. Among our many architectural treasures
in this Diocese, here is one of our finest that is acclaimed
throughout the region by both Catholics and non-Catholics.
With its vibrant congregation and local government support,
why could not this parish have been given the opportunity to
prove itself?
Of course, there are other churches,
such as St. Casimir, that wanted to remain open. There seems
to be a strong core group at this church that continues to
worship at the church site. Why could not this have been
reason enough to keep that Church open?
Another church that deserves special
mention is St. Peter’s on East 17th and
Superior. This church has been a magnet for people from all
over the Diocese. Sometimes these are people who may not
“fit” into their local parish. That is to be expected in
a Diocese as large as ours. Sometimes these are people who
want something a little different. They may also want to
explore various progressive ideas. Our Diocese should be
open to such initiatives and even welcome these. This also
was a church that had no financial problems and was housed
in a sturdy and renovated building. The pastor was and is
beloved by his congregation, with his excellent sermons and
welcoming attitudes.
Was it too much that lay women as well
as lay men play a strong role in St. Peter’s? Or that the
congregation gathered close around the altar during special
parts of the Mass? As for funds, there is a rumor that one
Catholic contributor was willing to donate one million
dollars so that this Church could remain open. Would that
all parishes in the Diocese could find such generosity!
When St. Peter’s was closed, a major
group of parishioners wanted to keep alive the Spirit of St.
Peter. It is no secret that they have formed up a
congregation and weekly celebrate Mass, although they lack
the support of the Diocese. This Current split should have
been foreseen and should have been avoided. We Catholics--as
never before--must nourish our sense of unity and
solidarity. For this current rift, I must assign eighty
percent of the responsibility to our Diocesan leadership
while this St Peter’s group and its pastor must shoulder
twenty percent of the responsibility.
What does the future hold for this
Diocese-versus-St.-Peter’s-struggle? (I wrote this before
the Plain Dealer story of Diocesan pronouncements
this past week.) The Diocese could simply ignore this in
hopes that such an effort at East 71st and
Superior will shrink and die out. Or the Diocese and this
group could “play mind games and public relations
battles” with each other, both pretending to be open to
discussion but really making points against each other for
public show. Or the East 71st group could simply
wait out until the present Diocesan leadership changes and
hope to deal with a new and more adaptable leadership.
Or both could earnestly in faith,
hope, and love seek to reconcile. Since my view is that the
Diocesan leadership plays the major role in this, the
Diocese should commence this dialogue. Of course, both sides
should embrace such discussions and together schedule
ongoing meetings.
B. SECOND CRISIS: The whole process
for the closing/merging of Churches violated fundamental
standards of justice
The clustering process, while
seemingly open and fair, hardly turned out that way. First,
why were certain churches placed with others? For example,
why was St. Peter’s placed in a cluster with the
Cathedral? If the problem was to consolidate churches, was
it really possible that the Cathedral would be suppressed?
In other words, by the very clustering of certain churches,
the result was predetermined. In any reasonable clustering,
it would have seemed quite appropriate not to include the
Cathedral at all since it is the center church for the
entire diocese and not just one neighborhood.
Secondly, it seemed like some
decisions about church closures/mergers were made before the
clustering discussions began.
Thirdly, why were there differences
between the decisions of the cluster groups and the final
decisions of the Diocesan leadership? If such differences
were necessary, then these should have been thoroughly
explained to everyone with opportunities for a real appeal.
Fourthly, if some churches scheduled
for suppression wanted to remain open, why not let them? Why
not establish the criteria and goals, gain the commitment of
the parishioners, and then let them try? My understanding is
that this is being done for two West Side churches that were
allowed to remain open. Why not apply this in a
nondiscriminatory manner to all who wanted to remain open?
These parishes would then be working within the Diocese’s
parameters and would support common activities and programs.
Fifthly, perhaps the worst part of
what we endured the past year, which included the clustering
and closings, was the Appeal process. As many as fifteen of
our parishes from the more than fifty involved raised
various appeals to Rome. The appeals were generally aimed at
trying to keep the appealing churches open. Even though
these appeals are still pending and the Vatican has
responded to some of them by saying more time was needed
before ruling, the Diocese went ahead and suppressed these
churches anyway. The Masses have been halted at these
churches. The priests have been removed. Some have even left
our Diocese. The parishioners have been scattered far and
wide.
So what good are the appeals? There is
nothing to appeal “since the prisoner has already been
executed.” Even if Rome returns a favorable decision, how
can these destroyed churches ever be rebuilt? And what does
this say about the appeal process? In virtually every legal
system in the world, appeals are allowed. The subject matter
usually remains in existence. Just like a prisoner condemned
to death is allowed to remain alive until all legal
procedures have been exhausted, so this Diocese should have
insured these Appealing Churches had remained alive and
healthy to insure a meaningful Appeal Process. These
Appealing Churches should have been kept open until their
appeal rights had finally been exhausted.
C. THIRD CRISIS: The Ongoing
Decline of the Catholic Church in Our Diocese and Throughout
the World
Not only in our Diocese, but
throughout the world, Catholicism is in deep trouble. In
Europe I understand church attendance statistics are worse
than in our Diocese.
The numbers of priests is down almost
everywhere. The young are not flocking to take up their
crosses and follow Christ. Many of our religious are well
past retirement age and this trend will only grow worse.
On the other had, we can see the
vibrancy of some forms of non-Catholic Christianity. These
almost seem to live and thrive by absorbing fallen away
Catholics. There are some places in Asia and Africa where
Catholic Church membership is growing, but these are not
enough.
The worldwide crisis requires action
at all levels of the Church and perhaps should be the focus
for another Vatican Council.
SOME SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT CAN BE DONE
ABOUT THESE CRISES
The following are some ideas and
suggestions about what can be done to meet the crises we
confront. It is possible that a number of these are already
being implemented. I apologize in advance for my lack of
knowledge. Also I have discussed some of these in prior
letters, so I will only briefly mention those below.
1. We must increase attendance at
Mass and the Lord’s Supper: Physically, we need to eat
three times a day. Is it too much to expect that our souls
need spiritual nourishment at least once a week? Do we need
a “Mass Campaign”? Should we use modern media and
publicity campaigns to encourage Sunday attendance? Are
there not pop music stars and rap artists who could be
encouraged to use their talents to reach out to our young
and attract them to celebrate the Last Supper? That may
sound crazy, but remember how our Lord used a wedding party,
undoubtedly complete with music, as the location for His
first miracle.
2. What about holding Masses
outside the physical churches? That may sound radical
until we remember how our Lord used various venues for His
work, including the upper room of a restaurant. Why not
celebrate a Mass at the beach or in a Park such as
Edgewater? Did not Christ use the beaches and lakes in
ancient times? What about a Mass on Cleveland’s Public
Square? Why not have ecumenical services with other faiths
in the open? Why not a service in the sports Stadiums before
a game?
3. It is painful to see how few of us
attend the evening Cathedral Mass during the week. Attendees
can be counted on two hands and one foot. Some evenings,
only two hands are required, despite the free parking and
easy access. This idea may sound wild but why not
celebrate the Mass on the Cathedral doorsteps? Then the
hundreds and even thousands of people driving by could
witness part of the Mass. Even Communion distribution might
be greatly increased.
4. Why not a traveling van that
would take the Mass into the neighborhoods of our area?
The goal would be to make the Mass a part of our everyday
lives and encourage all to “try out a Mass.” A possible
slogan might be, “Take the Mass to the masses.”
5. Communion of both Body and
Blood, Bread and Wine: Most churches seem to distribute
Holy Communion using both bread and wine. This does seem to
follow Our Lord’s example at the Last Supper. However, I
do not understand why the Cathedral at the afternoon Masses
uses only Bread. There always seem to be enough people on
the altar who could help with wine cups. Given how few
people attend, it hardly seems like the distribution of wine
would be much of a burden.
6. More processions: I have
already in an earlier letter talked about processions. Why
should we hide away our services inside a building that many
will never attend? When we celebrate the Mass, we should
begin with a procession through the streets nearby the
Church, inviting all to join in. This ten or fifteen minute
activity would introduce the Mass to the neighborhood and
the open world. As I wrote earlier: “The priest leading
the procession, the carrying of our Lord’s Cross, the
pungent scent of incense, the robes worn by the celebrant,
the people quietly following, the ringing of bells, and
perhaps even the people singing appropriate hymns—these
are all excellent activities for any procession.”
This is a way to reclaim our public
neighborhoods while at the same time focusing our Churches,
including the Appealing Churches, on activities that reach
out.
7. Increase contributions: I am
convinced that all of us could donate more money to our
churches and Diocese. At our now closed St Louis Parish,
many years ago we had a major campaign in which parishioners
were urged to substantially increase their donations. This
was highly successful. A diocese-wide campaign should be
similarly planned and implemented.
8. I still see many people provide
cash in the Church baskets at the offertory. My view is that
people will always donate more if they give a check
rather than cash. It is hard to give up a five or ten dollar
bill from our wallets. It is far easier to write a check for
twenty-five dollars or more.
9. St Adalbert (now closed) had a
wonderful tradition for donations. At the Offertory a
special table with three baskets was placed at the front of
the Church. Then everyone including the little children
came forward and placed their donations in one of the three
baskets. This builds up the healthy habit of supporting
our Churches. Some may object to such promotional practices
as these and argue these demean our religion. I would only
point out that the Lord accepted donations.
10. Why are we not using credit
cards for donations? Even McDonalds now lets people use
credit cards for their morning café and for their lunchtime
hamburgers. No purchase amount is too small for the
ubiquitous swiping of our credit cards Yes, there is a cost
to using these tools, but I am sure those costs would be far
outweighed by increased donations. Furthermore, credit card
charging machines are now quite portable. Such machines
could be provided at the back of the churches at Mass.
11. Why are we not using the
internet for contributions? The political campaigns have
already demonstrated how funds can be raised by the
internet. Also I am convinced people will donate more when
they use the internet especially since this would be linked
to the use of their credit cards.
12. We should particularly value
our Churches that have deep cultural roots. That does
not mean that we should not value all of our parishes, but
those with cultural roots should be especially celebrated
for these ethnic and historic ancestries. This would include
Churches that have Slovenian, and Hungarian, and Irish, and
Italian, and Afro-American, and other cultural roots.
Centuries ago our Catholic faith was planted in the soil of
these different cultures, with each nourishing and enhancing
the other.
The cultural backgrounds are like the
roots of a tree that contribute to a parish’s strength and
vitality. In the past, there were Diocesan programs that
helped Parishes share their cultural backgrounds, including
their foods and cuisine, art and architecture, and
celebrations of festivals and traditions. These add a
richness to our Christian living.
Ethnic groupings have provided a
population base for many of our Churches. All of us are
aware of certain “Irish,” or “Hungarian,” or
“Slovenian” or “Italian” parishes. Such parishes
serve many functions in their ethnic communities. Services
may be in their “native” languages which is appealing
especially to older parish members whose first language may
not be English. These parishes also can take advantage of
their ethnic roots, festivals, and histories in reaching out
to people.
Some of these “ethnic” churches
also have strong bases with personnel and financial
resources which can assist their community work while
insuring they do not increase burdens for others. In my
Initial Appeal letter, I stated the following: “Do not
give up on the Hungarians! Do not give up on the Irish!
These groups have the necessary financial and personnel
resources to sustain and grow churches. Give them this
opportunity and re-evaluate the initial decisions for
closure and/or merger. “
I again emphasize this in this Request
for Reconciliation. These ethnic roots should be nurtured
and these churches under appropriate Diocesan guidelines
should be allowed to remain open.
13. We should appreciate the value
of such parishes as St. Peter’s. Their existence is
not merely to be tolerated, but actually celebrated. They
are symbols of the vitality, relevance, and evolution of
this Diocese.
14. Combined with Recommendation
13, we should appreciate those who speak out on issues and
even voice their opposition. A quiet Diocese is a dead
diocese. Again these individuals are not merely to be
tolerated, but once again even celebrated. Their words and
ideas call to the rest of us to become engaged and
passionate about religious issues and views. For a Diocese
to use its severe disciplinary powers against such
individuals seems un-Christian.
15. St. Peter’s: I have
already given some ideas on what could become a critical
clash. I do pray that everyone remembers the virtues of
charity and empathy as well as obedience. I also think the
next step is up to the Diocesan leadership to reach out and
engage in a generous and considerate dialogue. It also seems
appropriate to me that the St. Peter’s Church at East 17th
should be reclaimed and reopened. This Church sits very near
the ever growing Cleveland State University with its tens of
thousands of students, This church could and should be a
wonderful center for reaching out to a dynamic student
population who are the very future of our Diocese and our
community.
We all continue to pray for a joyous
reconciliation of the Diocese with St. Peter’s, its
leadership, and its congregation.
16. I have already written about how
our Diocese and churches should make use of the new
technologies, such as the internet and websites, for our
mission “to go forth and teach all nations….“ I
know many parishes have websites, but these are passive
means that depend upon people “going” to those sites.
They are like billboards. They mean nothing if people do not
drive the streets where the billboards are standing.
Since I have already provided
extensive comments on this, let me just summarize what needs
to be done:
A. Our Diocese and parishes need to
make use of Facebook. I read that even the Vatican is on
Facebook. This is an active way to daily engage hundreds of
millions of people and teach the gospel..
B. How much use do we make of Twitter?
How often do our priests, religious, and Diocesan leadership
reach out to members of our Diocese and to the general
population with daily inspirational Christian messages?
Others, including the terrorists, use this medium to preach
their “message of hate,” while we are hiding our message
of love under the bushel basket. Quoting my earlier
recommendation, “every morning Twitter could be used to
provide everyone an uplifting Biblical quotation or
spiritual advice. A pastor could send a daily Twitter
message to all of his parish members. Our own Diocesan
leaders could send Twitter messages on various topics,
whether reminders, or appeals for support, or
congratulations for parish achievements.”
C. While attending Masses, including
at the Cathedral, I have heard excellent sermons. How are
these preserved? After the Mass is completed, how are these
words of wisdom and advice disseminated to the broader
community? Is there a website where we can go to read these
sermons? Are books of “the best Cleveland Diocese
Sermons” published? Can I get these on Kindle? So much
rubbish is published these days, but where is the “good
news” propagated?
D. Virtually everyone has an email
address these days. Even the poorest of our people have cell
phones crammed with hundreds of “aps.” Every parish
should have email connections with all of their
parishioners. They should be able to text all of them. Why
could they not even sponsor Christian applications reachable
with a touch of the finger on cell screens?
In conclusion, it is time for our
Diocese to join the 21st century in using the new
technologies to teach the gospel.
SUMMARY: I am again filing this letter
of Reconciliation on behalf of all Catholics in the Diocese
and on behalf of all the churches, including those
threatened with either merger or closing. Especially, I am
writing concerning those parishes where a substantial number
of members want their church to remain open. Even now after
churches have been suppressed, I would urge our Diocesan
leadership to reverse such decisions. “If a church wants
to stay open, let them try.” That should be the positive
guideline for our Diocese.
This letter is especially based on a
plea for reconciliation. This particularly relates to the
St. Peter’s congregation. Understanding, compassion, and
love should be the motivation for all involved.
PRAYER: This Letter for Reconciliation
ends, as did my other letters, with a final prayer for our
Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, our Churches including the
Appealing Churches, our Congregations, our City and region,
and our Bishop who carries the great burden and authority
for making these crucial decisions.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Patrick Meissner
Postscript: This past week the Cleveland
Plain Dealer carried an article about Diocesan
pronouncements concerning the St Peter’s center and its
religious leader. This development causes both concern and
disappointment. I intend, the Good Lord willing, to write a
letter to our Diocesan leadership solely devoted to this
issue.
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January 26, 2011
Someone sent me this link that allows the public to post
pictures and articles about the Parishes suppressed by Bishop Lennon. St.
Casimir Church is included.
http://parishsouvenirs.blogspot.com/2011/01/saint-casimir.html
The Alumni newsletter went to the Diocese Monday but their
equipment is down. I'm hoping it goes out today or tomorrow.
January 24, 2011
This is important!
Marrone and his congregation set up worship space in a commercial building in
August, four months after Lennon closed their parish, St. Peter's near
downtown Cleveland.
On Wednesday, Lennon handed Marrone a letter saying the priest was engaged in
"scandal" and "corruption" by saying Masses in a space not
sanctioned by the diocese.
He told Marrone he expected him to resign from the breakaway group within 48
hours or face "canonical action," a warning that left Marrone with
the choice of remaining faithful to his congregation or to his bishop.
Today, 48 hours past the deadline, Marrone read to his congregation a letter
he had sent to the bishop in response to the threat: "It is my decision
to remain in my present position with the Community of St. Peter."
The congregation of about 300 people jumped to its feet in applause and shouts
of "Bravo!"
"We're so very grateful for Father Marrone's staying with the
congregation," member Dave Hoehnen of Mayfield said after the service.
"He's the glue."
The closing of the 151-year-old St. Peter on Superior Avenue and East 17th
Street was part of a diocese-wide downsizing that saw the elimination of 50
parishes.
Without their home, Marrone and his flock leased a renovated century-old
building at Euclid Avenue and East 71st Street, prompting a warning by Lennon
that their salvation was at stake if they worshiped in a place not approved by
him.
But the group, facing possible excommunication, defied the bishop's
admonishment and the new
Community
of St. Peter celebrated its first Mass Aug. 15. Since
then, standing-room-only crowds have been gathering on Sundays for an 11 a.m.
service.
Members of the congregation regard themselves as traditional Roman Catholics.
Their split with the diocese, they say, is due to the closing of their church.
Lennon, in his letter to Marrone, also ordered the priest to remove from the
Community of St. Peter's website pictures of him saying Mass.
It wasn't immediately clear what "canonical action" could be taken
against Marrone. "You'll have to ask the bishop," Marrone told a
reporter.
Officials of the diocese could not be reached Sunday.
St. Peter's member Bob Kloos, a former priest, said Lennon could suspend
Marrone from clerical duty within the diocese. And that would make it
difficult for him to get a position in another diocese, said Kloos.
Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek has said in the past that Marrone and his
followers could face excommunication.
But Marrone, 63, appeared unfazed today by what could happen, though at one
point he choked up with tears when he told his followers that he has been a
priest for 37 years.
"This comes to me with great sadness," he said. "There's no joy
in this."
In his sermon, before he announced the bishop's threat, he talked about
visiting Ireland and seeing myriad shades of green across the landscape. He
compared the shades to different groups of Christianity, yet they are all of
the same color.
"The church of Jesus Christ is wide and open," he said. "The
church is like the Irish landscape. Differences are not unhealthy. The wonder
of our faith is our ability to embrace them."
January 24, 2011
Brrrrrrr was it cold at today's prayer vigil. None the less
the faithful were there.
January 14, 2011
Some news about different Churches outside of
Cleveland that was sent to me.
LINDSAY
FIORI lindsay.fiori@journaltimes.com JournalTimes.com
| Posted: Sunday,
January 9, 2011 10:55 pm |
RACINE — Parishioners who attended Catholic Masses on Sunday heard a
regretful yet hopeful message about the Milwaukee Archdiocese’s bankruptcy
filing, which was announced last week.
On a prerecorded audio CD sent to churches and played Saturday and Sunday
during Masses, Archbishop Jerome Listecki explained the bankruptcy resulted
from costs relating to sexual abuse lawsuits. Listecki apologized profusely
to victims of sexual abuse by clergy and then called the bankruptcy a chance
for the archdiocese to start fresh.
“While a bankruptcy is a drastic step, it is a process to develop both
resolution and closure,” said Listecki, archbishop for about one year.
“Like baptism, where we experience a rebirth in the Lord, our Church and
the Archdiocese can and will experience the same rebirth.”
The Milwaukee Archdiocese is the eighth in the U.S. to seek bankruptcy
protection since the clergy abuse scandal broke in 2002. Listecki said in
the last 20 years the Milwaukee Archdiocese has paid more than $29 million
trying to resolve sexual abuse charges that have now led to bankruptcy.
“I want to be very clear that this (bankruptcy) reorganization is
happening because priest perpetrators sexually abused minors, going against
everything the church and the priesthood represents,” Listecki said in the
audio played Sunday. “The actions of the perpetrators were deplorable and
I am ashamed by those actions. I will never stop praying that the healing
power of Jesus Christ in some way can bring peace and reconciliation into
the lives of victims.”
Listecki said the bankruptcy filing, a process likely to take 12 to 18
months, should allow the archdiocese to fairly compensate abuse victims
while also letting the archdiocese continue essential functions; the
archdiocese will be able to continue conducting its normal activities while
a bankruptcy court approves all non-routine decisions and expenses.
After hearing Listecki’s message, Racine parishioners at St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church, 1533 Erie St., felt disheartened but expressed
understanding.
“I was surprised but not surprised because of the problems they are having
because of sexual abuse,” said Ginger Wanserski, a 59-year-old health
information technician of Caledonia. “I figured how (else) would they
handle the financial part of it?”
Fellow St. Joseph’s parishioner Frank Miles, 50, said he, too, was
unsurprised by the bankruptcy. Instead he was
saddened.
“It’s disappointing. What else can it be?” said Miles, of Racine, a
teacher at St. Catherine’s High School, 1200 Park Ave.
As an area Catholic and a Catholic school teacher, Miles said he worries the
archdiocese bankruptcy could hurt funding for local parishes and schools.
But Listecki said in his audio message that the bankruptcy does not mean the
archdiocese is going out of business and will not affect local parishes.
“This filing applies only to the archdiocese. It does not involve
parishes, schools or other church entities like Catholic hospitals or
Catholic charities that are considered separate corporations under state
law,” Listecki said.
He was confident local Catholic organizations would be fine and that the
archdiocese would be, too.
“We place our trust in God,” he said, “and we move forward knowing he
is with us always.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A trial that could finally end the battle over the control of St. Stanislaus
Kostka Catholic Church begins today in St. Louis Circuit Court.
It's been a long time coming.
Judge Bryan Hettenbach will revisit the emotions that have swirled around the
St. Stanislaus story for six years, in what are expected to be three weeks of
arguments.
He will hear about how members of the parish's lay board were separated from
the Eucharist for eliminating the authority of the Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy from their bylaws and entering into schism.
He will hear how, in 2005, a Polish priest from a neighboring diocese accepted
an offer to pastor St. Stanislaus, without the approval of the Catholic
Church, answering only to the lay board.
And he will hear how an archbishop brushed aside public relations
considerations by publicly declaring multiple excommunications in defense of
church doctrine and law.
Hettenbach also will hear more staid arguments about bylaws, articles of
incorporation and nonprofit structure.
The trial will cover issues of authority and control, of what it means to be
Catholic, and of tension between church hierarchy and the laity.
The case was instigated in 2008 when the Archdiocese of St. Louis sued to
regain control of the church.
Bernard Huger, an attorney for the archdiocese, said the trial would be about
"our request that (St. Stanislaus) be returned to the Roman Catholic
Church." The actions of the parish's lay board "took away the
necessary authority of the archbishop, and we're asking the court to restore
that authority."
An attorney for St. Stanislaus said people have forgotten that his clients are
the defendants.
"We did not bring this case," said George von Stamwitz. "It was
brought by others to take control of the parish and its property. We don't
believe the facts or the law justify that. … This is not a fight we wanted
or asked for."
LINK TO 1891
While it took 18 months for the archdiocese's lawsuit to come to trial, the
roots of the dispute can be traced back much further — more than a century.
In 1891, Archbishop Peter Kenrick agreed to allow the laity of the St. Louis
Polish Catholic community to form a corporation that would govern the church's
finances. Kenrick's move was not unusual at a time when immigrants often
formed their own Catholic communities to buy land and build a church. By the
20th century, bishops had assumed control of most of those parishes around the
country.
ST. STANISLAUS WAS A HOLDOUT
St. Louis archbishops through the decades made half-hearted attempts to get
St. Stanislaus to fall in line, but it was the clergy sexual abuse scandal
that erupted in Boston in 2002 that ultimately prompted the archdiocese to
make a hard charge at regaining control.
In the wake of the abuse scandal, many dioceses around the country began
changing their legal structures. The traditional "corporation sole"
structure put all diocesan and parish assets in the bishop's name, which, in
civil courts, made all of a diocese's funds liable in legal settlements.
In the corporation sole structure, parishes are considered unincorporated
associations without identities separate from the diocese. By incorporating
individual parishes, dioceses could protect their property and assets from
lawsuits naming the bishop.
In June 2003, Archbishop Justin Rigali, now a cardinal and the archbishop of
Philadelphia, announced a massive legal restructuring of the Archdiocese of
St. Louis that would transform each parish from an unincorporated association
to a nonprofit corporation. Rigali hoped St. Stanislaus, like every other
parish, would go along with the changes, but parishioners were unwilling to
give up the deal it made with Kenrick.
Rigali was transferred to Philadelphia soon after announcing the legal
changes, and it fell to Archbishop Raymond Burke, Rigali's successor, to deal
with St. Stanislaus.
In the church's original bylaws, its lay board controlled the property and
assets while the archbishop appointed its board members and a pastor. But in
2001, and again in 2004, the church's board rewrote its bylaws, eventually
eliminating the archbishop's authority, and setting up the St. Stanislaus
Corp. as its legal entity.
Burke responded by pulling the church's priests, and eventually suppressing
the church in 2005, leaving parishioners without a way to experience the
Eucharist, one of the seven central liturgical rites of the church through
which Catholics believe they experience God's grace.
FINDING A PRIEST
In 2005, the lay board named the Rev. Marek Bozek — then a priest in the
Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese — as its pastor, something only bishops
can do. Bozek was immediately suspended by his bishop, was later declared
excommunicated by Burke and finally laicized by Pope Benedict XVI.
Bozek is no longer a Catholic priest, though he has said that he would someday
like to be a bishop in an "underground Roman Catholic church." He
has also said he intends to start a new church "that will be Catholic but
not Roman Catholic — not Vatican Catholic — somewhere in St. Louis."
The bishops of the archdiocese also have declared at least 10 lay board
members of the church excommunicated since 2005 for committing "the
delict of schism," defined in church law as "the refusal of
submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church
subject to him." At least four have since reconciled with the church.
The Polish-born Bozek was hailed as a hero by St. Stanislaus members in 2005
for risking his vocation to lead a church some Catholics felt had been
abandoned by the archdiocese. But over the last five years, Bozek's version of
Catholicism drove away many of the church's traditional members. At the same
time, his support for homosexuality in the church and women's ordination
brought in a new group of parishioners.
In 2004, Burke told the Post-Dispatch that the St. Stanislaus corporation was
set up by Kenrick to operate "as a Roman Catholic parish within the
disciplines of the church."
He wrote that since the church was suppressed in 2005, "the St.
Stanislaus Kostka Corporation has never been and is not now a part of the
Roman Catholic Church but instead is a sect."
CARLSON'S OFFER
In 2008, the archdiocese and some former parishioners sued St. Stanislaus,
asking Hettenbach to restore the church to the structure that existed before
the bylaw changes. Benedict transferred Burke to Rome the same year, and
Archbishop Robert Carlson took up the St. Stanislaus battle.
In July, Carlson made the congregation an offer.
"One of the concerns expressed again and again was that, even if an
archbishop made a commitment to keep the parish operating so long as Roman
Catholics of Polish heritage wanted to have a parish and were willing to
support it, he could not bind his successors," Carlson wrote in a letter.
That concern led to a proposed solution involving two cooperating corporations
— one looking out for the interests of the parish, the other representing
the archdiocese. Though, in reality, because of the way the parish board would
have been elected and approved, the archbishop would have controlled both
corporations.
In August, 58 percent of the congregation voted to reject Carlson's offer,
clearing the way for a trial date.
Burke, now a cardinal and head of the Vatican's highest court, was in St.
Louis this weekend, celebrating Mass at the Cathedral Basilica. But Von
Stamwitz, the attorney for St. Stanislaus, said he didn't think "any
bishops or cardinals are going to testify live.
He said "lots of testimonies" would center on an episode in 2003,
when Monsignor Richard Stika, now the bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., suggested to
St. Stanislaus board members that if they did not capitulate to Rigali's
demands to reform their legal structure, they would be excommunicated. The
board members perceived Stika's actions as a threat and changed the parish
bylaws for the final time.
Stika has said he was misunderstood and was simply trying to explain the
concept of obedience.
Von Stamwitz called the episode "an ultimatum," and said "the
law and facts surrounding it" would be "the crux" of the
defense's case.
January 7, 2011
Thanks Joe,
Hi Everybody!
St. Angela Merici Catholic Church, where I belong, is hosting a program on the
recent clergy abuse scandal at 7 PM on January 12th entitled "The Sexual
Abuse Crisis in the Church - Responding, Healing and Moving Forward".
This program is a part of the parish's Adult Religious Education Series.
Sister Rita Mary Harwood, the diocesan secretary for parish life and Rev.
Larry Jurcak, the diocese's former secretary and vicar for the clergy and
religious, as well as the current pastor of St. John Bosco Parish, are the
speakers. The program will feature an open discussion on how the Church
has responded and how it intends to prevent abuse in the future. To help
plan for seating and refreshments, those planning to attend are asked to
contact the Parish Center at 440-333-2133 or email
dre@samparish.org.
The event will take place at the Social Hall of St. Angela Church, which is
located at 20970 Lorain Rd.
January 6, 2011
America's hunters.
Add up all the hunters in just a
handful of states, and one comes to
a striking conclusion:
The state of Wisconsin has gone an
entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed.
That's great. There were over
600,000 hunters.
Allow me to restate
that number.
Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world
- more men under arms than Iran;
more than France and Germany combined
- deployed to the woods of a single American state to help keep
the deer menace at bay.
But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods
of Pennsylvania this week.
Michigan's 700,000 hunters have
now returned home.
Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it is
literally the
case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise
the largest
army in the world.
America will forever be safe from
foreign invasion with that kind
of home-grown firepower.
Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer.
It's a matter of national
security.
January 2, 2011
Sorry to have been absent in any postings but the Holiday
is for family and I didn't want to waste the time playing/working on the
computer. Today's pray vigil in front of St. Casmir Church was attended by a
nice crowd despite the 25 degree temperatures and steady wind. We are getting
pretty good with the songs we sing. If we keep this up we will be able to enter competitions
if there are any. No news on the status of St. Casimir Parish. The appeal had
been extended to November 30, 2010 and I have not heard any word on the appeal
since that date passed. I'm sure that we would have heard if the appeal has
failed. There was talk at the pray vigil that a new person has entered higher hierarchy
of the Cleveland Diocese and that an appeal to reopen St. Casimir Church would
be directed to that person without any negative discussion. We will pray that
either Tina Girod's appeal is successful or any other approach is successful in
reopening St. Casimir Church and the other Churches that were closed against
their will.
So Happy New Years. Eleven is lucky and we will need all
the luck we can get to restore St. Casimir Parish. I leave you with the
following sent to me by one of our members:
AN
ATHEIST IN THE WOODS
An atheist was walking through the woods.
'What majestic trees!
'What powerful rivers!
'What beautiful animals!
He said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river,he heard a rustling in the bushes behind
him.
He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw
that the bear was closing in on him.
He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer.
He tripped & fell on the ground.
He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of
him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike
him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out,
'Oh my God!'
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky.
'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and
even credit creation to cosmic accident.'
'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?
Am I to count you as a believer?
The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to
suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make
the BEAR a Christian'?
'Very well,' said the voice.
The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his
right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:
Lord bless this food, which I am about to
receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.'
December 19, 2010
It was a difficult day for the Alumni. We were told by our
Treasurer, who happens to be a CPA, that we needed to give to charity, $3,000.00
of our funds to meet our obligations as a 501( c)(3) organization. Since our
Treasurer has a lot of experience with exempt organizations we really could not
say no. This did, however, cause the record setting attendees (62 in total since
the church closed) to bring up a number of thoughts as to where that money
should go. The Officers made a decision to list all recommendations as to
charities we would contribute our stated requirement of $3,000. Things got a
little heated until a respected member stated that we should support that which
with made the Alumni, the Sisters of St. Casimir Church. That member noted the
incredible success of those who were privileged to attend St. Casimir School and
to support the Sisters who had provided them that education. It was agreed that
the Alumni would pay our required distribution of $3,000.00 to the Franciscan
Sisters of Chicago, who are responsible for developing such successful
graduates.
December 12, 2010
In freezing rain the faithful gathered to pray in front of
St. Casimir Church.
I was given some information about the Loretto
Chapel Museum in New Mexico from an Alumni member and I thought it
interesting and scanned it for the website. While St. Casimir Church does not,
to my knowledge, have anything like the Loretto Chapel we should begin compiling
a history of anything and everything that occurred at St. Casimir.
December 11, 2010
My friends a documentary film producer is coming to St
Casimir on Dec. 19th he wants to do a story on us and then interview people. I
suggest that you tell all your friends who have ever been at Casimir to come
again on the 19th next Sunday. We have also introduced him to other
Catholics whose churches have been taken from them. This is a great
chance to tell our story. This film will be seen by others.
This great church holocaust which is only a fundraiser by our American Bishops
will be told. These churches all had big fat bank accounts and
valuable artifacts. Churches in debt with no artifacts and
with poor physical structures were left alone. This is a fact.
Spread the word.
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Pres Frances
D'emilio, Associated Pres – 2 hrs 45 mins ago
VATICAN CITY – Newly released U.S. diplomatic cables indicate that the
Vatican felt "offended" that Ireland failed to respect Holy See
"sovereignty" by asking high-ranking churchmen to answer questions
from an Irish government commission probing decades of sex abuse of minors
by clergy.
That the Holy See used its diplomatic immunity status as a tiny-city state
to try to thwart Ireland's government-led probe has long been known. But the
WikiLeaks cables, published by Britain's The Guardian newspaper on Saturday,
contain delicate, behind-the-scenes diplomatic assessments of the highly
charged situation.
The Vatican press office declined to comment on the content of the cables
Saturday, but decried the leaks as a matter of "extreme
seriousness."
The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See also condemned the leaks and said in a
statement that the Vatican and America cooperate in promoting universal
values.
According to the deputy to the Irish ambassador to the Holy See, the Irish
government gave in to Vatican pressure and allowed the church officials to
avoid answering questions from the inquiry panel, according to one of the
cables from a U.S. diplomat.
Ambassador Noel Fahey apparently told U.S. diplomat Julieta Valls Noyes that
the sex abuse scandal was a tricky one to manage.
"The Vatican believes the Irish government failed to respect and
protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations," read the cable
from Noyes, deputy chief of mission.
Elsewhere in the cable the diplomat, citing a Holy See official, wrote that
the inquiry commission's requests "offended many in the Vatican"
because they were viewed as "an affront to Vatican sovereignty."
The diplomat also said that "adding insult to injury, Vatican officials
also believed some Irish opposition politicians were making political hay
with the situation by publicly calling on the government to demand that the
Vatican reply."
The Irish government wanted to be seen as cooperating with the investigation
because its own education department was implicated in decades of abuse, but
politicians were reluctant to insist Vatican officials answer the
investigators' questions, the cables indicate.
One cable discloses the behind-the-scenes diplomatic maneuvers by which
Irish politicians tried to persuade the Vatican to cooperate with the probe.
"In the end the Irish government decided not to press the Vatican
reply," the U.S. diplomat wrote, citing Fahey's deputy, Helena Keleher.
Saturday's official Vatican press statement said the WikiLeaks cables
"reflect the perceptions and opinions of the people who wrote them and
cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See itself." It added
that the reports "reliability must, then, be evaluated carefully and
with great prudence."
The cables also contain information regarding the Vatican's relations with
the Anglican Communion, which includes the Church of England and its
affiliates in more than 160 countries.
One cable reports that Britain's ambassador to the Vatican warned that the
pope's invitation to disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic church had
chilled relations between the two churches and risked inciting a violent
backlash against British Catholics.
A November 2009 file from U.S. Embassy at the Vatican quotes British envoy
Francis Campbell as saying that "Anglican-Vatican relations were facing
their worst crisis in 150 years as a result of the pope's decision."
The Vatican moved last year to make it easier for traditional Anglicans
upset over the appointment of female priests and gay bishops to join the
Catholic Church, whose teaching holds that homosexual activity is sinful.
The pope invited Anglicans to join new "personal ordinariates,"
which allow them to continue to use some of their traditional liturgy and be
served by married priests.
A cable quotes Campbell as saying the move put the Anglican spiritual
leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, "in an impossible
situation." And he worried that the crisis could aggravate "latent
anti-Catholicism" in majority-Protestant England.
"The outcome could be discrimination or in isolated cases, even
violence, against this minority," the cable said.
December 9, 2010
Someone sent in an article from the Old
Brooklyn News December 2010 issue
In reference to the letter sent to Bishop Lennon requesting
that you can read under the link on the main page "Our Call to Reopen St.
Casimir Church".
What a beautiful letter. Friends I asked to
read the letter were overcome with emotion. I truly hope the Bishop will
overturn his decision for all the people of Cleveland. Our city cannot
lose such a historical landmark. Our Lady of Victory, pray for
us.
MAUREEN A. BIHN
Manager, Ore Sales
Administration
CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES
1100 Superior Avenue, Suite
1500, Cleveland, OH 44114-2544
December 6, 2010
A good website that is documenting what is going on in Cleveland
http://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/
December 6, 2010
Cleveland Catholic Bishop Richard Lennon: A profile
Published: Sunday, December 05, 2010, 6:00 AM
Michael O'Malley, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Even before he was officially installed as the 10th
bishop of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, Richard G. Lennon talked about
the need to close churches here.
"As painful as a funeral is, it's there that you commend your loved
one to God," Lennon told a news conference announcing his
appointment five weeks before his installation in May 2006.
Those words, coming from a man who had just closed scores of churches in
Boston, sounded a death knell for dozens more in Northeast Ohio. And
those closings unleashed a small but shrill backlash from Catholics
throughout Cleveland's eight-county diocese.
Although some of the closings remain under appeal with the Vatican, the
most extensive downsizing in the history of the 163-year-old diocese now
is essentially over. In the end, 50 parishes -- mostly in inner-city
neighborhoods -- were closed. Vacant churches are up for sale, merged
parishes are moving forward.
And Lennon must minister to a diocese where emotions remain raw.
Like many U.S. bishops in financially struggling regions, Lennon faced a
rapidly changing church when he came to Cleveland in 2006. Membership at
urban churches had plummeted, priests were in short supply.
Week after week, Lennon, often in the company of armed police, presided
over the closings, saying final Masses that ended with snuffed-out
sanctuary lamps and padlocked doors.
The drama -- which ended in June -- was in shocking contrast to the
25-year reign of Lennon's predecessor, Cleveland-born Anthony Pilla, who
closed only a dozen churches in that time.
Lennon's defenders say his swift and sweeping approach was needed,
because it was glaringly apparent when he came to Cleveland that decades
of Catholic flight to the suburbs had left near-empty churches in the
city with little money to operate.
And with few men entering the priesthood, his defenders argue, the
bishop needed to consolidate urban parishes through closings and
mergers, allowing him to reassign some of his shrinking corps of clergy
to growth areas.
"He had to look at the whole diocese, not just a few
parishes," said the Rev. John Betters, pastor of SS. Robert and
William in Euclid, a newly merged parish. "He came into a situation
of having too many parishes for the number of Catholics. I certainly
wouldn't want to be in his shoes because he had to make some very tough
calls."
Making those calls would require an imposing, authoritarian figure to
quell any rebellion, and Lennon seemed like just the man.
Standing 6-foot-2 and wearing layers of flowing, embroidered robes, the
63-year-old bishop could be an intimidating presence when delivering a
parish's last rites in his booming Boston accent.
Nicknamed "The Boston Strangler" by detractors, he usually
arrived at a final Mass chauffeured in a staff-driven car and escorted
by uniformed and plainclothes police. Protesters, who called it the
"Mass of Eviction," once circled his car as his driver edged
the vehicle out of the parking lot.
"He showed little compassion," said Patricia
Schulte-Singleton, one of a few dozen protesters who followed Lennon
from church to church. "And he wanted to let everybody know that he
was in charge."
Singleton, head of a protest group called Endangered Catholics, said she
once shook Lennon's hand following a church closing and asked him how he
was able to sleep at night, given the misery he was inflicting on
people.
"With my hand still in his, he pushed my hand away and said, 'Move
along,' " Singleton recalls.
Lennon himself has said little publicly about the closings since
announcing the downsizing plan in March of 2009. The bishop also
declined to be interviewed for this story.
But Betters said the bishop, whom he described as a task-oriented
administrator who is demanding of his staff, "is really getting a
very bad rap."
"He has listened very carefully to the people," said Betters.
"He didn't always agree with them, but he patiently listened."
Those close to Lennon, both in Cleveland and in Boston, described him as
a man who lives a no-frills, simple life in the rectory of St. John's
Cathedral in downtown Cleveland.
"I find him to be a sensitive, good, holy man," said Betters.
"I've seen him in the schools greeting the kids and going out of
his way to meet the janitor and the secretaries."
But no one will ever convince parishioner Marilyn Madigan, from the
closed St. Patrick's in West Park, that Lennon is sensitive. She said
she will never forget how Lennon treated her and other parishioners
during a meeting in his office.
When Madigan told the bishop she had followed the advice of her pastor,
the Rev. Thomas Hagedorn, regarding procedures for appealing the
parish's closing, Lennon "pounded his fist on the table," she
said, "pointed his finger at me and said, 'I'm your leader. You
listen to me.' "
Ray Murphy, vice chair of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation,
the money-raising arm of the diocese, said: "You hear these stories
that he's an imperious dictator. But I don't see it.
"I think he pushes himself too hard. He's working long hours. But I
find him to be very engaging, personable . . . a perfect
gentleman."
Foundation board member Patrick Auletta said he admired Lennon for
taking on the monumental task of closing churches, knowing it would
cause an eruption. He said the bishop told him he had been spat upon and
sworn at.
"He realizes the job he has to do has a lot of unpleasantries,"
said Auletta. "He's not the kind of guy to kick the can down the
road and leave it for someone else."
A number of priests contacted by The Plain Dealer declined to discuss
the church closings or Lennon's leadership. Others did not return phone
messages.
The Rev. Paul Rosing, a member of a priest council that worked with
Lennon on the closings, said the diocesan financial picture in the
spring of 2007 showed 43 percent of the 224 parishes were operating at a
deficit.
Thus began a nearly two-year process of deciding which parishes would
merge, close or survive. The work was done by grassroots committees
known as clusters, comprised of parishioners and clergy in defined
geographic areas.
But Lennon, who had the final say, sometimes made his own calls.
"Did I agree with every closing/merger scenario? No," said
Rosing. "Did I agree with 95 percent of them? Yes."
"In the final analysis," Rosing said, "The bishop is the
boss and I support the decisions that have been made. We know there's a
lot of anger and pain. It's going to take awhile, but we're doing the
best we can."
Back in Boston, anger and pain continue to seethe six years after Lennon
closed parishes there, including his boyhood church built by his
working-class ancestors.
Eventually, the 83 closings were reduced to 60, but nine congregations
in the archdiocese refused to leave their churches, holding
around-the-clock vigils.
In a couple of cases, police, under orders from Lennon and the Catholic
hierarchy, began arresting squatters but, faced with public outcry and
media coverage, the archdiocese called off the forces.
In 2005, the archdiocese waved a white flag and reopened four of the
nine occupied churches. Today, six years later, five remain under
occupation.
"This is all due to the Machiavellian hand of Richard Lennon,"
said Mary Beth Carmody, a leader of the still-occupied St. Jeremiah in
Framingham, Mass. "He left a legacy of pain and harm to the
Catholics of this archdiocese."
Another Boston parish under occupation is St. Frances Cabrini in
Scituate, Mass., which sits on a 30-acre bluff overlooking Cape Cod Bay.
Parishioner Jon Rogers believes the archdiocese, struggling with debt
from the clerical sex-abuse scandals, sees the prime real estate as a
cash cow.
"It's just a giant land grab," he said. "It's about the
Almighty. The Almighty Buck."
Rogers described a confrontation at St. Frances between Lennon and a few
parishioners. "He told us to get off the property," he said.
"The guy's brutal. He's arrogant and condescending. My condolences
to the fine people in Cleveland. He's your problem now, not ours."
However, Lennon is not without defenders in Boston.
"The tragedy was that he was thrown into a daunting perfect storm
-- the criminality of the sex abuse cases and the unstable finances of
the archdiocese," said the Rev. Bruce Teague who had worked in a
Boston hospital during Lennon's reign and is now in another
Massachusetts diocese.
"People I know have a great love and affection for him. He was seen
as a man with a difficult job. And I think he did the best he could
under an impossible situation. I'm not trying to whitewash the guy. I
just see a different level of him."
David Castaldi, former chancellor and chief financial officer of the
Boston archdiocese, described Lennon as "a man of outstanding
integrity."
"I've worked very closely with him," he said. "I know him
as a human being. He's a regular kind of guy. He's got a good sense of
humor."
Castaldi, a businessman in the health care field, supported the
downsizing of the archdiocese, but he criticized Lennon and the
hierarchy for not giving the laity a bigger role in the closing process.
"Bishop Lennon is a man who can make tough decisions," said
Castaldi. "And tough decisions can make a person unpopular. After
the church closings, he became increasingly unpopular."
Lennon once told Castaldi he wished to be back in parish work. The
bishop echoed that wish in October in a speech in Akron. "To be
very honest, I would prefer to be in a parish," Lennon told a First
Friday Club of Greater Akron luncheon. "That's where my heart is,
and that's where I left it 22 years ago.
"There's nothing like being a part of people's lives, baptizing a
baby or even burying the dead and things in between. In my job, I don't
get to do that very much."
Hard work made him a bishop
Lennon grew up in Arlington, Mass., in an Irish Catholic family that
prayed the rosary daily and attended Sunday Mass at St. James the
Apostle where the young Lennon was an altar boy.
In school, he was quiet and studious, embarrassed by a stutter that he
would eventually overcome years later in the seminary.
Lennon was ordained in 1973 and served in parishes in the Boston
archdiocese. In 1988, Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law moved Lennon into
the chancery as chief canon law expert. In 1999, Law appointed him
rector of St. John's Seminary.
Known for his obsession with work and regimentation, Lennon was elevated
to auxiliary bishop in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
And when Law, embroiled in the clerical sex-abuse crisis, resigned in
disgrace in 2002, the pope named Lennon as the interim head of the
archdiocese, a move that shocked lots of Catholics.
"Raw determination has fueled the rise of Richard Gerard Lennon to
his present, unsought prominence," the Boston Globe wrote.
"Lennon's willpower, analytical bent and capacity for hard work
have helped him surpass colleagues of greater charisma or careerism and
build a reputation as a man who presses past obstacles where others
might stop."
Two Cleveland clerics, the Rev. Bob Begin, a Catholic priest, and the
Rev. Kenneth Chalker, a Methodist minister, have openly criticized
Lennon over the closing of so many inner-city churches -- about 70
percent of the 50.
Begin, who has worked with inner-city poor people for more than 40
years, is the only Catholic priest in the diocese to publicly challenge
the bishop.
Chalker, who in an interview called Lennon a "meat cleaver"
and has appealed to Vatican hierarchy to remove him from Cleveland,
claims that the bishop has unraveled the interfaith and ecumenical work
of his predecessor Bishop Pilla.
The diocese, responding to Chalker's accusations in a Plain Dealer story
in September, denied all of his claims. And Murphy, of the diocese
foundation, noted this week that Catholic Charities and the diocese's
social programs help people of all faiths.
But other non-Catholic clerics agree with Chalker.
"He hasn't been engaged in the interfaith community nor the larger
community of Greater Cleveland, as was Bishop Pilla, who was one of our
most significant clergy leaders," said Rabbi Richard Block of
Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland and Beachwood.
The Rev. Marvin McMickle, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, said he and
Pilla would dine together at each other's homes, meet in each other's
offices and participate together in community events.
McMickle said he has never met Lennon, "And it's not because of
me."
McMickle noted that in one of the poorest sections of Cleveland, Lennon
closed three African-American churches -- Epiphany, St. Cecilia and St.
Adalbert -- basically wiping out the black Catholic presence in the
city.
"When you close a St. Cecilia's, what happens to the ministry of
the church and its witness?" McMickle questioned. "And what
happens to the neighborhood in terms of stability?"
During the closings, a few dozen protesters tried to save some of the
churches through petitions, appeals and pickets.
One congregation, St. Peter's in downtown Cleveland, made up of about
300 suburban residents and their pastor, broke away from the diocese and
has been worshiping in rented commercial space, defying the bishop and
church law.
But most of the diocese's 750,000 Catholics, most of whom live in
suburbs unaffected by the closings, kept quiet.
In cases where churches merged, some people refused to go to a new place
of worship and drifted away from the faith. Others welcomed the mergers.
"We're going to come out stronger and more vibrant," said
Betters of SS. Robert and William, who suggested that, because of the
anger and pain over the closings, it might take 10 years to heal and
restore the diocese.
Lennon, who reversed two of his closing orders -- St. Colman and St.
Ignatius of Antioch, both on Cleveland's West Side -- has repeatedly
claimed the downsizing was necessary because of shortages of priests and
collection-basket offerings and a change in demographics.
Those are the challenges facing the Catholic Church in the Rust Belt and
older cities in the Northeast. Catholics have migrated to developing
cities in the South and West and ethnic identities are not as strong as
they once were.
"In the older cities, they built a church every two blocks,"
said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. "Now dioceses have many
churches with no people attending them."
Correcting those imbalances, she said, is the responsibility of the
bishops.
"The bishop has to be a good steward of the resources of the
diocese," said Walsh. "You don't want to heat four buildings
when you only need one. It's a bishop's decision how to best go about
reorganizing a diocese."
Lennon, at times, faced hostile parishioners when he showed up to say
last Masses. Other times, he was received with respect.
At St. Casimir's in Cleveland, hecklers shouted "Judas!" and
worshipers interrupted the service, singing hymns in Polish. A man in
his 90s pulled the plug on the bishop's microphone.
At Sacred Heart of Jesus Hungarian Catholic Church in Akron, he found
himself engulfed by shouts of anger and ridicule. The turmoil inside the
church was videotaped and posted on YouTube.
"Do you really believe I like doing this?" Lennon asks in the
video. The crowd responds, "Yes!"
"What joy does it bring me?" he asks. The crowd shouts,
"Money!"
"Please," Lennon says. "I don't get anything."
The bishop continues: "I certainly understand people who are very
sad and people who are very angry. I am not without sensitivity."
The crowd laughs, prompting Lennon to hold up his hands and say:
"You may laugh as you wish.
"I did something that none of you have done," he continues.
"I closed my own parish. Because as a man of God I believe it was
the right thing to do for the mission that Jesus Christ has given
us."
|
December 5, 2010
The Plain Dealer article in today's Sunday paper left out much
on the decision making process. It was one sided and the side of the Diocese.
Left out were the vindictiveness shown by the Diocese to any opposition to its
decisions. Left out was the fact that none of the closed Churches required
assistance from the Diocese to maintain their parish. St. Casimir Church had
over $800,000 in savings when it was shut down. That money went where?
December 4, 2010
Article in the Garfield Heights Tribune can be found here.
December 4, 2010
I just had to share this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE
December 2, 2010
Tom Sullen took the following picture of the last mass at St.
Casimir Church.
November 30, 2010
A new Solidarnosc banner provided by Andrzej Sobolewski and his
wife. Andrzej was imprisoned during his Solidarnosc days when the
communists ran the country. Andrzej was also one of the Solidarnosc
members who erected the replica of the Gdansk Shipyard Workers' Momunent at St
Casimir in 1985 and had the church dedicated to the murdered men and women.
This is why this church means so much to him. This may be the only
location at a church outside of Poland that was dedicated to those who paid with
their lives so others would have it better.
November 30, 2010
I received the following request:
My name is Barbara Vamos and I'm a member of ST.
EMERIC HUNGARIAN CHURCH.
I was there at your celebration - and there was a doctor who said that -
the Mother of God spoke to him. (I hope he would write me.)
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF IT IS POSSIBLE, TO SAY THE ROSARY, EITHER AT
YOUR CHURCH OR FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON, WITH
CANDLES.
HOWEVER IT WOULD BE IN POLISH, HUNGARIAN, GERMAN, SLOVAK, etc.
(all five.)
THIS WOULD ONLY WORK, - IF WE COULD GET AT LEAST OVER A 150 PEOPLE
OR MORE,....
IF ANYONE OF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE "OUR LADY OF FATIMA'"
hundreds of people said the rosary to for the children.
MAYBE THE MOTHER OF GOD WILL BREAK THIS EVIL DARK ANGEL'S POWER.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
BARBARA VAMOS
ST. EMERIC CHURCH
|
November 29, 2010
I found the following article and thought I would post it here
since the subject of who came to America first keeps coming up when we sing
America the Beautiful at our weekly prayer vigil:
The explorer, Christopher Columbus, was the son of a Polish king living
in exile in Madeira and hid his royal roots to protect his father, a new book
claims.
A Portuguese historian believes he has solved the 500 year-old mystery of the
adventurer's true identity after a thorough investigation of medieval
documents and chronicles.
The origins of the man who discovered the Americas has long been a subject of
speculation.
Contemporary accounts named his birth place as the Italian port of Genoa to a
family of wool weavers but over the centuries it has been claimed that he was
a native of Greece, Spain, France, Portugal and even Scotland.
Others claimed his origins were hidden because he was Jewish or secretly
working as a double agent for the Portuguese royal family.
But the latest theory suggests that the great navigator, who died in 1506
after four voyages to the New World, was in fact of royal blood: the son of
King Vladislav III who was supposedly slain in the Battle of Varna in 1444.
In his third book on the subject, Manuel Rosa, who has spent 20 years
researching the life of Columbus, suggests that Vladislav III survived the
battle with the Ottomans, fled to live in exile on the island of Madeira where
he was known as "Henry the German" and married a Portuguese
noblewoman.
Mr Rosa believes a conspiracy was agreed to hide Columbus' true origins and to
protect the identity of his father. "The courts of Europe knew who he was
and kept his secret for their own reasons," the researcher at Duke
University, North Carolina said.
"Our whole understanding of Christopher Columbus has for 500 years been
based on misinformation. We couldn't solve the mystery because we were looking
for the wrong man, following lies that were spread intentionally to hide his
true identity," Mr Rosa told The Daily Telegraph.
His high birth would explain how Columbus was able to himself marry the
daughter of a Portuguese noble 15 years before he set out to prove the world
was round.
"The marriage was approved by the King of Portugal something that could
never have happened if we believe the myth that Columbus washed up in a
shipwreck in Portugal," Mr Rosa explains in his book Colon: La
Historia Nunca Contada (Columbus: The Untold Story), published
in Spain last month.
"His knowledge of geography, astronomy, algebra, cartography and even the
fact that he used a secret cipher to communicate with his brothers all point
to the best education. He was clearly a scholar and not self taught as the
myth goes."
Mr Rosa claims to have proved that a last will dated 1498 in which Columbus
wrote "being I born in Genoa" was forged 80 years after his death by
Italians with the name Columbo who wanted to lay claim to his inheritance.
Other evidence supporting Mr Rosa's theory includes the similarity of
Columbus's coat of arms with that of the Polish king and a painting of the
explorer housed in the Alcazar in Seville in which a crown is hidden on his
sleeve.
And the fact that he was "reddish-haired, fair skinned and blue eyed -
all features commonly found in Poland."
The next step is to try and prove Columbus's royal heritage by extracting DNA
from the tombs of Polish kings to compare with that of the explorer's son who
is buried in Seville Cathedral.
"I have made a request to the Cathedral in Krakov to examine remains from
the tomb of Vladislav II, who could turn out to be the grandfather of
Columbus. It would prove the truth of my theory," said Mr Rosa.
A project launched five years ago to discover Columbus' true origins using DNA
comparisons between his family and possible descendants was not conclusive.
A team of scientists took samples from his tomb in Seville and from bones
belonging to his brother and son and compared them with the genetic make-up of
477 people living across Europe with surnames believed to be modern-day
variants of Columbus.
November 26, 2010
Friends,
Fr. Joe McNulty has graciously accepted our invitation to host a Solidarity Mass
on the Sunday after Thanksgiving at his parish church. The faithful will gather
at Saint Augustine Church on West 14th Street for a 2pm liturgy. Worshippers are
encouraged to bring canned goods as an offering and the collection at Mass will
be given to Fr. Joe and Sister Corita for their Hunger Center.
Please consider this as a time to stand united with other sisters and brothers
from churches closed and merged in the recent Reconfiguration.
Pat Singleton welcomes any volunteers to read, greet, serve at the altar, or
assist with the distribution of communion. Please contact Pat if you are willing
to help; her contact info is on the flier.
Please feel
free to print this flyer and post it where others will see. Or please
forward it to any friends who may be interested.
November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your families.
Someone sent me the following list of closed Churches. Under lennonism 58
parishes closed:
Assumption of Mary (Polish) Grafton
11 12 06 St. Jude, Warrensville Hts.
09 02 07 Holy Trinity (Hungarian) Barberton
10 28 07 St. Wenceslas (Czech) Maple Hts.
12 30 07 St. Henry, Cleveland (Black)
12 30 07 St. Catherine, Cleveland (Black)
05 25 08 St. Philip Neri, Cleveland
08 St. Andrew Svorad
(Slovak) Cleveland
10 25 08 St. George, Clinton -----------------9
04 26 09 -- Holy Cross (Polish) Elyria
05 24 09 -- Epiphany (Black) Cleveland
06 14 09 -- SS. Cyril & Methodius (Slovak) Barberton
06 21 09 -- Christ the King, East Cleveland
06 28 09 -- Sacred Heart of Jesus (Hungarian) Elyria
08 30 09 -- St. Procop (Czech) Cleveland
09 19 09 -- St. Hyacinth (Polish) Cleveland
09 26 09 -- St. Hedwig (Polish) Akron
09 27 09 -- St. Stanislaus (Polish) Lorain
09 27 09 -- St. Ladislaus (Hungarian) Lorain
10 04 09 -- St. Francis (German) Cleveland
10 04 09 -- SS. Cyril & Methodius (Slovene) Lorain [date
expedited]---------------12(21)
10 18 09 St. George (Lithuanian) Cleveland
10 31 09 St. John the Baptist (Slovak) Akron
11 01 09 St. Margaret of Hungary (Hungarian) Orange
11 .. 09 Community of Saint Malachi
11 08 09 St. Casimir (Polish) Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
11 14 09 Holy Trinity, Bedford Hts.
11 15 09 St. Mary, Bedford
11 21 09 St. Paul, Euclid
11 28 09 Christ the King (Croat) Akron
12 13 09 Holy Trinity (Slovak) Lorain
12 20 09 St. Vitus (Croat) Lorain [date expedited]
12 27 09 St. Robert Bellarmine, Euclid
--------12(33)
01 09 10 St. Louis, Cleveland Heights
01 17 10 St. Hedwig (Polish) Lakewood
01 24 10 Sacred Heart of Jesus (Hungarian) Akron
02 13 10 St. Christine, Euclid
03 07 10 St. Joseph (German) Lorain
03 14 10 St. Rose, Cleveland
04 10 10 Blessed Sacrament, Cleveland
04 11 10 St. Peter, Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
04 17 10 Corpus Christi (Polish) Cleveland
04 25 10 St. Cecilia (Black) Cleveland
05 02 10 Sacred Heart of Jesus (Polish) Cleveland
05 03 10 SS. Philip & James, Cleveland
05 09 10 St. Barbara (Polish) Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
05 09 10 Our Lady of Mercy (Slovak) Cleveland
05 16 10 Assumption of Mary, Brook Park
05 23 10 St. Wendelin (Slovak) Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
05 30 10 Annunciation, Cleveland
05 30 10 St. Patrick, Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
06 06 10 St. Adalbert (Black) Cleveland Vatican appeal pending
06 12 10 St. Margaret Mary, South Euclid
06 20 10 St. Lawrence (Slovene) Cleveland
06 20 10 Our Lady of Mount Carmel -- East, (Italian) Cleveland
06 26 10 St. James, Lakewood Vatican appeal pending
06 27 10 St. Mary, Akron Vatican appeal pending
06 30 10 St. Emeric (Hungarian) Cleveland Vatican appeal
pending-----------------25(58)
____________________________________
Conversion of St. Paul has changed status from parish to shrine.
|
November 24, 2010
I posted a letter on the main page that was recently sent to
Bishop Lennon. You can view it here.
It was sent with over 1,000 signatures in support of St. Casimir Church.
Also:
Found the following editorial comment for Akron Churches
http://www3.thebeaconjournal.com/searchohiocom/JE_NewSearch.aspx?Search=nancy+mcgrath&Scope=News&Submit2=Go
Letters to the editor - Nov. 24
Give Akron parishes a second
chance
Not all Akron church closings are
equal. Some may be necessary, some are not. Beacon Journal staff writer
Colette Jenkins seemingly refuses to acknowledge important facts (''For
sale: Heavenly location,'' Nov. 13).
Three urban Catholic churches — St.
John, St. Mary and Sacred Heart — had vibrant congregations, all
determined to maintain their churches and their vital social-service
activities.
They were up to date on bills and
diocesan assessments. All parish campuses were in near-perfect repair.
St. Mary needed to do some roofing renovation; parishioners were
offering to pay. Among the three churches, there were substantial
savings.
All were victims of Bishop Richard
Lennon's shut-down program. Akron was dealt a blow. The priest shortage,
cited as necessitating closings, can be handled. More progressive and
peaceful approaches are being organized.
Clusters of collaborating parishes are
sharing priests (Youngstown, Minneapolis-St. Paul). Mission parishes are
being designated under umbrella parishes (Miami). Prayer services are
being recommended when priests are unavailable (Columbus). And pastoral
teams of laity and clergy are assuring that ''no church will close
without consent'' (Dublin, Ireland).
A collaborative clustering of St.
John, St. Mary and Sacred Heart can save the parishes and their
important urban presences and missions.
Those who are working to preserve
parishes throughout the diocese ask Bishop Richard Lennon: Would you
consider a creative, sharing process for these three churches? You
allowed a second chance for two parishes in Cleveland. How about a
second chance for these three parishes in Akron?
St. Mary, St. John and Sacred Heart,
in combining forces, could serve as a beacon for urban parishes
throughout the country. The Cleveland diocese could become an agent for
creative change. The Catholic Church in the city could begin to grow
again.
Doesn't the Christian spirit demand
such consideration?
Nancy McGrath
Akron
|
November 21, 2010
We had our normal crowd at the pray vigil today. There was
discussion on a number of goals that the group would like to achieve. Here is a
video on YouTube that shows the prayer vigil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2lHIOovjsk
you will need to cut and paste it into your browser. For some
reason I cannot get it to link correctly.
November 19, 2010
I found the clip of Bishop Lennon's audio when he didn't know he
was being recorded. You can watch it here:
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-i-team-bishop-lennon-recorded-church-closings-txt,0,6102295.story
I did not have my hopes up and wasn't disappointed. The
fact that it is actually illegal to record someone without their knowledge and
consent does not do our cause any good. We wouldn't want it done to us and we
shouldn't be doing to others. That and the fact the story really didn't have
much substance and the audio was hard to hear and follow puts this one in the
circular file for non-news. It gave the Cleveland Diocese a way to portray those
protesting its actions as if it they were the unreasonable ones fighting dirty.
They even had the diocese putting out a we hope and pray that those protesting
their actions see the light message. Quite an odd position as those holding the
weekly prayer vigils in front of their closed Churches are praying that Bishop
Lennon and the Cleveland Diocese see the light. We should avoid the media. It is
not going to support our cause. Our message must travel through other means. I
see numerous people filming at the prayer vigils. People should open a You-Tube
account and start publishing. If there are any experts at it please email me. My
problem is editing the video to a smaller size.
November 18, 2010
Received a copy of the letter that follows. I left the name
out to protect the innocent.
The Most
Reverend Archbishop Pietro Sambi
11/18/2010
Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
Dear
Archbishop Pietro Sambi:
I am writing this letter to plea for your help for the people in the
Diocese in Cleveland. So much hatred and suffering has occurred over the last
year due to our church closings. People are leaving the church. People are
asking how this could happen. My children are asking me why I should remain
Catholic when they see what the Bishop is doing here. Can you please appoint
someone or take some action to help us reopen some of our churches? You know and
I know many of the churches here have been closed with no good reason. I am
trying to find ways of telling my children why the Catholic faith is a gift
given to us by my parents and their parents but it is difficult at this time.
Yes, I would like to see St. Casimir open again as it was built by our immigrant
past generation and is a great example of what people with little monetary means
could do. You may have heard it is an architectural wonder here in Ohio. Those
immigrants gave all they had as a gift to the Lord and as a gift to future
generations (us). How could this happen? How? Please tell me? Is there not any
type of forward thinking here to understand that inner city Cleveland may once
again thrive in the future and need these churches again?
Is it wise to do this and destroy our churches because of a short term
economic shortfall? I can recall the “Churches in the City” ideology offered
by past Bishop Pilla here. Was that all a waste of positive energy and thinking?
I am concerned. Can you help us?
November 17, 2010
Wow! Lots of stuff going on right now. Time to pay attention it
seems. Channel 8 is advertising that they will be airing something Bishop Lennon
said at a time when he didn't know he was being recorded on Thursday, November
18 at 10PM.. I'm not holding my breath on this though, the media is what it
is and I'm sure it makes more money from the Catholic Church than it does with a
bunch of upset parishioners but I will be watching none the less. If they put
the clip on their website I will link to it here.
I haven't checked out the next link so you are on your own if
you want to proceed.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE PARISHIONERS GONE?
The press barely has scratched the surface of the question. The chancery has not
publicly responded. In October (for years) ushers have done head counts at
Sunday Mass, and the parish has sent the numbers to the chancery. These numbers
have not been compared and released, and even if they were, it would not point
to where the displaced parishioners have gone. I am not comfortable with
the phrase 'displaced parishioners', for I know how those resulting initials
were used as an insult towards millions of Americans.
I believe if you use this 'link' it should proceed to the survey form:
http://tinyurl.com/reconfig2010
I received the following description on the above link after post the last
one:
The Endangered Catholics coalition of faithful has put together a survey
looking for comments about the recent Reconfiguration. Many, many parishioners
from closed parishes have not registered at another parish yet. It is our hope
that this survey will give them the opportunity to speak up about the two
years of leadership in our diocese and the fallout from the closure of more
than fifty parishes.
Please go to the link below and have a look. We hope you are willing to submit
your responses.
Just as importantly, we encourage you to forward this letter and the link to
others who would be willing to respond to the survey. Word of mouth and email
forwards will be the main source of distribution, so your willingness to
assist is greatly appreciated. If you do forward this, please encourage your
recipients to do the same.
Received the following information about a church Minnesota that
is being purchased by those who wish to preserve it. Click
here for the decree. I was also sent this list of Churches that were bought
by their parishioners in case we would like some resources if we do the same
thing in the future.
Terry
Stallbaumer, St. Bridget’s Axtell KS, (785-736-2910,) website, http://www.marshallco.net/stbridget/
Daniel Kouba, St. Catherine of Lomice, Michigan ND (701-259-2492)
See you at the November 21 prayer vigil!
November 16, 2010
Check out the photograph on the main page found under the link
"Our
Rainbow of Hope". The picture was taken by Tom Sullens'.
During the last Mass in St. Peter's, TV8 reported a halo
rainbow. I've been told there is a St. Patrick rainbow photograph. Some of
this was discussed on the steps of the cathedral, early last Wednesday evening.
Some of us are attracted to mystical leanings in these items.
Does any one have pictures of the other suppressed Churches with rainbows? If so please send
and I will post them here.
November 12, 2010
Memories:
I started school at St. Casimir in the fourth grade and
graduated in 1953 from the eighth. I saw many improvements through the years. A
new school, Hall and Convent, and the remodeling of the interior of the Church.
I moved to Florida for my wife's health over twenty five years ago. I have
visited Cleveland and St. Casimir Church as often as I could. I have a special
relationship with the remodeling of the Church, because I helped to do some of
the marble work. When someone commented how beautiful the Church is, I felt very
proud, and pointed to the few stones I installed. It hurt very deeply to see the
windows boarded and a locked gate. All I could do is say a few prayers in the
street.
The Parish contracted the Ranieri Marble Company of Italy to do
the remodeling. I was hired as a helper by Mr. Desetefano and Mr. Lucca. It
seems like it took well over a year to complete the job. The two men were
perfectionists, they thought me well enough to work alone for a couple of
Saturday as they went to Detroit Michigan to see their families because the
company was based there. It was amazing how things were done. Blueprints were
made of everything to be covered with marble. Each stone was numbered and the
prints told us where they belonged. We did very little cutting. I was asked by
Mr. Desetefano to go with them on other jobs, but declined since I wanted to
finish high school. Now I think that was a mistake because of how satisfying
that kind of work was.
I am happy to see there are people who are working to have the
Church reopened. It is one of the most beautiful Churches I have seen in this
country and Europe. It is more than that, it is a landmark. There will never be
another Church built like that again. I hope the different organizations that
are working to have this landmark reopened coordinate their activities and be
more effective, as their goal is the same. I wish I could be there to help.
Al Sosnowski class of 1953
November 9, 2010
Catholics everywhere are suffering!
http://blog.adw.org/2010/11/more-church-closings-so-what-is-god-teaching-us-and-how-will-we-respond/sale-cqat3-1989587002@craigslist.org
November 4, 2010
Received a call today from a gentleman from the class of 1953 if
my memory is correct. He worked with the people who installed the Italian marble
in the Church. He said he would write me a story of his experience in doing that
work. Look for it in the December newsletter which will go out in the first half
of December.
November 3, 2010
"Nie Bojcie Sie", in Polish it means "Do Not be
Afraid". These words are the famous words spoken by the
late Pope, John Paul II on his first visit to Poland as the Vicar of
Christ. These words ignited a nation to throw off the chains of
tyranny.
These words are also the words that have inspired the faithful of
St. Casimir Church to continuously hold prayer vigils outside the
locked gates of their church, which was closed by Bishop Richard
Lennon on November 8, 2009.
On this upcoming Sunday, November 7th, at 11:30 AM, the 52nd prayer
vigil will be held to mark a year of these Catholics refusing to give
up their parish.
Every Sunday, the prayer leader, Wojtek Fleszar repeats these words,
"Today we pray and sing on the street in front of our boarded up
church but we hope for the day that once again we can kneel in prayer
inside our church".
No matter the weather, rain, snow or freezing cold, the Casimir
Catholics and Catholics from throughout the diocese return to the
vigils week after week.
Krysia Moreno, a longtime parishioner said that at the vigils, "I
have witnessed faith in action, strangers coming together to
pray." Another longtime parishioner, Ray Kasperski said
that "Many people from other closed ethnic parishes attend the
vigils to express their support and solidarity with us. God
bless freedom of speech."
At St Casimir, this Sunday, the prayer vigil will be special.
Representatives of churches that have been closed and churches that
are appealing the bishop's closures to Rome will be attending.
The Casimir faithful urge you to attend. "No matter the
weather, we will be here and also do not forget the time change",
says Wojtek Fleszar.
For further information, please call (216) 642-0576.
November 3, 2010
In a little over a year's time nine (9) Polish Churches have been closed in
Cleveland ,Akron and Lorain. The diocese,also eliminated all seven (7)
Slovak Churches and six (6) out of seven (7) Hungarian Churches. The
diocese has repeatingly said, Slovak Parishes are no longer needed,
everyone speaks English. All these churches had large bank
accounts and beautiful sacred artifacts.
We, Polonia, are having our culture and faith attacked.
Why? Because,we are Polish and have valuable assets.
Our remaining Polish Churches are in danger of being closed too.
"Nie Bojcie Sie", Do Not Be Afraid, these are the words
of the late Pope, Jan Pawel II.
We ask you to practice these words in real life.
For almost one year Poles and Non-Poles, all Catholic have stood in
front of the locked doors of St Casimir Church and held prayer vigils. On
Sunday, November 7th at 11:30AM, the 52nd Prayer Vigil will take
place.
We urge you and your friends to join us at St Casimir to show our
solidarity and to protect our way of life and our faith.
At St. Casimir, Poles from all churches stand up for all of us. They
stand for all Catholics, whether Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Hungarian,
German or Irish.
We stand up for Religious Freedom, not dictatorship.
Unless, we stand with them, we too, will lose the rest of our remaining
Polish Churches.
Even if it rains or snows, we will be there.
Please join us on November 7th in prayer and song. Our
voices will be heard. We at Casimir trust in Jesus.
October 24, 2010
Today's prayer vigil was well attended. We had a family who had
recently arrived from Poland with us today. There were prayers for those who are
losing faith in the Catholic Church due to Bishop Lennon's actions on closing
various ethnic parishes. After the morning prayers and signing there was
discussion of related events. There are rumors that Bishop Lennon is going to be
removed from the Cleveland Dioceses but the Bishops do not know where to put
him. There was also talk that the Bishops will not change any of Bishop Lennon's
actions because they do not want to admit that anything wrong was done. There
was also talk of starting an organization called "Saint Casimir
Community" where we would find a priest and hold Mass outside of the
Diocese. One comment was that Bishop Lennon believes parishioners will find
salvation only through him and how hurtful and vindictive he has been to anyone
resisting his decree. What we do know for sure is that November 7, 2010 will be
an interesting prayer vigil. There may be a bag piper, there will be
representative from various closed parishes attending including representatives
from one or more PLAVs. So come to the Ladies Guild Pancake breakfast at the
PLAV on 200th Street across from the Home Depot which starts serving at 9:30am
and then come to the prayer vigil at 11:30am in front of St. Casimir Church.
After the prayer vigil you can try to make it back to the PLAV to catch the end
of the Alumni meeting.
October 21, 2010
I just happened to find your website. I have fond memories of St
Casmirs. I graduated there in 1970 going to a High School Seminary. That's where
my vocation to the priesthood was nurtured even more.
My mother did have to speak polish to priests to prove we were polish though.
Fr Nick O'Brien
Pastor www.stanthonyparish.com
October 9, 2010
News Release to all Polonia:
We at St. Casimir will be marking the one year anniversary
of the PRAYER VIGILS that have been held every
Sunday at 11:30AM on the street in front of our Polish Church, St Casimir,
which has been unjustly taken from the Polish people of Cleveland.
The church had plenty of bank funds, was in excellent condition, had a Polish
priest and has a strong Alumni. Regardless of the weather,
loyal parishioners and Poles from all over Cleveland have supported us week
after week. We also have many non Poles who come week after week to pray
with us in the rain, cold, snow and the heat. These non Poles
have showed their love for us by standing up to the Bishop.
We ask the whole community to come and pray with us at least once a month, we
are there every Sunday. Please make this effort to show solidarity
with your Catholic brothers and sisters. We have an
appeal in Rome, We need your help. No
Polish church will be safe unless we stand and tell them NO.
On November 7th we want everyone to come and show all Cleveland our solidarity.
Please contact us if you are interested in helping with the program.
October 6, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2010
The parishes closed by Bishop Richard G. Lennon of the Cleveland Diocese will
unite in prayer in order to honor Our Lady of the Rosary on Thursday, October
7th at St. John the Evangelist Cathedral at 5:10 PM Mass, followed by a Luminary
Service at various appealing parishes at approximately 6:30 PM signifying their
hopefulness, their faith and continued petition.
Many of the parishes have been asking the Blessed Mother for her intervention in
having the mandates of Bishop Lennon of closures reversed. Vatican appeals
are currently at the Congregation for the Clergy which has extended their
decision until November 30th.
It is our understanding that all activities to merge and/or close the parishes
were to be suspended until parishes individually heard from the Congregation for
the Clergy with their decree. These letters from the Vatican are somewhat rare
since most appeals do not receive any response at all, and are thus considered
“denied” according to Canon Law. It is believed that the Vatican
officials are seriously looking at what has transpired in the Cleveland Diocese
and are concerned. Parishes have received several extension letters by the
Vatican dated with dates that correlate with the Blessed Mother, September 8th
(Blessed Mother’s birth date) & March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation).
Many believe that she has already interceded.
Patricia Schulte-Singleton
St. Patrick (West Park)
President, Endangered Catholics
Bob Kloos
Historic St. Peter/Community of St. Peter
Vice-President, Endangered Catholics
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