- Jun 6, 2007
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The institution of the Catholic Church in America doesn't itself live by the values it
wants governments throughout the United States to follow. The American Catholic Church wants the federal and local governments to care more about the welfare of individuals and families across America but the institution of the Catholic Church woefully cares about their welfare, this church is a glaring hypocrite.
Take for instance this month's announcement by the Archdiocese of New York that they are closing fifty seven parishes, the Archdiocese calls it mergers but a truly good characterization of it is that it is a closing because that is the way the majority of the members of those parishes see it. it is a really terrible thing that is going on here because to many Catholics their parish is like their family, in small parishes close friendly bonds are formed that have priceless spiritual value, much of the valuable blessings that can spring from the Catholic faith is often garnished from various elements of the parish community not to mention that it is these peoples' heritage often one's grandparent and parent was from that parish and they hope to have their children grow-up in that parish it is part of who they are! Creating a new larger parish isn't the same it is the ending of the parish family because that parish ceases to exist anymore. It is further baloney when a bishop says that an advisory panel including lay people recommended the closings because any knowledgeable person knows they stuff those panels with extreme orthodox Catholics whose concept of what is right from beginning to end entails only obeying church authorities and such authorities have let it be known they want to close parishes.
This writer isn't advocating that the realities of the world be ignored. Catholic Church leaders have a duty to be good stewards of the Churches financial resources and cannot ignore the nine million dollars a year deficit the parishes run, it is not disagreed with that parishes that operate in deficit should be closed. Nor can these leaders ignore the reality that the number of men coming into the priesthood is significantly below the number of priest retiring and passing away surely it is very challenging staffing 368 parishes with approximately 925 priests. What does not make any sense is why is a parish immediately closed because it operates in deficit give that parish a year to turn it around they often do when given this chance they often have past members that would be happy to help them stay in existence. If archdiocesan officials believe that a parish needs to close because of a shortage of priest why don't they announce that and offer that parish to any priest that wants to volunteer for the assignment many parishes across America only have one priest and it works out great that priest and the members of the parish rally together and treat it like a mission like they are champions for their community saving the valuable asset of the parish for the community.
If the institution of the Catholic Church wants to stop losing credibility in the area of being a principled voice from this issue they have to establish principled rules governing bishops behavior in this area to protect the interests of ordinary Catholics in their parishes. The rule should be that a bishop shouldn't be able to close a parish if it financially self-sustaining. and clergy staffing is available and the members of a parish by a majority vote are opposed to the closing; there could be a national administrative board with nine seats each appointed by a U.S. bishop from nine divisions across America where each division rotates the bishop who selects the appointee and the bishop seeking closing would have to establish his case for closure to a compelling standard to get closure. This extreme disregard for ordinary Catholics interests in this parish closing trend seen across Catholic America sullies the reputation of good bishops and the college of U.S. Bishop could remedy this by creating the above rules; prior to this November announcement Cardinal Dolan was seen as a very balanced voice in the Church who respectively considers various voices and speaks as a good Church official now it seems he appears to be a callous heavy handed administrator! Catholic faith teaches that a bishop is supposed to be like Jesus, the good sheppard, to his flock the members of his diocese; frankly, I think these bishops across America that don't treat closings of parishes as a last resort and don't make a great effort to avoid doing them are acting like the enemy of Jesus!
wants governments throughout the United States to follow. The American Catholic Church wants the federal and local governments to care more about the welfare of individuals and families across America but the institution of the Catholic Church woefully cares about their welfare, this church is a glaring hypocrite.
Take for instance this month's announcement by the Archdiocese of New York that they are closing fifty seven parishes, the Archdiocese calls it mergers but a truly good characterization of it is that it is a closing because that is the way the majority of the members of those parishes see it. it is a really terrible thing that is going on here because to many Catholics their parish is like their family, in small parishes close friendly bonds are formed that have priceless spiritual value, much of the valuable blessings that can spring from the Catholic faith is often garnished from various elements of the parish community not to mention that it is these peoples' heritage often one's grandparent and parent was from that parish and they hope to have their children grow-up in that parish it is part of who they are! Creating a new larger parish isn't the same it is the ending of the parish family because that parish ceases to exist anymore. It is further baloney when a bishop says that an advisory panel including lay people recommended the closings because any knowledgeable person knows they stuff those panels with extreme orthodox Catholics whose concept of what is right from beginning to end entails only obeying church authorities and such authorities have let it be known they want to close parishes.
This writer isn't advocating that the realities of the world be ignored. Catholic Church leaders have a duty to be good stewards of the Churches financial resources and cannot ignore the nine million dollars a year deficit the parishes run, it is not disagreed with that parishes that operate in deficit should be closed. Nor can these leaders ignore the reality that the number of men coming into the priesthood is significantly below the number of priest retiring and passing away surely it is very challenging staffing 368 parishes with approximately 925 priests. What does not make any sense is why is a parish immediately closed because it operates in deficit give that parish a year to turn it around they often do when given this chance they often have past members that would be happy to help them stay in existence. If archdiocesan officials believe that a parish needs to close because of a shortage of priest why don't they announce that and offer that parish to any priest that wants to volunteer for the assignment many parishes across America only have one priest and it works out great that priest and the members of the parish rally together and treat it like a mission like they are champions for their community saving the valuable asset of the parish for the community.
If the institution of the Catholic Church wants to stop losing credibility in the area of being a principled voice from this issue they have to establish principled rules governing bishops behavior in this area to protect the interests of ordinary Catholics in their parishes. The rule should be that a bishop shouldn't be able to close a parish if it financially self-sustaining. and clergy staffing is available and the members of a parish by a majority vote are opposed to the closing; there could be a national administrative board with nine seats each appointed by a U.S. bishop from nine divisions across America where each division rotates the bishop who selects the appointee and the bishop seeking closing would have to establish his case for closure to a compelling standard to get closure. This extreme disregard for ordinary Catholics interests in this parish closing trend seen across Catholic America sullies the reputation of good bishops and the college of U.S. Bishop could remedy this by creating the above rules; prior to this November announcement Cardinal Dolan was seen as a very balanced voice in the Church who respectively considers various voices and speaks as a good Church official now it seems he appears to be a callous heavy handed administrator! Catholic faith teaches that a bishop is supposed to be like Jesus, the good sheppard, to his flock the members of his diocese; frankly, I think these bishops across America that don't treat closings of parishes as a last resort and don't make a great effort to avoid doing them are acting like the enemy of Jesus!
