By Tamara Lindstrom
News 10 Now
June 20, 2009
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/475307/parishioners-vow-to-fight-church-closings/?RegionCookie=1013
[with video]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — About 100 people gathered in Syracuse Saturday in an effort to stop the Catholic Diocese from closing more churches.
"What we object to in the strongest terms is shutting down a vibrant, financially strong Catholic community because we see that as a continuation of a retreat which Catholicism is now engaged in," said Peter Borre, chair of the Council of Parishes located in Boston. Borre has fought reconfiguration in Boston for five years, and was brought in to give the parishioners advice.
The Syracuse diocese has closed dozens of churches in the last three years, and more mergers and closings are in the works.
Holy Trinity is one of the churches in danger of closing, but parishioners hope that through their efforts, they can keep the doors from being locked for good.
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"This particular church is like a little gothic gem on the Northside. It's beautiful," said Mary Angiolillo, a member of the church. "And it's like a slap in the face to those poor immigrants who sacrificed so much to build it, to the poor families who still sacrifice a lot to sustain it."
But the diocese says several factors have made these changes necessary.
"One is because of the changing and declining demographic, changing population in the area, the second is the declining number of priests and third is for good stewardship," said Danielle Cummings, Communications Director for the Diocese.
Some parishioners believe there are other solutions.
"The greater use of laity in running the various parishes, not the spiritual side but every other side, and the joint use of the priests that we do have to handle more than one parish," said John Murray, a parishioner of St. Andrew's before it closed. "The one priest, on parish approach is a sure means of forcing people out of the Catholic Church."
"We have the experience, we have the numbers, we've done the research. Within one year of closing the parish of St. Bananas, 30 to 40 percent of former parishioners disappear from the books of Catholicism," Borre said.
The diocese says they've done their homework, too.
"These are discussions and decisions that were made at that time with the help of lay people, with the help of clergy and with the help of representatives of each and every church," Cummings said.
The group plans to petition the bishop to stop the closing of any more churches until the current process can be reviewed.
The diocese says the reconfiguration plan has been in place since 2007, and all of the plans are open to the public.
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