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	About 170 People Gather to Ask the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse to Consider Moratorium on Closing of Churches (Updated with Q and A) By Hart Seely The Post-Standard June 20, 2009 http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/group_asks_diocese_to_consider.html Syracuse, NY - About 170 people from parishes throughout Central New York came together today in Syracuse to formally petition the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse to reconsider its plans for consolidating and closing local churches. The group will pass petitions and make a direct appeal to new Bishop Robert J. Cunningham, asking him to call a moratorium on the reconfiguration program, until the decision-making process has been reviewed. Today's meeting at the Bishop Harrison Center on Lancaster Avenue brought speakers from several parishes that have been consolidated or face imminent closure. Some spoke of frustration with the system and the negative impacts they believe it has had on the church. "We have felt that the laity has really been out of this process," said John Murray, one of the organizers. "Now, you could say, 'Hey, they made out proposals on how they were going to close, how they were going to merge.' And, yeah, that's true. But as people heard from the various speakers here, it's the feeling of many participants that the decisions had been made long before the process even started. With that thought in mind, we want the transparency of the process to be known to our new bishop." In 2007, officials announced changes that will ultimately close 40 churches in the seven-county diocese. At least 15 buildings have been closed since spring 2007. Organizers said they would not ask the Cunningham to undo the consolidations that have already taken place. But will seek a temporary halt to future mergers. "I feel that if we proceed with the policy that we currently have -- one priest, one building -- we would lose thousands of Catholics in the Central New York diocese," Murray said. The group will post copies of the petition on its Web site, standrewsactionsyr.weebly.com. Several speakers today described feelings of betrayal by the church hierarchy, which seemed at times to undermine their efforts to save their churches. But Mary Angiolillo, of Syracuse, a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church -- which may face such a fate -- said she will not give up hope. "This is where our hope lies," Angiolillo said. "We're not at the end of our tether. We still, as Catholics, believe in miracles. There are many of us, despite all of these efforts to be discouraged, who are still holding onto this crazy hope -- this crazy hope that we will survive this ... They're tying our hands behind our backs, and it is frustrating. But I'm not discouraged, and our other parishioners are not discouraged. We have this crazy hope, and we do believe in miracles." After today's meeting, staff writer Hart Seely interviewed John Murray, a member of St. Andrews the Apostle Church in Jamesville, which closed in January. He is also one of the organizers of the meeting today. Here are excerpts from the interview: Q: What were you setting out to do today? Murray: We set out to inform people from throughout the diocese of what was going on in places other than their own, so they could feel a collegial atmosphere and feel the pain that other people have suffered because of the closing and merging of churches. Our objective was to develop a petition that would be given to our new Bishop (Robert J. Cunningham), asking him to conduct a moratorium on closings of churches. During that moratorium, we ask that an evaluation of the process that has been used be conducted, and that the laity would play a big role in that evaluation. We have felt that the laity has really been out of this process. Now, you can say, 'Hey, they made out proposals on how they were going to close, how they were going to merge.' Yeah, that's true. But as people heard from the various speakers, it was the feeling of many participants in this process that the decisions had been made long before the process even started. With that thought in mind, we want the transparency of the process to be known to our new bishop. We also felt it important to speak to the bishop, to develop this information for the bishop now, while he is new to the scene, so he can get a fresh look... We also wanted to discuss the pain that people felt from the closings of their parishes... And could see a great connection between the people on this. That connection, I think, gives people hope that they are not alone... Unfortunately, they felt that in many cases they have been misled, and there was a lack of communication with them, as to what was going on. Q. Did this meeting accomplish your goal? Murray: From the initial response of the people, I would say yes. We're really asking that the people who were here today be our missionaries and bring our petition out back to their communities, to secure more signatures. That way, the bishop can know that not only did the 150 to 170 people here today have these feelings, but this feeling permeates the entire diocese. The petition has been written, and it's been signed by the people who are here, and it will be delivered to the bishop this week. In addition, many people will be getting it off our web page. The web page is www.standrewsactionsyr.weebly.com. Q: How many signatures do you hope to get? Murray: I don't have any sense at all of it. In fact, we had no idea of how many people would actually show today. We set up about 130 chairs, and we needed to put additional ones down. We had roughly 150 to 170 people. That's pretty good for a Saturday morning, and for something that has just been passed on through people in the area. Q: Who came here today, people from churches that have closed or are closing? Murray: Oh, some of these people have been impacted more than once. In other words, the church they were in was closed, and it was moved to another church -- and then that church was closed. There were also people here whose church has not been closed. The church that I go to was closed: St. Andrew the Apostle (in Jamesville). We're not asking that the church be reopened. What we're asking is that we stop the process now, before more damage is done to the Catholic participants from this diocese. Because every time a merger occurs, there are some people who get so fed up with the institutional church that they say, "I'm not going to be there." We want to stop that from happening. Q: Do you think the church will listen? Murray: I would hope that the bishop is going to listen. And some of his advisors -- we would hope they will listen. We hope that this is all considered with an open mind. I feel that if we were proceed with the policy that we currently have -- one priest, one building -- we would lose thousands of Catholics in the Central New York diocese.
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