Catholics Celebrate Vatican Ruling on Closings with Special Mass at St. Colman Parish

By Evelyn Theiss
Plain Dealer
March 25, 2012

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/03/a_celebratory_mass_at_st_colma.html

A banner of St. Patrick is displayed before a Mass of thanksgiving today at St. Colman Church in Cleveland. The Mass celebrated the Vatican's recent reversal of Bishop Richard Lennon's closings of 13 Catholic churches in Northeast Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Catholics from many of the closed churches in Northeast Ohio gathered this afternoon for a Mass of thanksgiving at St. Colman Church in Cleveland.

Hymn-singing was emphasized in the Mass, led by St. Colman's pastor, the Rev. Bob Begin, and it seemed exceptionally joyous.

"This is so beautiful," said Phyllis Cielec, 81, whose home church was St. Barbara in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood. "This is part of a dream we never thought we'd see."

The celebration was triggered by the stunning news earlier this month that the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy had ruled in favor of 13 closed parishes in Cleveland, saying Bishop Richard Lennon did not follow church law and procedures when he closed them. Banners at the front of the church represented each of those churches.

Though hope had been expressed that those churches would reopen by next week's Palm Sunday, all remain closed. As of March 14, Lennon had 60 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling. A diocese spokesman did not return messages today.

Sunday's Mass, with a sermon by Begin, focused on forgiveness. But it was clear that some in the congregation still held strong reactions to the bishop's actions. The 13 churches -- out of 50 he closed between 2009 and 2010 in a finance-driven, diocesewide downsizing -- were those that appealed to the Vatican by arguing that they were self-sustaining communities that should remain open.

Marta Fordos, a parishioner from the shuttered St. Emeric in Cleveland, said she had been ready to leave the Catholic Church, as her sister had, in the wake of their church's closing.

"I would have left if this hadn't happened," she said of the Vatican ruling.

Cielec said St. Barbara was the church where she and five generations of her family were baptized. When she heard of the Vatican's ruling earlier this month, "I couldn't sleep all night."

The first hymn at the St. Colman Mass began with the words, "We are many parts, we are all one body ... may the spirit of love make us one indeed. If you love, then you will know the Lord."

Begin addressed the hurt feelings many felt when their churches were closed. "It's been a long, difficult journey we've been on," he said. He made a comparison to what happens when a close group of family members or friends "might turn on each other when oppression occurs, when we are denied our rights, without anyone telling us why we should give up our rights.

"We have felt hurt together," he said. "When hurt happens, there is anger and resentment, hatred and love, all mixed together. But on top of the hurt ... we can commit ourselves to a process of forgiveness."

Patricia Schulte-Singleton, a spokeswoman for the closed St. Patrick Church in the West Park neighborhood of Cleveland, made a statement praising Begin for making St. Colman a refuge for Catholics whose churches were closed. The congregation gave him a standing ovation.

The Rev. Kenneth Chalker, senior pastor of University Circle United Methodist Church in Cleveland, also spoke, at Begin's invitation, because of his support for the churches over the past two years. Chalker told a story of a man whose epitaph said he had done "the best of things in the worst of times."

"From my perspective, I don't know how your churches could have been suppressed in the first place," he said. "When you are with people, how do you suppress them?"

He added: "Perhaps I can say this because I have less to lose. But wouldn't it have been wonderful if Bishop Lennon had celebrated the Mass today, even just by showing up?"

Chalker, too, got a standing ovation.

Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek, reached by phone later in the day, said Lennon's busy Sunday schedule precluded him from attending the Mass at St. Colman. No formal invitation was extended to Lennon, Tayek said, and the bishop was unaware that his attendance was desired.

Tayek said the diocese is glad people took the time to worship.