Bishop Lennon to Address Vatican Decrees This Morning, by Amanda Barren, WKYC, April 17, 2012

Bishop Lennon to Address Vatican Decrees This Morning

By Amanda Barren
WKYC
April 17, 2012

http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/241595/3/Bishop-Lennon-to-Address-Vatican-Decrees-This-Morning-

CLEVELAND -- Bishop Richard Lennon announced at a Tuesday morning news conference that the Diocese will reopen a dozen closed churches.

The move comes after an analysis of Vatican decrees which determined that the bishop failed to follow church law in the closings.

Bishop Lennon had the option to reopen the churches or appeal further. He says the decision to reopen the churches was made to prevent prolonging the process and to allow the Diocese to unite. An additional appeal could have taken years.

He made clear that the parishes that appealed the closings had every right to do so under canon law and that he supported the process.

The impacted churches are:

St. Mary (Akron)
St. John the Baptist (Akron)
St. Mary (Bedford)
St. Adalbert (Cleveland)
St. Barbara (Cleveland)
St. Casimir (Cleveland)
St. Emeric (Cleveland)
St. Patrick (Cleveland)
St. Peter (Cleveland)
St. Wendelin (Cleveland)
St. James (Lakewood)

Cleveland's population has fallen 17 percent, to just under 400,000, since 2000 and the number of Catholics in the diocese has declined from 797,000 to 710,000 since 2007.

The diocese had begun selling its closed churches, with some bought by other denominations and charter schools. The sale of churches was put on hold in cases where the closings were challenged.

WKYC-TV/The Associated Press