CLEVELAND (OH)
Akron Beacon Journal
By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
Published: March 14, 2012
Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon said Wednesday he has received documents from the Vatican concerning his orders to close 13 parishes.
“As indicated in my previous statement, I promised to inform you when I had received from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy decrees associated with parish appeals. The decrees arrived on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The process to review these rulings will now be undertaken with my advisors,” Lennon said in a prepared statement.
The documents arrived a week after Peter Borre, a Boston activist who has fought the closing of churches in the Cleveland diocese, told the Associated Press the Congregation of the Clergy had ruled Lennon did not follow proper procedures in the closings of 13 parishes that appealed their suppressions and the closing of their churches.
Since then, Borre and other critics of the closings have called for the bishop to move quickly in restoring the 13 affected parishes. They contend that, although Lennon has 60 days from the receipt of the Vatican documents to appeal, the congregations cannot be denied access to their church buildings.
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