ROME
National Catholic Reporter
May. 23, 2012
By Brian Roewe
Canon lawyers representing St. Patrick Parish of Cleveland filed a motion Wednesday in Rome demanding Bishop Richard G. Lennon immediately reopen the church and restore the parish, and if he won’t, have someone else do it.
The motion is the second filed by the parish since decrees came from the Congregation for the Clergy in early March ruling in favor of St. Patrick and 11 other parishes Lennon had attempted to suppress in a string of closings in 2009.
Patricia Schulte-Singleton, a parishioner of St. Patrick and head of parish advocate group Endangered Catholics, said Lennon’s delayed action is “causing distress spiritually, emotionally, economically” for the parish and its parishioners.
“There has been no timetable, no definitive action plan, so you have to wonder, When is this going to happen, is he going to stall, does he really want to do this even though he’s been ordered to do it by Rome?” she said. “You have to wonder, you know, what’s the deal?”
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