50th Catholic Parish is Closing in Cleveland

While pumping millions into anti-gay initiatives around the country, the Roman Catholic Church is allowing historic parishes to close and immigrant built churches to be sold and/or demolished. It's all part and parcel of the Church hierarchy's handiwork in driving away members by demonstrating utter moral bankruptcy in the form of the sex abuse scandal, rejecting modernity, and clinging to long ago debunked "science" and "natural law" doctrines dating back to the 1200's. Personally, as a former Catholic, the institutional church deserves to die because of all the evil it has done in terms of engendering anti-gay hatred, generating self-loathing by and groundless guilt on the part of I suspect a huge majority of Catholics, and causing interference in democratic government that should not be based on the religious views of some to the detriment of other citizens. It is also curious that the parishes that often are targeted for closing are either old ethnic parishes or those who stray from far right Church orthodoxy. In the feudal system based Church it's obvious that the laity - the equivalent of the Medieval serfs - have no power. It is also telling that the bishop needs a police escort when visiting parishes. The Washington Post looks at this phenomenon in Cleveland, but the same trend is happening across the USA - even as the Church invests in anti-gay and anti-religious freedom initiatives. Here are some highlights:
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CLEVELAND -- A bell tolled solemnly as a man read the names of the fallen churches like a list of dearly departed saints. St. Hedwig's, recently sold to a drug rehabilitation agency. St. Andrew's, demolished months ago.
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Now joining them is St. Emeric's, an old Hungarian parish, where about 100 parishioners gathered Wednesday to say goodbye. The church is the last of 50 parishes to close its doors, ending a massive downsizing of mostly older, ethnic parishes decreed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland because of falling attendance, a priest shortage and financial problems.
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Roman Catholic dioceses across the country have been struggling for years to maintain aging churches amid declining parishioners and financial problems exacerbated by the clergy sex abuse scandal. In Boston, dozens of parishes have been closed or consolidated in recent years.
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Before entering St. Emeric's for the last time, the faithful gathered outside to sing Hungarian hymns and criticize Bishop Richard Lennon, who has overseen the closings. "We have done all in our power to keep our churches open," said Bob Kloos, vice president of Endangered Catholics, a local group that has tried to fight the closings. "And we witness the unacceptable loss of yet another vibrant, ethnic treasure."
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The churches primarily serving Cleveland's ethnic groups, which include the Polish, Hungarians and Slovenians, claim that they are being unfairly targeted by the diocese. Amid rising anger from parishioners, [Bishop] Lennon has canceled plans for some farewell Masses and warned congregations not to set up "renegade" churches. When the bishop does attend Mass, he generally is escorted by police officers.
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The fates of shuttered churches are slowly emerging. In Akron, St. Hedwig Church was sold to a drug rehabilitation agency for $399,000. Once past debts are paid, the money from the sale will follow St. Hedwig's parishioners to the nearby parishes they have joined, Tayek said. Twenty-one church buildings are currently for up sale, worth a total of about $10 million. Others are still in limbo. Fourteen churches, including St. Emeric Church, are waiting for the Vatican to rule on their appeals to stay open. Until then, the diocese must maintain the empty buildings and cannot put them on the market.
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Clearly, had the hierarchy done its job and not allowed the sex abuse of children and youths go on for decades and decades, the billions of dollars paid out to abuse victims could have maintained parishes like St. Emeric's. Too bad more of the laity haven't figured this out and demanded the ouster of bishops, cardinals - and yes, Popes - guilty of criminal conspiracy and malfeasance.

Connecticut Bill on Restructuring Catholic Parishes Pulled

There has been a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth among the Christianists and Kool-Aid drinking Catholics about a bill introduced into the Connecticut Legislature which would have modified the laws allowing Catholic parishes to incorporate. A draft of the bill can be found here. While the bill would have restricted the ability of diocesan bishops to control parish property and activities, the bill would also have provided shelter to protect parish facilities owned by an incorporated parish to avoid liability for debts of the diocese which would be a separate legal entity - particularly large monetary debts arising from sex abuse lawsuits resulting from lax supervision and cover ups by the Church hierarchy.

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Typically, most states consider property of parishes to be owned by the diocese and controlled by the bishop. This sets the stage where even though parishioners raise money for and finance the parish, the diocese controls the assets which could be subjected to a judgment against the diocese. Publications like OneNewsNow and the Christian Post and jerks like William Donohoe of the Catholic League have been hysterical over the proposal and foaming at the mouth. One NewsNow - which always depicts Christians as being persecuted rather than the persecutors that they are in reality - even went so far as to describe the bill as follows:

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"The two co-chairs of the committee -- incredibly powerful men, Representative Mike Lawlor and Senator Andrew McDonald -- are the two openly gay legislative champions of same-sex 'marriage,'" he notes, "so this does feel like it's a sort of revenge, a payback against the church for leading the fight against same-sex marriage." Wolfgang believes backers of the bill are angry with groups who helped advertise and support Proposition 8 to protect traditional marriage in California. Among those groups was the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.

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As the Harford Courant is reporting, the bill has been pulled from consideration. Given the misrule that has gone on in most dioceses and the Vatican sponsored cover up of the sexual abuse of minors, the bill is probably a good idea to protect innocent parishes. Here are some highlights from the Courant:

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More than 4,000 Catholics from around the state stood in the drizzle on the north lawn of the state Capitol this morning to protest a bill that would have changed the way the church governs itself.The bill, initially scheduled for a public hearing today before the legislature's judiciary committee, was pulled amid questions over its constitutionality.

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John Garvey, dean of Boston College's law school, said that the bill as drafted is, indeed, unconstitutional."It violates the First Amendment rule that the legislature cannot dictate the structure of church government," Garvey said.It's also unconstitutional for a second reason: the bill as drafted singles out the Catholic church.

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The bill would have would have created lay councils of seven to 13 people to oversee the finances of local parishes, relegating Catholic pastors and bishops to an advisory role. It quickly became the most contentious issue of the 2009 legislative session.

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McDonald said the bill came about after conversations with a constituent seeking a greater role for the laity within the Catholic Church. That constituent, Tom Gallagher of Greenwich, said he was motivated by his love of the church and concern over declining membership, the priest sexual-abuse scandals, parish closings and two cases of financial impropriety at churches in Fairfield County.