Catholic New York conveys the story of our recent stay against demolition. Once again, the truth, but not the whole truth.
The Archdiocese never mentions that the sanctuary was closed for 3 years when citing the statistics for Mass attendance or sacramental viability. For the last 3 years of our parish life, Mass was held in the basement hall. Citing "no funerals" for the past 2 years is disingenuous, given that a coffin could not be brought into the hall with any appearance of decorum, if at all. The Archdiocese allowed the building fall into a state of disrepair and now presents this decrepitude as causality for closing the church.
Regarding the confidence expressed by Mr. Zwilling: there is no reason why the archdiocese should not win because they have much more influence and far greater resources than we do.
Unlike parishes closed by the realignment we have never had the opportunity to present archdiocesan officials with what we believe to be the special merit of our parish. Those who worship in Lithuanian were directed outside the archdiocese for Mass and sacraments. The rest of us were not mentioned.
Archdiocese of New York: Please e-mail me. I would very much like to speak with you!
2 comments:
In regard to the issue of "no funerals" being cited as one reason for closing the church: I was once at the rectory during the time the sanctuary was closed and Mass was being held in the basement. The phone caller wanted to make funeral Mass arrangements for a recently deceased family member. And of course this was logistically impossible given the narrow stairway to the basement hall. Yes, the Archdiocese is once again telling only part of the story.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your comment. It would also be interesting to note how many data points there are for observance of attendance for OLV vs. for all other churches, especially those that remain open. The archdiocese has never presented Mass attendance statistics as percent occupancy for all churches, those that were closed and those that remain open. It seems that the laity has to substantiate every fact that is advanced, whereas the archdiocese is allowed to recycle one press release almost indefinitely.
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