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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese's decision to close a number of city churches may have been inevitable, but it doesn't make for very good PR for the Catholic Church, especially when you see distraught parishioners being led from a church, handcuffed for trespassing. Last night, six female parishioners at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in East Harlem were arrested after holding a vigil to protest the church's closure. One of the parishioners, Carmen Villegas, told WABC 7, "If you experience going to your home, and that your locks have been changed, you feel that you have been evicted from your home. So when I saw the changing of those locks, I feel evicted from my home."
The protest started when some parishioners stayed in the church after Sunday mass; it grew to a few dozen people and included many elderly people. Referring to the security guards the church hired during the vigil, City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said to the NY Times, "The archdiocese is quick to hire private security, but they can’t have a dialogue with their parishioners, and it’s really shameful and unfortunate." While the locksmiths changed locks on a side and bathroom doors, most parishioners only left after the police delivered an ultimatum "Leave or be arrested."
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These people need to realize that the catholic church--like any profitable business--has the right to close under-performing franchises.
While I understand the need for the Catholic Diocese to close under-performing churches in these days of increasing cost and declining attendance, I do sympathize with the old parishioners. They've attended these churches for a long time and have strong ties with the churches. In most cases the church is more than a place of worship, it offers programs as well as a forum for communications and socialization.
You'd think if there was a god s/he would do something about this. But no. S/He didn't.
But there IS a Universe, Godless, and it's a self-correcting one at that... the more open your eyes the more obvious it is.
Godless,
What I keep telling myself to ward off similar feelings of cynicism towards religion is that parishes, the archdiocese, and the Church as a whole is at the end of the day an institution of human beings. They do claim to have a mandate from Jesus H. Christ himself, but at the end of the day God kind of steps back and lets us do as we see fit. God doesn't *want* for church attendance to decline and for the archdiocese to poorly handle its PR, but human beings, people like you and me, decide to move out of the neighborhood, or stop going to church, or to poorly manage a church closing process. Free will and all that jazz.
I could go on but I think we can all agree that the comments section of a blog isn't going to convert atheists into holy rollers or vice versa. But I do think we can agree that these are important community centers and that their demise is unfortunate as a part of larger trends affecting disadvantaged populations in the city.
Godless,
What I keep telling myself to ward off similar feelings of cynicism towards religion is that parishes, the archdiocese, and the Church as a whole is at the end of the day an institution of human beings. They do claim to have a mandate from Jesus H. Christ himself, but at the end of the day God kind of steps back and lets us do as we see fit. God doesn't *want* for church attendance to decline and for the archdiocese to poorly handle its PR, but human beings, people like you and me, decide to move out of the neighborhood, or stop going to church, or to poorly manage a church closing process. Free will and all that jazz.
I could go on but I think we can all agree that the comments section of a blog isn't going to convert atheists into holy rollers or vice versa. But I do think we can agree that these are important community centers and that their demise is unfortunate as a part of larger trends affecting disadvantaged populations in the city.
Maybe if the Catholic Church hadn't alienated a chunk of their parishoners over the years with political bullshit, they would have the revenue to run their business. I know a lot of former Catholics (who once worked for the church, mind you) who left in droves for more tolerant churches.
It's a shame that people like these, those whose lives revolved around their church and religion (and the ones providing a lot of the structure) are the ones who are going to suffer. They've been told repeatedly, "God will provide." You'd think the Archdiocese would give a shit, but apparently not.
Bill Donohue should spend more time raising revenue and healing differences than criticizing Edwards for his choice in bloggers. Nah, we all know it more important to tell others they must live their lives while not tolerating criticism themselves.
Mark, I'm definitely one of the aforementioned atheists (agnostic, actually). I do know that the decline of church attendance is not just a localized problem, and this is due in great part to the fact that the core is steadily drifting away from the tolerance encouraged by the Second Vatican Council. We all know that, even in the whitest of the suburbs, they are importing priests from India, Africa, and South America.
You basically have a few old farts admonishing who DARES to challenge issues like reproductive choice, marriage of priests, and *gasp* the ordination of women.
If the last couple of popes had been more like Abbé Pierre (a true badass - look him up if you're not familiar with his work), these churches wouldn't be closing their doors, I guarantee you.
But there IS a Universe, Godless, and it's a self-correcting one at that... the more open your eyes the more obvious it is.
Let's not pretend that everyone in the church or every church official is the same or has the same attitudes and motivations. Yes, this process was handled poorly, but even if it were handled well, this would be an extremely painful experience for the parishioners of closing parishes and there would be some incapable of understanding. I'm not a fan of the administration in this particular diocese, but they aren't all bad. The bishop of (I believe) the diocese of Camden in South Jersey is forming a committee to recommend parish reorganization (read: closings) that consists solely of lay people, of people who are invested in the life of the individual parishes. Others use diocesan surpluses to forgive individual parish debt, giving them a clean slate and a longer life span.
We don't give up on our political system because of one corrupt politician or administration. Instead, we stand up and demand better. So demand better of the church, and not just by bitching and moaning to each other and the press (which by all means, please, please do), but also by getting involved from the beginning - in planning, in fundraising, in youth groups, and adult continuing religious education. It's not going to save every parish (clearly there were a number of highly involved people in this situation), but it might just save the church. The more involved everyone is, the more likely church officials will see how much their decisions impact parishioners lives, and the more likely the lay people will be able to see how difficult and expensive it is to run the church.
Bill Donahue is the catholic John Liu ... an opportunistic media whore.
What a dilemma for them: the religious right confronted with their cherished free-market reality.
"What a dilemma for them: the religious right confronted with their cherished free-market reality."
For the love of God (no pun intended), do not lump all Catholics in with the religious right. Sure, there are the pro-lifers among us who will vote Republican only for that reason, but there's lots of Catholic Democrats out there who in no way affiliate themselves with the religious right.
Catholics aren't necessarily religious right, especially in large urban areas. Official social justice teachings are actually very liberal.
Um, excuse ME "#14 excuse me", the Catholic church is a bastion of such intolerance that "very liberal" is a laugh.
Under performing "franchises"? God help us when our people think of Catholic Churches in such a way. They are temples of the Living and True God, solemnly consecrated to His use. It is unthinkable that they be closed simply for financial reasons. Where has the faith and simple trust in God gone? He will provide. The reason they were closed in the first place is because Priests and Bishops after Vatican II started acting like clowns, driving scores of Catholic people away from the average parish environment due to lack of reverence. If they want to run things like a business, perhaps they need to start acting like Catholics again and bring back the traditional Mass.
Liberal and conservative don't mean anything to the Catholic Church. They're terms that reflect changing societal norms that are irrelevant to the Church. What matters is not whether the Catholic Church is "liberal" or "conservative." Let modern politicians worry about those things. What matters is whether or not she is faithful to Jesus Christ. That she will always be, and in this day and age where to be "liberal" means to promote sodomy and the murder of the unborn, people will call her conservative, but they miss the point that her values are eternal, not changing and shifting like modern politics.