From the Holy Name of Jesus bulletin:
How come St. Thomas the Apostle wasn’t afforded the same opportunity by Bishop Clark? STA is financially stable, and the new Irondequoit parish has more than enough priests to provide coverage for one to three Masses at STA. St. Thomas also drew about 150 more people than Holy Name. So… why not?
Tags: Bishop Clark, Church Closings, IPPG
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One other thing – Holy Name must be the absolutely most hideous worship space in our diocese. If any building should be shut down / closed / razed it is Holy Name. Oosh.
St. Thomas is quite beautiful, and quite conducive to fostering the full and active participation in liturgy called for by the Vatican II fathers.
Annonymouse, you post:
Holy Name must be the absolutely most hideous worship space in our diocese. If any building should be shut down / closed / razed it is Holy Name. Oosh.
Is this really a helpful comment? Do we really want to survive on the bones of others? Why does everyone in Rochester seem to feel that a church or school has to close for another to survive? Why is such cannibalism encouraged? Someone please point out to me where clustering and closing has strengthened anything. Anything. Can you???
Any church that can support itself financially deserves to remain open.
Anon, I think you meant, “If any parish needs to be remodeled faithfully, it’s Holy Name.” Right?
To provide clarification, I am not advocating that Holy Name should close. I would like to see the bishop and the diocese demonstrate the same compassion for STA.
Jim M. here: So…why not? To answer your question, Dr. K., I believe that St. Thomas has a history with Bishop Clark, and Holy Name does not. The bishop was not a very good friend of either Msgr. Burns or Fr. Callan. That is why Holy Name was given another priest (and another chance), and St. Thomas was not.
I agree with Jim M. When Fr. Condon (the DoR chancellor) met with STA parishioners, the distain for them and their former pastors was blatantly obvious. It was clear, St. Thomas parishioners and their former pastors (especially Fr. L. James Callan) didn’t follow the DoR’s liberal church agenda and that is why the STA parish was systematically dismantled. This revengefulness has been a pattern of behavior with everyone, including priests and parishes, that dissents from their phony view of the Church.
Jim M: Well said, Monk!
As an STA parishioner, I agree that we should have been afforded the same chance to “survive” as Holy Name. There are so many “should have’s” it is overwhelming. Should have had more than one rep on the IPPG, Should have not had there school taken away, should have had a Pastor (i.e. Tanck) that could advocate for his own parish, Should have had a Pastor that would not participate in gossiping about/tearing down the STA parishioners. However, nope, that was not the case. There is a reason why we go through this- and STA is exemplary of the little girl mentality of the DoR to “put down” a thriving population- and it will be exposed in Rome to those in charge. I am looking forward to seeing what is God’s plan, but I do believe we have come from this, a stronger, more faithful community than ever. So Keep it up DoR, STA is not shrinking back from your intimidation. We have the facts to back up all of these “should have’s” that weren’t.
Ah yes, the Callans and their history with the DoR, especially their relationship with the bishop.
Payback indeed!
There seems to be little or no realization that the bish wants St. Thoimas’ money left to the parish by Msgr. Burns. It’s actually legal for him to appropriate our funds as the parish “belongs” to the “Catholic bishop of rochester, a corporation sole”. And Matty Cluck [Easy with the name-calling] is the bishop, God help us all. The real problem is that the bishop sees the diocese of rochester as amedieval Benedictine Monastery, we the laity as the monks, and himself as the all-powerful abbot. He has forgotten that the clergy exists to serve God, as we all do, but the clergy’s job is to serve God by bringing the laity closer to God, not by driving us away.