Protests

Over parish closings:

All these parishes are closing, the people don't want them too, and they still won't consider married priests. Which is the real issue. There is no financial need to get rid of the buildings themselves, they are free of property taxes and most are owned fully not mortgaged or anything like that:

Borre has helped oversee an effort to keep several churches open in the Archdiocese of Boston, where some parishioners have sat in vigil in closed churches for up to five years. The tactic is intended to prevent sale of the building and has met with some success, as several closed Boston churches were reopened.

In the letter delivered to Grocholewski, Borre details what he believes is a pattern of targeting ethnic parishes for closing in several dioceses, particularly Allentown, Scranton and Cleveland:

• In the Diocese of Allentown, Borre wrote, “in the past few years, 24 parishes of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Slovene traditions have closed … almost half of all parishes (52) closed recently in that diocese.”

• In the Diocese of Scranton, he said “of 144 doomed parishes, the overwhelming majority (104, or 72 percent) are ethnic.” Of 38 Polish parishes, only seven will remain, of 23 Slovak parishes, none will remain, and of 14 Lithuanian parishes, one will remain.

• In the Diocese of Cleveland, where the bishop last year announced closings of 55 churches, 24 have Eastern European heritage: nine Polish, six Hungarian, six Slovak, two Slovene and one Lithuanian.

“The ethnic bias in parish closings in America is clearly in evidence,” Borre wrote.

But people are angry:

Some of Cleveland's Polish, Irish, Slovenian and Hungarian Catholics prayed, sang hymns and then rallied angrily outside a closed East Side church on Sunday.

Their prayers were poignant; their accusations even more pointed.

Several speakers sternly criticized Bishop Richard Lennon for the ongoing closings of dozens of churches in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

And they staunchly maintained they were still "the church" -- even as many stood shivering outside a padlocked Polish church building.

"Lennon's attempted suppression is illegitimate -- and by gathering here, you have shown that it has failed," said Stanislav Zadnik, a member of St. Lawrence, a predominantly Slovenian church in Cleveland which is scheduled to close in June...

...The rally on Sunday had a similar mixture of faith and fury.

Some banners urged the bishop to re-open the church; others used Bible verses -- "if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him" (1 Cor 3:17) -- to suggest the severity and peril of Lennon's actions.

But several other speakers prayed for the bishop and asked God to "have mercy on his soul"...

...They're also considering a march on the downtown diocesan offices.

"If we march to the Cathedral, we're going to look like an army," Feckanin said. "And everybody, every nationality, is a link in this chain."

These bishops just don't see what sort of precipice they're standing on, do they? Oh well...