In a news conference Sunday, Bishop Richard Lennon said 42 percent of the parishes in his diocese are operating at a financial loss but that the church can remain vibrant in a newly reconfigured diocese.
BISHOP LENNON: 29 of the 224 parishes will close. 41 parishes are being asked to merge, resulting in 18 new parishes.
Lennon acknowledged the pain and anxiety caused by the changes but he said the church will emerge stronger. As expected, most of the parishes to be closed serve urban neighborhoods of Cleveland, Akron and Lorain.
A song of rejoicing echoed through the sanctuary of Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary, late Saturday afternoon. An hour earlier, an obviously relieved Father Robert Glepko had announced to his parishioners that their church had survived the downsizing of the north Lorain cluster.
One block away, the news was not so good as Deacon Luis Maldonado told his flock at St. Joseph that theirs was one of three churches slated to close. Parishioners gathered in the church dining hall after the service to talk about the future…and the past. Carol Vidumsky says a family tradition has come to an end.
CAROL VIDUMSKY: I was born here, I was baptized here, I went to school here, I was married here, my children were baptized here.
That's a story you will hear thousands of times throughout the Diocese.
Lorain Councilman Dennis Flores has similar personal ties to St. Joe's, but as an elected official he's also concerned that boarding up a massive church building will add to the blight of nearby abandoned businesses.
DENNIS FLORES: If it's not going to be used for Sunday masses, it can be expanded upon as a community center or we can expand the homeless shelter.
The basement kitchen is now used to serve food to the homeless, and upstairs, in former classrooms, there is a fifty-bed shelter. That's as much as the fire marshal will allow, right now.
ROY FIELDS: We're still in limbo.
Roy Fields serves as monitor for the shelter which operates during the winter months. He's waiting word on whether his operation will continue.
ROY FIELDS: We won't know until a few months from now. We're hoping the Bishop says, "Yeah, you can keep the shelter open."
Exactly what the Diocese plans to do with the buildings and property of closed churches remains unclear. Also of concern is that there were several instances where Bishop Lennon's final decision was at odds with the reduction recommendations presented to him by committees established to study the problem. A number of churches presumed to be on the chopping block were spared, while others thought to be safe were told to close. The Bishop said he changed some proposals because the information he initially received was inaccurate or outdated. In other cases, he said the numbers didn't add up.
BISHOP LENNON: Some of the clusters did not really send in a financial plan that demonstrated an ability to go forward with the program.
Some of the Lorain natives in the St. Joseph dining hall were sad after mass, yesterday, some were angry, but most seem resigned to the fact that St. Joe's will close. Carol Vidumsky says it will be hard for her to leave the building she's attended since childhood, but she says she's not really losing her church.
CAROL VIDUMSKY: Church isn't the building, it's all the people who belong here. It's the congregation. I think that's more important that we stand together as a community.
Exactly where they will stand is the big question now. The Diocese is preparing a manual to guide parishioners to other churches. Parishes that were told to close now have ten days to appeal the decision to the Diocese, though the church has said that it is rare for such appeals to succeed. If the Bishop refuses to budge, the parish has another 15 days to take its case to the Vatican. Several Boston churches recently did that… and were turned down.
