IT'S ART FOR GOD'S SAKE!

YOU CAN PROBABLY GET JUST AS MUCH OUT OF THIS ARTICLE BY SKIPPING THE FIRST THREE PARAGRAPHS IF YOU WISH. I'M IN A BLABBERING MOOD TODAY.

Growing up in a “Rust Belt” big industry town it was interesting to see how far reaching the effects were when a factory laid off a tremendous amount of people or closed down all together. The immediate and obvious effects are the people in town who are now unemployed directly from the lay off. But that is only the splash, the ripples continue far out into the community often delayed by time and a certain slowness death.

Ancillary companies that provided services for the factory that closed experience a loss of income and possibly lay off people themselves if they too don’t go out of business all together. Restaurants, taverns, and like small-town business that serviced those who worked at the factory for such things as lunches, post work drinks, or uniforms then feel the pinch. Since there is less money to spend other businesses start feeling a strain – grocery stores, movie theaters, family restaurants, department stores and the like. If it lasts long there is the problem of people moving away. There is less of a tax base both from the factory and from those who used to live there. Without the tax base, schools suffer, city parks, and city services are strained. Now, the charities that helped those in need find that now that they are needed more than ever, their traditional places of gaining revenue are gone and the problem compounds.

SO FAR I THINK THAT I HAVE NOT TOLD YOU ANYTHING THAT YOU DON’T ALREADY KNOW. What you might be unaware of is how these strained times effect the businesses that rely on your parish to be solvent. One of those general categories of business would be the arts. I’ve railed against what passes as art in many parishes for some time. Of particular disdain in my personal book is “art” being purchased out of catalogues. Not that I am always and everywhere opposed to this but it is at least a little disheartening that an organization that is supposed to be “Patroness of the Arts” is so enthralled with mass produced art that one in every five churches in any given diocese has the exact same statue of the Virgin Mary in it.

But I semi-digress.

We are not hopeless however. In spite of that the Catholic Church has still been a rather important player in the art world. But there are twin disturbing trends sprouting up from a rotting root that are the direct result of parish closings, mergers, population drops, and belt tightening. The first is the loss of businesses that produce and maintain religious art for the Church. Businesses such as stained glass art studios and the like are closing down at an alarming rate. Today, when looking at a finely crafted chalice from even 50 years ago, we take great care of it because they cannot be reproduced. By and large the artists either do not simply exists anymore or it is no longer cost effective. It is much easier and cheaper to produce one stamped out by a machine or using a technique that does not require the skill and manpower hours. This is a trend that is likely to grow making some of our stepped down art of today more precious since even that will not be able to be reproduced in the future.

The second disturbing trend concerns the art being produced. If we do not support artists in their trade they will create art for those who will support them. Right now you can go to any large museum and see a tremendous amount of good art commissioned by the Church for religious purposes over the centuries. Will there be much from today? Or will it reflect a more secular, vulgar world?

The solutions are not easy. There is a certain amount of risk commissioning an original piece of art. You might be able to return a mass produced statue or chalice, not so something that took months of a man’s life to produce to your specifications. There is also the obstacle of cost involved. Maybe we should not be in such a rush to have our churches “finished.” There is also a certain amount of education that needs to go on also stressing the role and importance of art in our schools. And individual Catholics need to supports artists with prayer, encouragement, and even through personal commissions when possible. It's a matter of trying or ending up with churches that look like a cross between a gymnasium and a family room and art that consists of posters of good art from days gone by.

So I am putting my action where my mouth is. Because of this diatribe there may not be a post one day next week. More on that later. . .

MONDAY DIARY - ROOM AT THE INN

A number of years ago some friends and I went on what we termed an architectural safari to see some of the inner city churches that the Diocese of Detroit had closed. The neighborhoods were scary. And it seemed every few blocks had some sort of fire controlled or otherwise going on. Helicopters circled overhead though they may have just happened to be there they added to the drama. The churches were pretty much abandoned. The doors were chained shut from the outside. One man had simply cut the chains, declared himself a bishop, and started holding services. Inside the windows were still pretty much intact and the pipe organ still sat in the choir loft.

At another parish rocks were being thrown through the windows. We had a desire to see if we could find a way in and rescue anything left behind before it was destroyed (that’s called breaking and entering) and some nice gentleman started calling at us from across the street, “Do you want in? Will get you in! We can find a way!” We respectfully declined and left for our own beloved diocese.

I tell you this in order to let you know that our diocese is doing a good job at a difficult task when it needs to decommission and shutter a building that is no longer used as a parish. Everything is taken. All religious goods and art are inventoried and made available to other churches (albeit at a charge at times.) Even the school supplies and rectory furniture is found a place to go rather than just abandoning them in the building.

The other day I had an occasion to be part of this process. A local parish celebrated their final Mass about a week ago. As they prepared to close the doors, there were a couple of details that needed special attention – details that I had not considered before. The Eucharist left in the tabernacle and the holy oils needed to find a proper home. A phone call was made to St. Sebastian and the Monday following the final Mass tracks were made for the parish to meet with the priest and the persons helping him give a respectful shuttering of the buildings. The holy oils were retrieved from the ambry and a ciborium with the Blessed Sacrament was removed from the tabernacle and with that the Sanctuary Lamp was extinguished not to be lit again. They were transported to St. Sebastian and given home once again.

In one way it was kind of sad. In another way it re-emphasized to me again the uniqueness of the Catholic Church – and of Catholic churches in general. They are more than just buildings set aside for worship. We cannot have prayer and then rearrange the furniture and have a dinner. It is the house of the Lord, Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, holy ground that makes a parish church special whether a human person be present there to pray at any given time or no.

ONE IS (not) THE LONLIEST NUMBER THAT YOU'LL EVER DO

It would be interesting to know if the possible schismatic parish in the Diocese of Cleveland is news outside of our Ohio. Anybody hearing about it out there?

In a nutshell, Historic Saint Peter was one of about 50 parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland that were closed as part of the diocesan downsizing. The pastor and many/most of the people of this parish decided to rent space and start their own parish with the expressed disapproval of our bishop. Negotiations are supposed to take place to see what can be done to heal this rift between the Church and this parish before a formal schism takes place.

In the morning the paper tells the latest chapter in this drama. There is no shortage of people with strong opinions on the matter. It puts me in mind of what it must be like to be related to someone famous who, for one reason or another, is stealing all the headlines at the moment. As you read the article it becomes abundantly clear that many people with very strong opinions do not really understand what is going on. Few know what is happening behind closed doors, almost none are versed in Catholicity but only in their version of being “fair,” or “nice.”

There is on the one hand Jesus’ mission: “That they may all be one.” In the Catholic Church this has very specific meaning. In our theology/ecclesiology it is one of the four marks of the True Church. We say it every weekend, “We believe in ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC church. Other ecclesial communities say the same thing but mean something different by it when they say it. In part at least, what we mean when we say that we are one is that we are one in leadership, united to a pastor, who is united to a bishop, who is united to the pope,. The Catholic Church never claimed to be a democracy. Indeed it most certainly is not (though I would argue that true democracy takes place best within her doors.) There is a lot of “top down” governing. When you have a great pastor, a bishop whom you love, a pope that you admire, it is great. When you do not, it is not so great. One of favorite quotes is from Mary Doria Russell’s “The Sparrow.” “It’s hard to be obedient when you suspect your superiors are asses.”

Be that as it may, it is in our unity that we find our very definition – our call from Christ. So somebody writes the editor and complains that the Church is being rather unfair because they won’t allow people to pray when and where they want without permission from the bishop. To begin with, this is a straw man. You can do as you please for the most part. I can have a house mass without the bishop’s permission. What is happening here though is that a new parish is being set up with its own board, its own building, celebrating sacraments, detaching itself from the bishop and the rest of the diocese. That is what is of concern. Unity is being ruptured and that cannot be left unaddressed. It strikes to the heart of what it is to be Catholic. We would have to redefine ourselves. One simply cannot say, “I am not a part of this diocese, but I am still Catholic.” It would be like saying, “This shape is round, but it is still a square!”

On the other hand I do feel for the people of the parish. They may feel that they have been unfairly treated. They may see the actions of the diocese as sinful and counterproductive to the mission of Christ. They may have felt a need to act now since, once destroyed, the reconstruction of the parish could never take place and their mission lost forever. There is certainly passion here and a desire for good. What does one do if one feels that what is taking place in the Church is sinful? Lie down and be run over? No! You act! One cannot be excommunicated from the Church if one is standing up against sin and tyranny anymore than one can be forgiven if one is not penitent.

So how does one weigh what is going on here? Which side is not acting in the best interest of Christ’s mission? Let us place first principles first. Would those from the parish still be able to receive the Eucharist if the parish closed? Well, yes – most of them drive past many parishes before arriving at St. Peter. Putting anger, hurt, distrust, egos, and desires aside, is unity in Christ better preserved by breaking away from the diocese or in the sacrificing of one parish, even if you feel it patently wrong, for the greater good of the Church?

This is not the first time this has happened in this diocese actually. One of the parishes closed in this latest round of closing was a tiny, little parish that popped up out of nowhere. It was supposed to be a cultural center and shrine that all of a sudden became a parish. The bishop at the time allowed it to continue.

There is of course some Traditionalists Churches in these parts – those who never accepted the reforms of Vatican II. They also broke off and began their own parishes with their own priests who left the Catholic Church. Now their priests are getting old. Where will they be in a few more years? There will be no priests from the diocese to fill the role. They may advertise nationally and find an unhappy priest who left the Church and wants to celebrate what we call the extraordinary form – or who might come from some independent, schismatic seminary – if the minister is willing to move to Ohio to take care of a small congregation – and hope that the ordination and the subsequent sacraments are valid. Or they may be left homeless with no one and no sacraments – one of the risks one takes when one no longer defines one the way Catholics traditionally define it.

ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS . . .

When I was in the seminary, Bishop Pilla came to speak to the seminarians as he was wont to do from time to time. He would give us a little talk and then open the floor for questions. This was about fifteen years ago and even then we were concerned about the upcoming priest shortage. So we asked the question, “Will we still be able to be priests to a parish or will we become sacramental machines running from church building to church building dispensing the sacraments but not really getting to know the people of each congregation?” He did say that it was not in the immediate offing but did not say that it would never happen in our lifetime.

It does happen in other dioceses. In fact it is not all that rare that a man might be ordained and almost instantly become the pastor of two or three parishes.

There was a letter to the editor today (I question some of the facts put forth but am not desirous of debating them) that put forth a solution to the priestly shortage problem and the desire of many to keep closed or closing parish from being shuttered. It was suggested that we do as the dioceses above did and simply have a priest make a circuit through town hitting each of the churches and offering the sacraments. That would certainly make sacraments available in more spots but then it would take away from other things. There are calls for priests to be more available at the parish for phone calls and appointments, (where is Father now?!), to teach in the school and PSR, to offer adult education, (write a blog), to go to the hospital, to come to parish events and meetings, or to come to some civic event and offer the opening prayer or what have you (not to mention diocesan meetings, vacations, retreats, continuing education, day away.) Priests start to disappear off the scene the further you stretch out the priest between parishes. Every move has its consequences. As much as I wish certain parishes would remain open I am very grateful not to have to spend my day in the car running from building to building.

The interesting thing to note is that this is not a simply a Catholic problem though we mostly only hear about it from a Catholic perspective for some reason. In my home town a number of Protestant congregations have merged and/or closed. There are a couple of Protestant Churches in the vicinity of St. Sebastian that are looking to downsize and have placed their buildings on the market. The population of northeast Ohio is dropping and it is dropping for everyone, not just Catholics.

Yesterday I went to Canton to visit a closing (Lutheran?) congregation. They have a wonderful pipe organ for sale. (HEY! I can dream can’t I?) I was able to engage the pastor of the congregation in conversation and she told me that she and her assistant take care of the parish that has three separate congregations that are housed in three separate (and worthy) buildings, all within spitting distance of each other. On any giving Sunday she and her assistant make the rounds going to each of the sites. “I get to see each congregation a couple of times a month,” she said. This system does preserve the community to some extent, but the connection to a pastor is a bit more distant and his or her connection to the day to day goings on at the parish become more tenuous.

In the end, there is the choice of having priests available and connected or preserving a particular congregation of people. It’s a tough choice. I know what I prefer as a priest but might be inclined to think differently if I was coming at it from the other side of the altar rail so to speak. There are no easy solutions.

There is this however: to work together for the strengthening of the Church, to build up our communities, to live the faith well, to support our institutions, to speak well of the faith and of (good) priests, to make known that religious and priestly vocations are good and viable options for our young folk, and that there is nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING more important than the Eucharist. Then we are far more likely to preserve what we have and build on it for the future so that we may need never face these choices again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG SISTER

There is a great article in the Akron Beacon Journal today about Our Lady of the Elms 90^th anniversary.  You can read it by clicking here.  The “Elms” is only a couple of blocks from St. Sebastian and just five years older.  In essence, they grew up together.  And like siblings close in age, they didn’t always get along when they were young.  A peek at the archives, in which are letters written to the bishop at the time, reveals some rivalry over having two Catholic schools so close in proximity.  But as they matured as institutions I like to believe we have grown into a mutual respect having each developed our own identities.  Another
good article here.

 

It is interesting to look back into the archives of the founding of parishes and institutions.  That can reveal a lot of surprises.  I remember doing a research project on my home parish.  Sacred Heart was a Slovenian nationality parish in Barberton, Ohio.  It was always a tiny parish and has since been repressed, merged, given boundaries, and opened under the parish name of Prince of Peace and is larger now that it has ever been as a strictly nationality parish.

 

Going back into the archives I found that the founding of the parish and school was not smooth and cordial.  The deeply ethnic city got a lot of its flavor from a people who strongly associated with their ethnic roots.  So there was a tiny Polish parish, a small Slovak parish, the Hungarians had theirs, the mostly Irish and Germans had the “down town” parish, and the Slovenians were to have theirs.

 

Starting the parish was tricky indeed.  Letters written to the bishop demonstrated what a monumental task it was.  In the “old country,” the government took care of building the churches.  Now people were going door to door asking for money to build a church.  It seemed to them like there was a scam going on in this new land.  “Start building a church,” people would say, “and then we’ll start giving money.”  Of course, one needs money in order to start building and so you have your catch 22. 

 

That problem was eventually solved and the idea of starting a school came about.  The problem was that there were already a number of Catholic schools in this small city and the bishop was not excited about starting another.  Letters back and forth were not always cordial and so when I finished my report my Mom would not let me give it out at the parish.  “Those families are still around and we don’t want to drag up the past in this way.”  So it remained silent all these years.

 

The bishop finally did decide to let these tenacious Slovenians start their own school with the understanding that, after the families had been inculturated, the school would close.  That is easier said than done.  Who declares the inculturation finished?  Who closes an operating school?  But time, cost, changing demographics took care of this.  One by one all of the ethnic parish school closed, long before the priest shortage or recent slew of closings that has everyone up in arms.  Eventually even the parishes themselves closed. 

 

One might think that all that remains of a closed parish is a building, most of which have become new Protestant denominations and deteriorating grandeur (at least in this case although Sacred Heart has become a new Catholic parish,) boxes of artifacts and files in an office at the diocesan archives, and some wonderful memories.  But such is not the case.  The life of a parish lives on.  It lives on in the faith that was nourished in the people and their families that continue to form the faith life of the world today (my priesthood being part of the that) and in the souls that live on forever in heaven with our God – an eternal effect – because they once shared the faith life of fellow Slovenians in a tiny parish called Sacred Heart in a small city called Barberton. 

RANT - COUNTER RANT: STAINED IDEAS

In her March 29th letter to the editor of the Plain Dealer, Carol Poh, an historic consultant wrote, “The Cleveland Catholic Diocese‘s determination to remove stained glass windows from churches it has closed is morally indefensible.”

Well, it may be thought indefensible, but I will try anyway.

I think I understand Ms Poh’s concern. As a person sensitive to such matters I share her passion. There are some buildings, non-ecclesial, that have been destroyed for progress’ sake that still gets my liturgical underwear in a bunch. But as well intentioned as Ms Poh may be, there is a history to examine that does not withstand her hope for a future for those windows or buildings.

The church closing that we see now are not the first to happen even in this diocese. Selling a building, even to another worshipping community, does not guarantee anything. In the past stained-glass windows have ended up in bars, homes, restaurants, and any number of other locations. Pews serve as booth seating, lighting fixtures in taverns, and any other number of architectural items ending up in all kinds of profane (in even the best sense of the word) uses. Can you imagine being part of a family that has donated a window to a parish, having the parish close, and then finding your window lit up as a piece of kitsch interior decorating at your local Applebees?

Further, suppose the buildings stay empty for a while which everyone expects a good number of them to be. Only so many can be turned into art galleries and community spaces. If there are two churches for sale in a failing city with a dwindling number of residents and resources, there might be hope that the buildings would be sold, occupied and cared for. But twenty? (And that’s just the Catholic ones. Nobody seems to care about the other church closings.)

And what do you suppose is the first bit of damage that will occur on these buildings? Rocks right through those windows. It happened horribly in Detroit. Then they are simply lost forever. Will Ms Poh or her firm insure these windows? Will she make sure that they are never sold by future tenants to be used in a way that might be insensitive to Catholics? Will she or her firm make sure that they are repaired and protected? Will she buy them from their rightful owner? My guess is not.

In the mean time the windows are removed and are repurposed, finding homes in new church buildings and old church buildings that never had them. Is this ideal? No. Is it better than what has happened to windows in the past? Ever so much so.

No plan is completely indefensible. There are some that are more sensible however. And it is easy to tear somebody else’s plan apart without coming up with another and putting up the resources to accomplish it.

FROM TRAGEDY TO JUBILEE

Wednesday was FIELD TRIP DAY!

Fr. Pfeiffer and I jumped into his Bernadette Subaru and headed south to Columbus to visit the Jubilee Museum.  The Jubilee Museum in the Diocese of Columbus collects discarded Catholic items from closed or closing Catholic churches and displays them in a former Catholic school in Columbus.  (Some items were reclaimed from bars, junk stores, and other businesses that obtained sacred items when a church closed.) The founding priest is Fr. Lutz pictured below.

The interesting cross next to which he is standing was made of parts of the wrecking ball crane that was used to tear down a Columbus church the model of which you can see in the background.  (I will let him tell you the rest of that story when you visit the museum.)

There are many wonderful and interesting things to be found there and our gracious host gave us a most excellent tour.  Below is from the vestment collection, probably my favorite room in the museum.

 As evidence that he is not too narrow in his saving of items, below is an example of a vestment (that was quite well constructed) that looks - well - while well done would have been an excellent addition to a Lost in Space episode had a Catholic priest been on board.  

 The items are varied and sometimes surprising.  Below would be a case in point.  This is a portion of a branch of a tree under which the very first Mass in Ohio was prayed.  They were apparently cut and handed out as commemorative pieces to mark the occasion.  (That isn't even the most remarkable part of the story but again I will let a docent give you the full story.)

 I have had some personal items that I have saved from parishes over the years - items that were destined for the dumpster of which I said, "I'l take them to the dumpster for you," and they ended up in my basement.  Finally a good home was found for them and we did a little bit of bartering.  I exchanged my items for the item pictured in the backseat of Bernadette Subaru.  It is sanctuary lamp that will be used in the new chapel at the Julie Billiart School in Akron.

Fr. was also gracious enough to provide some materials pertaining directly pertaining to St. Sebastian Parish in Akron!  Those will be revealed on our 90th anniversary.  Thank you and God bless Father!

So here are a couple of things with which I will leave you:  The first, I have a chapel that I need to make Catholic.  The school, named the Julie Billiart School at St. Sebastian, Akron, is a Catholic school for children with learning challenges.  The chapel (shown below) will be used by the school.  It needs everything and I cannot take it out of the parish budget: candle sticks, statues, stations of the cross, alter linens, a nice sized corpus for the cross, processional candles and cross, pipe organ . . . you get the picture.  If you have anything, please consider donating it to the new school.

OR - if you have items that do not have a good home and they would not work in the chapel above, consider donating them to the Jubilee Museum where the will be given a good home.

Thanks for reading!

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT

After a particularly intense week of roasting the Catholic Church I woke on Sunday morning to see a front page article on the Diocese of Cleavland's new religious curriculum for high school students.  (?)  It seemed so bizarre.  Then I saw this article (which had to be greatly edited for print here) that might help explain it a little bit.  This seemed important enough to skip Monday Diary and so the special edition of Adam's Ale:

DISSOCIATED PRESS:  CLEVELAND:  Sunday morning the people of northeast Ohio awoke to the shocking revelation that the Catholic Church may have done something right.  A front page, above the fold article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer revealed the disturbing details.  The diocese, under the leadership of their bishop Richard Lennon is implementing a new high school religious curriculum that better reflect the Church’s teaching that is to be used in all high schools throughout the diocese.

Reaction throughout the embattled diocese was swift and pointed.  Percy Perfidious of Fallen Away Catholics Together (FACT) were among the first to make a public statement.  “In the whole article there was not one mention of priestly abuse or church closings.  This was a slap in the face of FACT members everywhere and we will not take it laying down.”  Nor on the golf course apparently.  FACT leadership is encouraging all its members to give up golf on Corpus Christi weekend and protest the affront to their beliefs by showing up and participating at Mass.  “We’ll show them,” said Perfidious, “They’ll wish they had never closed any parishes.”

Meanwhile numerous calls were made to Miss Kwoeted, the official spokesperson for the Diocese for the diocese’s reaction to this singular turn of events.  Kwoeted however refused to say anything except, “I have no idea how to respond.”

Meanwhile the city of Akron has announced that it will be suing the diocese for inciting a riot.  “Many thought that it was the beginning of the Apocalypse” said a lawyer for the city.  “Grocery stores were flooded with people buying canned goods and batteries, fearing that end of the word was at hand.  Shop windows were broken and several cars overturned as panicked citizens raided the Acme Number One.  Such a large organization has a certain responsibility to act consistently and not subject communities to sudden acts of good will that can only cause public disturbances.”

In a counter protest, a handful of faithful Catholics resubscribed to the Plain Dealer.  “Somehow this doesn’t feel right,” said one of a handful of protestors, “but I can’t think of anything else to do.”

Professor Wahdayah Wannahear of Knotsow Catholic University called for calm on both sides of the debate.  “This is a singular occurrence,” said Wannahear, historian and social scientist.  “There is still Vatileaks, unopened reopened churches, the nun investigation scandal, and the very real possibility that out of the well over one billion Catholics in the world a good number will continue to do stupid things that we can complain about.”

Time alone will tell.

See related article on page 9: Bishop Hospitalized after Reading Paper.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI

There are different designations for church buildings. Most are familiar with the parish church or cathedral. Another distinction that may be bestowed upon one of these structures is the title basilica. There are major basilicas (St. Sebastian is Rome is one such church – oh yes, and St. Peter’s too) and minor basilicas which account for most churches with the title. Such a church is given the designation by the Holy Father himself and is a place of particular religious or historic importance. There are 56 basilicas in the Unites States.

If the front sign should blow off of the building there are a number of ways in which to tell that a church building is indeed a basilica. One way to tell is the ombrellino, which you may recall from last week as an umbrella like contraption that is also used at times for covering the Blessed Sacrament in procession. In this particular application it always appears in the colors of gold and red, the traditional colors of the papacy. At one time the obrellino would be held over the pope as he traveled about on horseback. Now it is an ornamental object placed to the right of the main altar whose symbolic purpose is to signify a building a basilica and is open when the pope is present and remains closed when he is not.

If you are wondering if you are in a major or minor basilica and nobody is watching and you do not see security cameras or a Swiss Guard with a halyard (er - I mean Halberd - thanks W. - so much for spell check,) go up and touch it. If it is of velvet, you are in a major basilica, if it is silk; minor.

INHERENTLY INHERITABLE

At the parish we have only two candle stands by the altar. They are original to and designed for the building and supposedly there are none others like it. There used to be six of them, but when they were pulled out of storage in more recent years and repaired for use once again at mass, only two could be found. Somehow, somewhere, someone sold, gave away, or took the other four. It is a shame.

Unfortunately this is not an unusual event. Many parishes “used to have” something that was put away during a time when a particular person or groups of persons did not see the value in them and years later, when other persons with renewed interest asks, “Didn’t we used to have one of those here?” those objects are mysteriously missing. Then you either do without or invest parish resources once again.

The parish patrimony is something that should be jealously and vigorously protected. It can take a parish 100 years to build up to something and one person to dissipate it in a week. The danger is that in the midst of ridding the parish of unwanted “old stuff”, one may be in the middle of a fad that may pass. And even if that is not the case, there are items that are archive worthy and will someday have historical significance to the grandchildren of the last generation.

Now, there is patrimony and then there is patrimony. Even I have bias and someday a person may look upon me as being careless with Church treasures. I do not think I would be inclined to hold on to burlap and felt banners. But then again, these are usually not items of deep craftsmanship, worthy materials, or of irreplaceable sentiment.

In a more difficult situation is the saving of significant pieces from the closing of church buildings. In the Diocese of Cleveland approximately four score churches will close or merge in the next couple of years. (The pictures accompanying this post are some from my hometown already closed or are closing.) Fortunately I believe that we are better equipped more recently to handle making sure that pieces which may have been an object of devotion or that have enhanced prayer do not end up as décor in bars and or coffee houses. Hopefully we have learned our lesson and will not let these things slip from our hands into profane use.

In the meantime we must do our best not to be so quick to look to the dumpster or yard sale to rid ourselves of that which the current ten minutes declares passé. It is one thing to have a church reflect current personalities and sensitivities; it is another to work hard at making sure that it never reflects anyone else’s; past or future.

IT MAY NOT BE THE REST OF THE STORY - BUT IT IS MORE OF IT

A couple of things you almost never think of or hear about . . .

Here were a couple of thoughts to ponder that have, thus far, not made it into any publications or news services of which I am aware concerning the parish closings in Cleveland. Though these stories are particular to this diocese they happen everywhere and so here is one last post on the topic.

Most of the emphasis has been on those who are members (or sometimes-members) of the congregation, the priests, and people in the neighborhood, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. But there are still others that are feeling some amount of angst over the future of the buildings who are overlooked.

I received last week a number of Emails from an architect who has built a good number of churches and other buildings in the diocese. I found him a great man with whom to work as well as a good Catholic and perfect gentleman. The Emails were short containing the name of a parish that is slated to be closed along with the sentence, “My father designed that building.” Ah, who knows how many others have tacit attachments to the buildings similar to this. Does anybody wonder any longer why, when you change the slightest detail about our church buildings that somebody will be upset? On the one hand we encourage people to take fierce pride and ownership in their parish buildings, but the Church, which holds all things in tension and not dilution, also says, “Don’t get attached. This world and all that it is in it is passing away.”

*sigh*

IN OTHER NEWS:

By and large these men would not tell you what they were going through to help keep their inner city parishes going. They do so quietly as well they should in order to help make their parishes viable. But because they keep quiet they often do not receive the recognition of their efforts and their parishioners do not understand the difficulties that their parish may be facing.

The men about whom I am speaking are the pastors of parishes facing difficulties that forgo taking their full salary or some of their benefits such as their continuing education allotment. They are men who live with very little heat in their rectories or live in rectories that are in such a state of disrepair that many others would not accept for their own living arrangements. They try to cover as well as they can many of the jobs that would normally fall on another parish employee which is why many times requests from inner city parishes take a bit longer to fulfill. They wear their clerical garb until they are worn a bit more, put up with things that are broken, do their best to jerry rig expensive repairs and act as security guards for their own buildings which often entail not only the rectory and church, but school, convent, and other buildings as well. And a good number have stayed on well passed retirement age to try to help to the people in the parish have just that much longer to have their beloved church.

Here’s to you unsung heroes! May God bless you for your quiet efforts!