Tuesday, October 10, 2006
CLEVELAND CLUSTERING
From the Akron Beacon Journal:
Proposals for clustering and consolidation of ministries in the 233 parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland are expected to emerge in December as the church moves into its second phase of determining how to serve its communities.(bolding mine - ct)
Proposals were delivered last week to the diocese, which expects to reveal those plans by the end of the year.
``Vibrant Parish Life is not about closing or merging parishes. It's about having a strong, stable Catholic presence in every part of the diocese,'' said Rick Krivanka, co-chairman of the Diocesan Vibrant Parish Life II Committee that has been charged with helping all parishes form clusters.
``After completing the process -- with much prayer and discernment -- we may discover that there are areas of the diocese where the only way we can have a strong, vibrant Catholic presence is to look at merging or closing.''
Decisions on closings could be at least two years away, he said.
Continue reading...
Vibrant Parish Life is "not about closing or merging", but it may be that the only way to have a Vibrant Parish Life is to close or merge. Uh-huh. Could you make up your mind which way you want to spin this please? Trying to have it both ways isn't working.
How witless they must believe the folks in the pews are!
...if such issues were not addressed, the Catholic Church in the eight-county diocese might see a day when parishes and ministries are weakened by fewer staff members and diminished resources.
Gosh, would that mean there would be less liberal ladies lingering around rectories looking for a way to play priest and creating programs to guarantee their continued existence while keeping the laity busy? Would that mean that the sacraments would once again take on the prominence they have lost? We can't have that, can we?
The article describes the shrinking priest base, claiming that is the reason for consolidation, and then proposes some possible solutions:
Among those choices are things like interparish ministries, shared residences by priests, limited tenure for priests, combined CYO sports teams, shared facilities and merged schools and parishes.
We haven't got enough priests so we're going to combine sports teams??? How does this compute? How does "shared residences by priests" address a shortage of priests? Are they supposed to multiply in there? Maybe its the merged schools that will solve the priest shortage since less priests will be needed for less schools. Oh wait, schools don't need priests to operate, do they? They have paid teachers and principals who run them. Yeah, this is going to solve the priest shortage problem for sure!
The Gestapo arrives with this statement:
"This is a diocesan-wide restructuring and it is not a question just of the willing. Everybody has to get on board," Smith said. "Even though it is something we have never done before, I think it is a positive and upbeat approach to the future."
With the kind of stupid solutions to the priest shortage he has offered, I guess the eleventh "Thou shalt not be negative" commandment is essential. I wonder what he plans to do with the unwilling?
Am I the only one who senses an agenda here? The same agenda that fostered the cluster parish in Fond du Lac? Well it's one devious way to get rid of the church buildings that actually look like churches.
The article continues:
"Each parish will continue to have its own identity, canonical status and financial accountability," Krivanka said.
Scroll up four paragraphs in the article and note that already "In 2002, St. Mary's and Saced Heart merged to form one parish, Prince of Peace," then check my post titled "First Parish Merger." Notice that the word "Peace" is part of the title of both new parishes. "Peace"--a poorly disguised mandatory requirement?
One of the first rules of Christian management is to be honest with those you serve.
Our chanceries have been the center of duplicity since 2002, and enjoy a history of parish renovations that employed manipulative techniques to get the laity to go along with unCatholic church interiors, according to Michael Rose. Looks like nothing has changed, and I for one am REALLY REALLY SICK OF IT!
Thanks to a reader for sending in the link.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
