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	Diocese Weighs Parish Closure Plan Could Leave St. Mary's Church in Schenectady Open Only for Special Occasions By Marc Parry Albany Times Union May 23, 2008 http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=690752&category=REGION&newsdate=5/23/2008 SCHENECTADY — A Polish parish that dates to 1892 would close under a proposal expected to be presented to the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese by next month. St. Mary's Church, an imposing Gothic structure on Eastern Avenue, could remain available as an "oratory" under the plan. That means there would be no official weekend Masses, but the church would be a sacred space for events like weddings, funerals and traditional Polish prayers. "We've tried to do it in a way that minimizes the agony," said Eileen Shirey, employed as a local facilitator in a sweeping restructuring under way across the 14-county diocese. The St. Mary's proposal is one small piece of that process, known as "Called to BE Church." It will lead to some church closings in a diocese grappling with population shifts and fewer priests. Bishop Howard Hubbard is not expected to announce any final decisions until January. St. Mary's thrived after Polish immigrants established it on New Year's Day in 1892. Today, the gray stone church sits across from a boarded-up church school and another building city inspectors have deemed "unsafe for human occupancy," according to a sign duct-taped to its exterior. Another Catholic church, St. John the Evangelist, is less than five blocks away on Union Street. Statistics tell a story common to urban parishes across the region. At St. Mary's, Mass attendance is at 180 in a building that seats 700. The deficit between collections and expenses was $60,665 in 2006 and $224,493 in 2007. There were 42 funerals and 2 baptisms in a recent year. Those numbers don't make the prospect of closure any easier for parishioners like Tony Buonome. The 69-year-old from Schenectady was married in the church, and so were his kids. He worried that traditions, such as a Polish fish dinner, would disappear. "How would you like to belong to something all your life and all of a sudden it's taken out from underneath you?" he said. Under the diocesan restructuring project, churches have been clustered into local planning groups with representatives from each of their component parishes. Those groups are examining their financial and personnel situations. Recommendations are due to the diocese by June 30. Should the parish close, St. Mary's parishioners are invited to join St. John the Evangelist, where they would continue with the same pastor. The planning cluster also includes St. Anthony's and St. John the Baptist. Shirey, who is the liaison between the diocese and the cluster, said that at a recent meeting, people were told the diocese has discussed the likelihood that St. John the Baptist would also close as a parish. Details of how that might happen have not been finalized. Marc Parry can be reached at 454-5057 or by e-mail at mparry@timesunion.com.
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