Church Closings Hit More Than the Faithful Houses of Worship Anchor Communities, Providing Refuge, Contributing to Economy, by Chris Parker and Daniel Patrick Sheehan, Morning Call, June 3, 2008

Church Closings Hit More Than the Faithful
Houses of Worship Anchor Communities, Providing Refuge, Contributing to Economy

By Chris Parker and Daniel Patrick Sheehan
Morning Call
June 3, 2008

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5churches.6438642jun03,0,7237752.story

Churches tend to be quiet neighbors, so the impact of losing nearly 50 of them across the five-county Catholic Diocese of Allentown might not be immediately obvious to anyone outside the circle of faithful.

Megan Andersen, owner of Porvaznik's Flowers in Lansford, expects to lose thousands of dollars in business when six area churches merge into one.
Photo by Kevin Mingora

But the massive church consolidation unveiled over the weekend is more than a Catholic story. Many downtowns, some of them already distressed, will see prominent buildings go dark. The downtrodden will lose places of refuge. Merchants will lose business. Historians and preservationists will lose living museums, places where generations marked milestones of life.

"This is the unsung part of their greatness," said Gregory Lloyd of the National Coalition of Clergy and Laity in Whitehall, pointing to the central place of houses of worship, Catholic or otherwise, in the life of a town. They have historically been recognized as neighborhood anchors and as sanctuaries in times of trouble.

"There's a storm in the neighborhood, there's a fight on the street -- people go into the rectory, they go into the church," said Lloyd, whose group is dedicated to Catholic tradition and renewal.

Although Catholicism remains strong in the Lehigh Valley area -- the 47-year-old diocese ministers to 272,000 souls, the largest religious group in the region -- the church closings will hit hard and in unexpected ways.

"We'll still do flowers for the church that's open, but it's definitely going to affect our business," said Megan Andersen, owner of Porvaznik's Flowers in Lansford. She anticipates losing thousands of dollars a year when six churches in Lansford and neighboring Coaldale are merged into a single new parish. "Many of the churches got flowers and plants for Easter, Christmas and many of the other religious holidays," she said.

In South Bethlehem, five churches will be folded into one. Our Lady of Pompeii, St. John Capistrano, St. Joseph and St. Stanislaus will be vacated, with Ss. Cyril and Methodius absorbing the congregations and becoming a new parish called Incarnation of Our Lord.

Contact: daniel.sheehan@mcall.com