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	Long-Time Parishioners Mourn Closings of Three Flint Churches By Rose Mary Reiz Flint Journal June 9, 2008 http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/06/longtime_parishioners_mourn_cl.html FLINT, Michigan — Long-time parishioners at three northern Flint churches slated to close this summer are mourning the impending loss of part of their histories, and their hearts. "When the letter was read yesterday at church, people just cried," said Patricia Panek, 69, who has attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Flint since she was four years old. Due to a steady bleed in attendance and increasing financial woes, Sacred Heart, St. Luke and St. Agnes Catholic churches must close by August, Bishop Earl Boyea announced in a letter read during Sunday masses. Parish leaders may set a closing date of their choosing, but not later than Aug. 1, the bishop said. The closed parishes will merge with the parish at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Flint. At Sacred Heart, which last week celebrated its 80th anniversary, the news hit harder and sooner than expected, Panek said. "We knew this was coming, but we were told we'd probably have six months to prepare," Panek said. "Instead, we have six weeks. I feel like we've been cheated. How do you prepare to close a church in six weeks?" Michael Diebold, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing, said that a facilitator will be appointed to meet with the parishes and help them through the process of closing and merging. "But I understand there's going to be mourning and sadness," he said. "That's as it should be; it shows people love their parishes." The decision to close the three Flint churches sooner than expected was prompted by urgent financial conditions, Diebold said. "The question became, do we want to keep spending any more money on churches that we know have to close? It's just good stewardship (to make the decision now)." According to the diocese, Sacred Heart's parish of about 75 members has operated with a deficit for seven of the past 10 years. St. Luke's parish of about 100 did not use the church building last winter in order to avoid the high costs of heat. Its budget has not been balanced for several years, and savings have been used to cover the deficit. If no major repairs are required, savings will run out in three to four years. Similar problems exist at St. Agnes, which has a parish of about 150. The parish has not had a balanced budget for several years and is unable to continue paying its bills. The diocese is in the final stages of a widespread evaluation of each of its 97 parishes. Panek said she has attended local meetings at which diocese representatives visited Sacred Heart to seek input from church leaders and parishioners. "We knew that two of the inner-city churches would need to close, and due to the condition of our building, we even recommended that our church be one of them," Panek said. "Eventually, people from St. Agnes came to the same conclusion. So we were hoping to move to St. Luke's." Panek said she will not attend St. John Vianney, which is located on Bagley Street west of Dupont Street in Flint. "I don't consider it an inner-city church," said Panek, who has been involved in many of her church's programs to help inner-city residents. "Some of our parishioners, who walk to our church, won't even have a way to get there." St. John's size, about 600 parishioners, is another deterrent, she said. "We attended one Sunday as we were going through this planning process, and it was so crowded that I felt like just one person in a great number," Panek said. St. John's was chosen as the merger church after careful study that took into account everything from geography to the condition of church buildings, Diebold said. "Availability of space, layout, age and condition were all taken into account." Input received from the parishes played an important part in the decision, he stressed. "I want to make it very clear that this isn't just a bunch of people in a closed-door meeting making these decisions. Parishioners played a key part." Fred Wise, a 56-year-member of St. Luke's, said he was "hoping our church would be the one they left alone, but I'm willing to give St. John's a try." Wise remembers watching construction of the St. Luke church and school, which held more than 600 students at its peak in the 1960's, from his Lawndale Avenue home. "I watched it all go up," said Wise, who moved from the neighborhood 40 years ago, but has remained a faithful church member. "My wife was buried from here and seven of our ten children were baptized here," he said. "I've been a lector, an usher and a Eucharistic minister. I've served on the finance committee and was on the school board when there was a school there." Wise sadly watched the parish population dwindle over the years, and witnessed the school's closing in 1971. Interestingly, he and his late wife attended St. John Vianney for a few years after they were first married more than 50 years ago. "I guess I've come full circle," he said.
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