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	Closed Churches Are 'Hot Properties' By Joseph Fuisz Morning Call July 24, 2008 http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/anotherview/all-left_col-a.6516653jul24,0,7161976.story In 2005, the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report on Pedophilia in the Philadelphia Diocese provided a window on Bishop Edward Cullen and where his sympathies lay in the Philadelphia sex scandal. The Morning Call wrote: "Cullen is portrayed as perpetuating an unwritten policy of obfuscation and excuse-peddling in dealing with sexually abusive priests." His priority was not to protect vulnerable members of the flock, but rather to attempt to insulate the church hierarchy from the scandal. Three years later, Bishop Cullen is closing almost a third of the parishes of the Allentown Diocese, including nearly all of the ethnic parishes. This will destroy the communities centered on the ethnic parishes. Again, Bishop Cullen places the interests of the hierarchy, in this case financial, over the good of the people. In response, the Coalition of Churches was founded by members of closed parishes to appeal the closings to the Vatican. In a videocast on the Allentown Diocese Web site, Bishop Cullen calls on the faithful to "bear the cross" of the closings. He says that the closings are the necessary result of an aging clergy and a lack of vocations to replenish the ranks. He says that missionary priests from abroad should not and cannot be brought to bolster the ranks of priests. The Father, Bishop Cullen tells us, will provide. The Father will provide, indeed. In an e-mail obtained by the Coalition of Churches, a diocese official refers to the closed ethnic parishes of South Side Bethlehem as "hot properties located between the Casino and Lehigh University." This is the tone that Bishop Cullen has set for the diocese. Sacred parishes, lovingly built by hand as testaments to the faith, are "hot properties" for sale to the highest bidders. Ignoring the prayers and sorrows of the faithful, he looks to the rewards of Ceaser for properties near a casino. Seen in this context, it is not surprising that a handicapped-accessible parish in superb condition and with parking lots -- St. Joseph's Slovenian Church -- is suppressed in favor of a physically inferior church with no parking that is not handicap accessible, Ss. Cyril & Methodius. This pattern has been sadly repeated in other parts of the diocese as more saleable structures have been slated for closure. St. Kunegunda of MacAdoo, a majestic, handicap-accessible brick and steel edifice with an altar carved from Carrera marble is closed in favor of St. Patrick's, a wooden structure perilously perched on a cracked foundation. We believe that any parish that will be responsibly maintained by its parish community should be permitted to remain open. Bishop Cullen claims that assets of closed parishes will go to the surviving, merged parishes. This stems from the history of the Boston Diocese's parish closings wherein Cardinal Hoyos reprimanded the Boston Diocese for directly expropriating closed parish assets. Bishop Cullen's claims notwithstanding, parishioners of closed parishes are entitled to a high degree of cynicism that the silver paid for their "hot properties" will end up, after a suitable waiting period, as a special dividend to the Bishop's purse. If indeed the intention was to build strong merged parishes, presumably the physically strongest churches would have been selected for use, as opposed to sale. Many of our pastors corroborate this view. But relying as they must on Bishop Cullen for their future livelihoods, responsible parishioners ask them not to speak publicly on our behalf. There is already enough pain in the diocese without reprisals against good priests. With the assistance and support of the Coalition of Churches, closed parishes are appealing to the Vatican to overturn Bishop Cullen's closings. Its high court, the Apostolic Signatura, recently rejected the appeal of a closed Boston parish, stating that "maximum discretion was given to the Excellent Archbishop of Boston so that he might save the entire archdiocese from monetary ruin provoked not only, but also, by the sexual abuse crisis." Bishop Cullen has told the Allentown faithful that the closings have nothing to due with the sex abuse crisis. As parishioners prepare to take their appeals to the Vatican, we can only hope that the bishop is speaking truthfully on this point. Joseph Fuisz of Washington, D.C., is a Bethlehem native and is a co-founder of the Coalition of Churches.
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