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	Bishop: Accept Church Merger Diocese Holds Parish Convening By Tatiana Zarnowski Schenectady Gazette October 26, 2008 http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/oct/26/1026_diocesespeak/ COLONIE — A Rochester bishop who was raised in Saratoga County implored members of his home diocese to accept changes next year with an open heart. Bishop Matthew H. Clark, who was initiated in St. Mary's parish in Waterford and now heads the Rochester Diocese, addressed head-on the Albany Diocese plan to consolidate churches starting next year. "I would guess that you all have mixed feelings about this," Clark said during his keynote address at the annual Parish Convening of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany at Christian Brothers Academy on Saturday. Clark, who is a friend of Albany Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, addressed the difficulty local Catholics will face as their parishes undergo change as part of the "Called to BE Church" pastoral planning process. Hubbard expects to announce restructuring plans for the diocese in January. Some local parishes will likely be merged with others as a way of dealing with demographic changes that have shrunk many urban congregations in the last few decades, as well as priest shortages. "When you get a decline in attendance, you get a decline in resources," said Ken Goldfarb, spokesman for the Albany Diocese. On Saturday, afternoon workshops at the annual meeting focused on coping with change, practical issues when parishes merge and dealing with emotions in the wake of the reorganization. "It's basically designed to provide information and training for the more active members," Goldfarb said of the annual meeting. Clark spoke about his own experience dealing with consolidation in the Rochester Diocese, which has closed 22 churches over the last 10 years. "One of the huge challenges of this is communication," the bishop said, adding that holding meetings between parishes is a helpful way to hammer out solutions, but they won't always be accepted when committee members get back to their home parishes. "People who went to school together in central schools, who shopped at the same malls, who were friends through other civic associations, started to take an attitude toward one another." People are very connected to their church buildings, where they've been married, baptized their children, said goodbye to deceased loved ones and invested money, and no one should dismiss those deep feelings, Clark said. "We cannot ever ignore or slide by the pain this causes people," he said. "We are a faith community in which symbols are enormously important." But neither should the group be sidelined by a minority that refuses all change, he said. The Rev. Dennis Murphy thinks his parish, St. Margaret of Cortona in Rotterdam Junction, might be consolidated with others. "We haven't been given any direction for what to do after the decision," he said, noting that Saturday's meeting was geared toward addressing that readiness. "We should probably be doing some interparish stuff already." Murphy noted that General Electric's shrinkage affected his parish. "When they downsized, that affected our whole region," he said. "To me, it's not just a church thing. It's an economic thing too." Murphy was part of a group that made recommendations to Hubbard about pastoral planning, he said. Hubbard will make his decision after reviewing all the recommendations, Goldfarb said. "The bishop wanted this to come from the ground up rather than him just deciding," Goldfarb said. But Clark, whose relaxed style of speaking had attendees laughing at several points during the speech, said some Rochester parishioners believed he had already made up his mind about consolidations long before he had. "'The bishop's got the whole damn thing in the safe already, so why are we going through this?'" he jokingly quoted a parishioner. The Grebes of Clifton Park belong to one of the growing parishes in the region that will probably absorb parishioners from other areas starting next year — St. Mary's in Waterford. "A lot of what he said are things we've thought about," said Andy Grebe. Clark told attendees that consolidating groups have to make an effort to mesh into one organization. "It cannot be one group hosting the other group," Clark said. "It has to be a fresh start in which all participate." He also urged people to talk to youngsters about the mergers and help them feel welcome. "I like that he said to involve the children," Mary Grebe of Clifton Park said. On Saturday, a handful of protesters with large signs gathered a short distance from the Christian Brothers Academy on Airline Drive. They protested Hubbard's handling of the priest sex abuse scandals.
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