Mass Closings, Mark Guydish, Times-Leader, February 1, 2009

Mass Closings

By Mark Guydish
Times-Leader
February 1, 2009

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Mass_closings_02-01-2009.html

[church changes by cluster]

Parishioners leave Sacred Heart/St. John The Evangelist after learning their church will close Saturday afternoon. According to announcements made throughout the county, about half of the churches will close in the next several years.
Photo by S.John Wilkin

Half of county’s churches to close

The disembodied voice of Bishop Joseph Martino spoke in scores of churches across the Diocese of Scranton Saturday night, and while his words and the parishioners’ responses may have varied from podium to podium and pew to pew, the collective message was as stark as it was expected. Half of the 90 churches in Luzerne County will likely close within two years.

Martino chose to release his final decisions on church closings and consolidations by distributing recordings to be played at each Mass this weekend throughout the 11-county diocese. Each recording only revealed the decision for the church at which it was played and several nearby churches, which had been grouped into “clusters.” Luzerne County has 19 clusters.

In the message first heard by many parishioners at Saturday afternoon Masses, Martino stressed, “I have no other way to make this announcement if I am to be respectful to you.

“I do realize that you will experience sorrow, perhaps even anger, if the church you are used to attending should close,” Martino said. “I know you love your churches, but I also know that you love God and your faith even more.”

The response at Sacred Heart Church on Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, made that prediction seem a little questionable. Many people walked out immediately after Pastor John Sempa finished playing the recording, even though Mass was not quite finished, having learned the church will close no later than July, 2010, consolidating with St. Stanislaus Kostka.

Crescent moon rises behind spire of St. Nicholas, Wilkes-Barre, after parishioners heard church will stay open.
Photo by S.John Wilkin

Once Sempa gave the final blessing, the remainder poured out, some pausing to talk to him, but others overheard saying they will not attend St. Stanislaus. A few threatened to leave the Roman Catholic Church altogether.

“We won’t fit,” insisted Anthony Foti, who –along with his wife Noreen – has spearheaded an effort to save Sacred Heart even if it closes. “There are going to be a lot of displaced parishioners.”

The two have formed the nonprofit Sacred Heart Wilkes-Barre Foundation in their effort to save the church and said they remain undaunted despite the announcement, which confirmed what had been suggested in preliminary recommendations released by the diocese in October.

“We’ll meet and decide where we go next,” Anthony Foti said, adding that the group expects to hold a press conference outside the church on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Some parishioners left St. Mary’s in the Lattimer Mines section of Hazle Township in tears after learning their church would close, along with St. Nazarius in Pardeesville and Sacred Heart in Harleigh, but the Rev. Peter O’Rourke said the closings probably saddened him as much or more.

“When I became a priest, I didn’t want to close parishes. Part of my vocation was to keep parishes open,” O’Rourke said after the message was played to well over 100 parishioners.

A priest for 10 years, O’Rourke said he heard of the closings on Thursday, and felt heartbroken ever since.

“We have two options: To approach the future with a sense of anger, or we can confront it with the dignity of this parish.”

There were, of course, those who felt relief at the announcements. Many parishioners of Transfiguration Church in West Hazleton applauded Saturday after hearing the official notice that their church will remain open. Two nearby churches – St. Francis of Assisi and SS. Peter and Paul, will close, though the hall in St. Francis will remain available for use.

Others expressed no strong connection to any one church. Mary Ann Lazur said she belongs to Holy Rosary in Duryea but goes to Mass at St. Joseph in Hudson most of the time.

“Being so close, it was convenient to come here (St. Joseph),” she said. “I like the priests here.” But she added that she expects to attend Mass at SS. Peter and Paul.

At modest St. Boniface in Wilkes-Barre – which lost its school during the massive school consolidations in 2007 – long-time parishioner Bonnie Harris sat in a pew crying quietly after hearing the church would close. It was expected, thanks to the preliminary recommendations, “but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Harris served as a parish representative on the team that made recommendations regarding the consolidation process, which Martino dubbed “Called to Holiness and Mission.” That process began in January 2008 with parish teams meeting, then teams from each cluster meeting and making recommendations to the diocese. A central planning commission issued the preliminary recommendations, but the final decision was up to Martino.

“We thought we had made valid points as to why we should have stayed open,” Harris said.

The Rev. James McGahagan, administrator for St. Boniface and St. Patrick’s, which will remain open, told the crowd he believed the consolidation will “preserve all that is best in each parish.” Still he conceded, the closure would feel like a death notice. “In our faith, every death leads to a resurrection.”

The closings were the result of a long decline in church membership and attendance, as well as budget problems at many churches. But some parishes are faring better than others. When The Rev. Joseph Evanko played the Bishop’s message at Good Shepherd in Butler Township, the crowd learned their church, along with St. John Bosco in Conyngham and Sacred Heart in Weston, would all stay open but link, with a single pastor and staff. The only closing in that cluster will be St. Joseph in Nuremburg, several miles from the Weston church.

“Our cluster fared well in terms of how we’ve been working so far,” Evanko said after the 5:30 p.m. Mass at Good Shepherd. “It’s been easier for us because we had growth on both sides of the valley.”

The announcements increased attendance at many churches, often filling the pews. Bob Pascolini and his wife, Joan, said they usually attend Mass at 7:30 Sunday mornings at Immaculate Conception in Exeter, but like many people, opted for the Saturday 4 p.m. service to hear the announcement as soon as possible.

“We figured this was going to happen,” Bob Pascolini said after hearing his church will remain open and consolidate with Holy Redeemer.

Joe Gentile, an altar server at Immaculate Conception, said that, overall, the Bishop’s process in deciding which churches to close was “fair, but I’m biased. I can see that it had to be done because of the shortage of priests and drop in attendance.”

Martino plans to post the decisions for all churches throughout the diocese on the diocesan Web site, www.dioceseofscranton.org, at 7 p.m. today and to publish them in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Light, this Thursday.

The closings were the result of a long decline in church membership and attendance, as well as budget problems at many churches.

Contact: mguydish@timesleader.com