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	Cleveland Catholic Parishes Will Find out March 14 If They Will Close By Michael O'Malley The Plain Dealer March 3, 2009 http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/03/cleveland_catholic_parishes_wi.html The Cleveland Catholic Diocese will notify parishes on March 14 which of nearly 50 churches will close as part of the diocese's downsizing. A memo dated Monday from Bishop Richard Lennon told each of the diocese's 224 parishes to have someone available that day between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to receive a "special delivery letter" detailing whether the church will close or remain open. Priests will read the letters to their congregations during Saturday evening and Sunday morning Masses. Affected churches must close by July 1, 2010. Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said churches marked for closing have 10 days from the time of the announcement to appeal the decision to the diocese. The decisions represent the culmination of two years of meetings and speculation over which churches in the eight-county diocese should close and which parishes should merge. Most of the churches expected to close are in inner-city neighborhoods. The downsizing is in response to a shortage of priests, lean collection baskets and a change in demographics. "We're just too big for the number of people that we have," Lennon said recently. "Something had to be done." In recent weeks, Lennon has been reviewing the work of 69 so-called cluster committees -- made up of representatives of parishes grouped by geographical areas -- which have given him recommendations on the downsizing. Despite the recommendations, the bishop has the final say. Of the 23 clusters that Lennon has directed to downsize, 16 are in Cleveland. In his memo Monday, Lennon said, "Communication of this letter will be vitally important since it is our hope that the people of your parish will hear the news first at all of your weekend Masses on the 14th and 15th of March." The memo said parishes should have copies available for all parishioners and cautioned how to deal with the media. "If the media is at your parish, know that the parish is private property," the memo said. "It is your call whether you wish to address the media or have them on parish property." The memo included a suggested statement from priests to parishioners whose churches will close: "I understand how painful this may be for you and how you might feel. I feel the same; but remember who we are as Church in a spirit of peace and reconciliation."
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