Bishop Stayed Accessible in 1st Year, by Mark Guydish, The Times Leader, April 25, 2011

Bishop Stayed Accessible in 1st Year

By Mark Guydish
The Times Leader
April 25, 2011

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Bishop-stayed-accessible-in-1st-year.html

One year after his installation as leader of the 11-county Diocese of Scranton, Bishop Joseph Bambera seems undaunted as he maintains a schedule of frequent public appearances and a campaign seeking input from the faithful in deciding where the diocese goes next.

“I’ve heard many of you – before offering any other thoughts – share a sadness that comes from loss,” Bambera told a crowd during the “Chrism Mass” – at which oils are blessed for use in religious rites – at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton April 21.

“Personal losses due to death or sickness, but also losses that come from the closing of church buildings and parishes that mean so much to us and schools where we and our children grew in wisdom, knowledge and faith,” he said.

Closings” defined Bambera’s predecessor, Bishop Joseph Martino, a Philadelphia transplant who took office in 2003 as the diocese was in the throes of tectonic shifts in demographics.

Population shrinking

The Roman Catholic population in the diocese heart of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties had aged and shrunk while younger Catholics moved into booming communities of Monroe and Pike counties.

The number of available priests had halved from a high of 442 in 1960. Religious sisters who had long kept Catholic school costs low by teaching for a relative pittance became a rarity.

Martino launched two massive undertakings that rattled the faithful. In January 2007, he announced the closing of numerous schools, including six elementary schools and three high schools in Luzerne County. In January 2009, he announced plans to shutter nearly half the churches in the diocese.

Seven months later, citing “bouts of insomnia” and “crippling fatigue,” Martino stepped down. His tenure as the ninth bishop in Scranton was the second shortest in diocesan history.

Bambera, a diocesan native, was immediately tabbed to handle day-to-day management until a new bishop was appointed. Asked at the time if he thought he would ultimately get that post, he somewhat famously quipped, “Surely they can find someone better suited for the job than me.”

Six months later, the Vatican announced Bambera would be bishop.

Affable and widely liked in the parishes where he had served, Bambera faced his first rebuke barely three hours after the announcement at a press conference in February 2010.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called Bambera “a poor choice,” citing Bambera’s comments during the trial of a priest accused of sexual misconduct with an altar boy. Clohessy argued Bambera had acknowledged helping cover up the scandal, a charge Bambera denied.

Clohessy and SNAP leveled similar accusations last month after the diocese announced misconduct allegations had been made against a priest by someone in Missouri, where the priest had previously served.

SNAP claimed the bishop had waited five weeks before publicizing the allegations, prompting the diocese to release a detailed timeline of how the case was handled.

Multiple church closings

Bambera also had to cope with the church closings ordered by Martino, and has hewn closely to the original plan. Unlike Martino, he has met with several people fighting some of the closings, earning praise for his willingness to discuss concerns.

Nine churches appealed their closings, staving off the process with varied success. St. Francis of Assisi Church in West Hazleton, for example, was initially scheduled to close by July 2010, but the appeal delayed the final Mass to this Saturday.

Sacred Heart in Wilkes-Barre had also been scheduled to close by July 2010, but a rigorous opposition not only delayed that, but managed to convince the pastor to resume daily Mass in the church recently.

Bambera has also continued to struggle with declining school enrollment and escalating costs. He increased tuition rates in order to lower the amount churches are expected to contribute to schools.

On April 11, he announced the closing of four more elementary schools, two in Lackawanna County and two in Luzerne. Tonight, he is set to announce the relocation of Holy Family Academy in Hazleton, currently occupying the former Bishop Hafey High School building, which Bambera said is too large for the enrollment.

But these are inherited problems. In his first year as bishop, Bambera has increasingly charted his own course with emphasis on accessibility and planning. Two days after his installation as bishop on April 26, 2010, Bambera visited St. Vincent DePaul Kitchen in Wilkes-Barre to dine with the disadvantaged.

One woman called him “a regular guy.” Bambera “high-fived” a tot in a stroller, and signed an impromptu autograph on a Post-it note. He has followed up with repeated excursions into the diocese, regularly announcing his public schedule to media and inviting coverage.

‘Administrative review’

Bambera hired an outside consultant to do an “administrative review” of the diocese, which is ongoing, though the review led to the recent creation of a department of property and risk management. Since his installation, the diocesan website has undergone a dramatic redesign, with increased emphasis on recruiting men into the priesthood, enticing people and groups to rent the Fatima Center near Dalton as a retreat or meeting place, and pitching the value of the diocesan school system – including a page for alumnae to register.

The new bishop has had to cope with his own scandals, including the dismissal of School Superintendent Joseph Casciano in January 2010 following an investigation of abuse allegations by the Lackawanna County District Attorney. No charges were filed because the statute of limitations had expired.

After years of repeated red ink in the diocesan administrative budget, Bambera cautiously announced a modest surplus when unveiling the latest financial statements in March.

The diocese has hinted at possible new directions with two large transactions.

In December the sale of St. Michael’s school near Tunkhannock – serving students with behavior and emotional problems – was finalized. Martino had decided in 2007 that the school’s mission no longer fit the diocese.

Earlier this month, Bambera announced the purchase of The Heritage House, a Wilkes-Barre facility offering a broad range of living arrangements for the elderly.

But if there is to be a hallmark effort by Bambera, a likely candidate is his open-ended request – first made in November 2010 -- for input from the faithful to help “articulate a vision for the future of the diocese.”

In his Chrism Mass homily last Thursday, Bambera said the most frequent comments so far have been about the loss of churches, schools and parish communities, and concern about the ongoing priest scandals.

But he also cited positive signs, including conversion of a former church-run orphanage in Nanticoke into housing for the poor and elderly.

“Have I heard or seen anything that is hopeful or promising as we look to the future”” Bambera said, “Yes. Yes, indeed! And I pray that you have as well.”

The Rev. Gerald Gurka, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville, agreed. “He has made incredible strides to be out there with all of us,” Gurka said.

“It has been a year of encouragement and a year of hope, and I sense that from all of us. The priests have a great sense of hope.”

Contact: mguydish@timesleader.com