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	Vatican: NY Church Should Remain Worship Site Wall Street Journal May 24, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6e173e7b8ff446e88a7a15bb1d6d782a.html SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Vatican has ruled that a suburban Syracuse church cannot be deconsecrated, meaning it must remain a Catholic worship site. The ruling by the Vatican Supreme Court sets the stage for parishioners of St. Mary's Church in Jamesville to see if they can work out details with Robert Cunningham, bishop of the Syracuse Diocese, to reopen the building. "Today is a good day. It is not the end of our journey, but our destination is now in sight. We are cautiously optimistic," Colleen LaTray, a member of the committee that organized the appeal, told a group of about 50 parishioners who gathered Tuesday at the front of the locked church and erupted more than once in appreciative applause. "We will have to wait several weeks for all the details." A call for comment from the Syracuse Diocese was not immediately returned. It's been five years since St. Mary's parishioners began a campaign to keep the church open. James Moynihan, former bishop of the Syracuse Diocese, announced in 2006 that the church would become a mission of Holy Cross parish in nearby DeWitt. That decision was upheld by the Vatican ruling. Still, any ray of hope was welcome for supporters of St. Mary's, which had a thriving congregation before it was closed. "I'm happy," said 80-year-old William Middleton, whose parents were married in the 112-year-old church. "This is going to reopen. I've been going to other churches, but this is my church." Said LaTray, "We have believed all along that a financially solvent church should remain open." The ruling comes in the wake of a decision three weeks ago by a bishop in northeastern Pennsylvania to stop challenging the Vatican on the fate of six closed churches in his diocese. The Vatican also had ruled that they should be "maintained as Catholic worship sites," but Bishop John Barres of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown said the churches would remain shuttered. Peter Borre of the Council of Parishes, which has spent years appealing church closures in the Boston area, said the Vatican can prevent a church from being deconsecrated and sold by ordering it to remain a worship site. According to Borre, this is only the second time since the early 1990s the Vatican has ruled in favor of American parishioner-appellants. Congregants of another closed church in the Syracuse Diocese are also appealing. Holy Trinity, which closed 13 months ago, was one of nearly 40 churches targeted in 2007 by the Syracuse diocese in a massive restructuring. Church officials said the closures were driven by a decline in the number of clergy and demographic shifts from urban to suburban areas. The diocese has more than 250,000 Catholics and includes Onondaga, Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Oneida and Oswego counties.
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