CLEVELAND-AREA Catholic Churches That Won Vatican Appeals Should Reopen by Palm Sunday, Activist Says

By Michael O'Malley
Plain Dealer
March 10, 2012

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/03/catholic_churches_that_won_vat.html

St. Casimir Catholic Church in Cleveland has been surrounded by a padlocked fence since it was closed. But, after prevailing in their appeal to the Vatican, parishioners are hoping the church will reopen soon.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Catholic activist who represented some of the 13 Northeast Ohio churches that just won Vatican appeals of their closings wants to see the sanctuaries reopened for worship services by Palm Sunday, which is April 1.

Or if any of the 13 parishes want to reopen sooner, they can do so because Bishop Richard Lennon of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland can no longer deny the scattered congregations access to their padlocked churches, said Peter Borre of Boston.

Borre for years has been traveling to Rome on behalf of closed parishes in Boston and Cleveland.

Working with canon lawyers in the Holy See, Borre announced earlier this week that the Congregation for the Clergy, a Vatican panel that handled the 13 Cleveland appeals, reversed Lennon's closings.

"These 13 restored parishes have been in appeal for at least two years," Borre said in a telephone call from Boston Friday. "The Vatican has recognized the validity of their appeals. Lennon must restore the parishes and restore churches to regular worship."

Borre earlier this week released a copy of a decree reversing Lennon's closing of St. Patrick Church in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood. He said the other 12 are identically written in favor of the parishioners.

Lennon has 60 days from the time he receives the official decrees to appeal to the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's supreme court.

It wasn't clear Friday whether Lennon had received official word. A spokesman for the diocese did not respond to questions about the decrees.

But regardless of whether Lennon appeals, the 13 parishes are to be immediately reconstituted, said Borre, citing the decrees.

Michael Dunnigan, a canon lawyer at the St. Joseph Foundation, a parishioners advocacy group in San Antonio, Texas, agreed.

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"If the bishop wishes to appeal to the Signatura, he may request a suspension of the effects of the decree, that is, a suspension of his duty to reopen St. Patrick's, but the burden is on the bishop to obtain this suspension. He may not simply decline to reopen the church, nor may he just assume that the decree is suspended."

Dunningan's group assisted in the appeal for St. Emeric in Cleveland. He said Friday that St. Emeric parishioners had not yet seen their decree.

Parishioners of St. James in Lakewood had copies of their decree Thursday. Other parishes have been waiting.

Besides St. Patrick, St. James and St. Emeric, the other churches are: St. Adalbert, St. Barbara, St. Casimir, St. Peter and St. Wendelin, all of Cleveland; St. Mary in Bedford; St. Margaret Mary in South Euclid; and St. John the Baptist, St. Martha and St. Mary, all in Akron.

Between 2009 and 2010, in a diocese-wide downsizing, Lennon closed 50 churches, mostly in inner-city neighborhoods, saying there were not enough priests, money and parishioners to keep them going.

Thirteen of those churches appealed their closings to the Congregation for the Clergy, which, on March 1, issued decrees in favor of all 13, saying Lennon did not properly follow church law and procedures when he ordered them closed.

Following the closings, the diocese began selling vacant church properties, but under church law could not sell properties while they were under appeal.

Instead, the 13 have been sitting boarded up and padlocked.

"Since the parishes and churches are now canonically restored," said Borre, "it would be scandalous if they were not open and ready to accommodate Cleveland's Catholics during the holiest period of the Catholic liturgical calendar, beginning on Palm Sunday."

Borre, who represents St. Patrick, St. James and St. Casimir, said he and the canon lawyers in Rome have advised the parishioners to send a letter to Lennon urging him to comply with the Vatican decrees.

He said Friday that the letter was being drafted and will be held for a few days to see if Lennon makes a move.

"In a matter of days, if there is silence or anything other than a clear indication that he will do what Rome has ordered him to do, then we will go to the next phase," said Borre.

Borre told The Plain Dealer and WCPN 90.3 FM that he has advised parishioners not to bargain with Lennon over reopening the churches.

"Because," he said, "Lennon could use that as a pretext to say to Rome, 'Look, put all this legalistic mumbo-jumbo aside. We'll solve this at our own level. Leave us alone.'

"That would really be a major flub on the part of these parishioners."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: momalley@plaind.com or 216-999-4893