Saint Margaret Mary Church Parishioners in South Euclid "Thank God" for Re-opening Announcement

By Jeff Piorkowski
The Plain Dealer
March 13, 2012

http://www.cleveland.com/lyndhurst-south-euclid/index.ssf/2012/03/saint_margaret_mary_church_par.html

St. Margaret Mary Church in South Euclid

Former, and possibly future, parishioners of St. Margaret Mary Church are ecstatic with the news that the parish could be re-opened.

“I said ‘Thank you God, thank you God, and then I said a Rosary,” said parish member Bobbie French of her reaction after hearing the news that broke March 7.

French was particularly invested in the re-opening, stating, “I sent 14 letters to Bishop (Richard) Lennon, two letters to Rome, two to a bishop in Washington, and one to a bishop in New Jersey.”

French also gathered 600 signatures on a petition to try and keep the church open.

“Most people didn’t believe me, but I never doubted this would happen,” French said of the possible re-opening.

Meanwhile, French, former parish member Pat Gronick, and others were busy planning a gathering outside the church for former parish members to be held at 7 p.m. March 14.

“I was elated. After the news came out I must have got 100 phone calls,” Gronick said. “I told people to just celebrate this vindication, this validation. Something like this has never happened before.”

St. Margaret Mary, 4217 Bluestone Road, was closed in the summer of 2010. It was one of 50 area churches closed due to changing demographics, financial reasons and a shortage of priests. Upon its closing, St. Margaret Mary was in the black financially.

The church has since merged with the former St. Gregory the Great Church, also in South Euclid, to become Sacred Heart of Jesus parish, 1545 S. Green Road.

A Boston activist, Peter Borre, was hired by the local churches and traveled to Rome several times to meet with Vatican officials about re-opening the Greater Cleveland parishes.

While Borre announced the victories for the local churches, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland has yet to confirm anything.

“The bishop (Lennon) is still awaiting word from the Papal Nuncio in Washington,“ Diocesan spokesman Bob Tayek explained on March 8, the day after Borre’s announcement. “The Papal Nuncio is the Vatican ambassador in Washington and that is where the bishop would get the report.

“We just haven’t heard anything yet,” he said.

Reports from Borre have it that the Vatican ruled that Lennon did not follow proper procedure when closing the Greater Cleveland churches.

Tayek said that Lennon could appeal the Vatican’s decision to the Signatora, the Vatican’s supreme court.

Tayek also said that St. Margaret Mary has not been sold and still belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. The parish grounds are overseen by Sacred Heart of Jesus.

On March 12, Lennon released a statement that read, “I am aware of the interest that these reports have raised within our community. I assure you, that as soon as I receive official notification, I will share that with the community. At that time, I will begin a review of the rulings with my advisors.”

On March 13, Tayek said there was still no word from the Vatican on a decision regarding the Greater Cleveland parishes.

“This shouldn’t have been done,” Gronick said of the closing. “This shouldn’t have been done this way.”

Gronick, a 55-year member of St. Margaret Mary Church and a South Euclid resident , joined the merged church but said, “It hasn’t been quite the same.”

French never joined another church.

South Euclid’s Helen Longville belonged to St. Margaret Mary for 50 years and had 10 children go through its school.

Longville said she was “very, very happy” to hear the news of the possible re-opening and called it “a miracle I never expected to happen.”

Longville, like other former St. Margaret Mary parishioners, was cool to the idea of merging with St. Gregory the Great. She joined Gesu parish in University Heights so that she would have a parish affiliation, but said she has recently been attending Mass at the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Euclid.

The Rev. Dave Ireland, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus, a parish made up of 1,800 families, said he had no comment about the reported re-opening of St. Margaret Mary.

“Nothing is official, so there is nothing yet to say,“ Ireland said.