Vatican Reversal of Cleveland Church Closings Getting National Attention
By Michael O'Malley
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Before a recent prayer service in a closed Catholic church in Holyoke, Mass., parishioner Victor Anop stood before 120 people and made an urgent announcement: "The Vatican has ordered the bishop of Cleveland to reopen 13 closed churches." "Everybody broke into applause," Anop said in a telephone interview last week. "People are still talking about it. What happened in Cleveland brings us hope." Catholics fighting church closings throughout the country are keeping their eyes on the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, where Bishop Richard Lennon was formally notified by Vatican decrees on Wednesday that he did not properly follow church law and procedures on closing churches. Copies of the decrees are circulating electronically throughout the country and even in Canada. Anop and other parishioners of the closed Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church refused to leave their century-old sanctuary after their bishop ordered it closed in June. They have been holding an around-the-clock occupying vigil ever since. In July, a Vatican committee -- the Congregation for the Clergy, the same panel that ordered the reopening of Cleveland's churches -- said Mater Dolorosa should stay closed. But the Holyoke squatters appealed to a higher Vatican panel, the Apostolic Signatura, and are awaiting a ruling. Meanwhile, the news from Cleveland, said Anop, has reinvigorated their fight. "Cleveland has led the way," he said. "And now the people of Cleveland need to keep working to get those churches open right away." Phillip Penna, who is trying to reopen his church, Corpus Christi in North Bay, Ontario, about four hours north of Toronto, has read a couple of the Cleveland decrees. "We think our bishop made similar errors," said Penna. "What's happening in Cleveland is monumental. It's really emboldened us. We're ready to go." Many believe Rome is unhappy with U.S. bishops closing so many churches -- hundreds over the last decade -- especially century-old structures that are architecturally rare and elaborately appointed with priceless art. Many were old ethnic churches in inner-city neighborhoods. "I'm wondering if Rome is saying, 'Enough is enough,' " said Michael Dunnigan, a canon lawyer at the St. Joseph Foundation, a parishioners advocacy group in San Antonio, Texas. "I'm no mind reader," he said, "but I imagine that Vatican officials looking at America must wonder to themselves: 'How can the bishops of such a wealthy country close so many churches, abandon their great cities and exile to the suburbs the great Catholic witness in both flesh and stone?' " Dunnigan, who has been representing parishioners for 14 years, said that overturning a bishop's closing of a church was historically unheard of. "We've been in the wilderness for ages with cases like this," he said. "It's been almost impossible to win, to prevail against a bishop. But now there's hope." The 13 Cleveland churches -- out of 50 that Lennon closed between 2009 and 2010 in a finance-driven downsizing of the eight-county diocese -- had appealed to the Congregation for the Clergy, saying they were self-sustaining parishes that should not be closed. While the cases were under appeal, the diocese was prohibited from selling the properties, so they have been sitting empty and padlocked. Word got out March 7 that the Congregation ruled in favor of all 13 parishes, triggering a flurry of news stories worldwide. "I couldn't believe it when I saw the news," said Joe Fuisz, a parishioner fighting to reopen St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pa. "I thought, 'No, the press must be mistaken.' "Up until now, we had no real success stories to look to. Now, going forward, people are looking to Cleveland." Lennon, who has been selling closed churches that didn't appeal to stay open, has 60 days from Wednesday to appeal the reversals of his closing orders. The bishop said in a statement Wednesday that his advisers were reviewing the rulings. Parishioners from three of the 13 closed churches -- St. Patrick in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood, St. James in Lakewood and St. Casimir on Cleveland's East Side -- sent overnight letters to the bishop on Wednesday urging him to comply with the Vatican's rulings. On Friday, Lennon, speaking at a reception kicking off Catholic Charities' annual fundraiser, declined to answer questions from the media regarding the rulings. Peter Borre, a Boston activist who fights church closings throughout the country, said that even if Lennon did appeal, the Congregation's rulings stand in the meantime, meaning the bishop cannot deny parishioners access to the closed churches. Borre, who assisted St. Patrick, St. Casimir and St. James, said Lennon, according to the Congregation's decree, erred both in procedure and substance of church law when he "suppressed" parishes -- which means he dissolved them -- and shuttered the church buildings. He predicted the Vatican will be getting tougher on bishops trying to suppress parishes and deconsecrate churches to sell them in the secular market. "This is a tectonic shift in Vatican parish policy," said Borre. "This is not just idiosyncrasies of a few odd cases here and there." The 10 other Cleveland churches that won their appeals are: St. Adalbert, St. Barbara, St. Emeric, St. Peter and St. Wendelin, all in Cleveland; St. Mary in Bedford; St. Margaret Mary in South Euclid; and St. John the Baptist, St. Martha and St. Mary, all in Akron. Borre, working with canon lawyers in Rome, represents 24 parishioner groups in 11 dioceses throughout the country, including Youngstown, where he's helping parishioners who want to reopen Immaculate Conception in Wellsville, Ohio. "Peter's a champion," said Immaculate Conception parishioner Beverly Hentzell. "He's invaluable to so many trying to reopen their churches. "We know the situation in Cleveland has been difficult. And when we heard the news, I can't tell you how the people here were jumping for joy. We're feeling better and better every day." Contact: momalley@plaind.com
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