CLEVELAND Catholic Diocese Parishioners Still Waiting for Bishop Richard Lennon to Reopen Churches
By Michael O'Malley
It's been nearly a month since Bishop Richard Lennon announced he would reopen 12 closed churches in the diocese, but so far no shuttered sanctuaries have been resurrected. As they wait, parishioners from some of the moribund parishes have begun organizing committees in preparation for the reopenings, which the diocese this week said are in process, although it gave no timetable. At St. Mary of Bedford, parishioners have formed a parish council, a finance committee and a music committee. And they have tied blue and white bows and a "Welcome Home" sign on the front of their church, which was closed by Lennon 2 1/2 years ago as part of a diocesewide downsizing. "We've got our committees organized," said St. Mary parishioner Carol Szczepanik. "We're just waiting for the bishop." At St. Patrick in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood, more than 50 people have been meeting regularly at a nearby Protestant church to discuss ways to raise money, rebuild their congregation and engage parishioners in helping to clean up and restore their mothballed worship site. At St. Barbara on Denison Avenue in Cleveland, about 50 people are working to reopen their parish, including passing out fliers in the neighborhood asking people to join the congregation. "We're trying to keep the connections going," said parishioner Michael Minich, noting that while the church has been closed, thieves have stolen two air-conditioning units along with a metal flagpole, which they cut down with a hacksaw. "I think people are excited about coming back," Minich said. "If we stay focused, we'll succeed."
The 12 churches were among 50 closed by Lennon over 15 months, beginning in 2009. The bishop said the closings -- most of them in inner-city neighborhoods -- were the result of changing demographics and shortages of priests and cash. But the 12 appealed to the Vatican, arguing they still had enough resources to sustain their parishes. In March, the Vatican upheld the 12 appeals, issuing each church a decree saying that Lennon did not properly follow canon law and procedures when he closed them. Lennon, who had 60 days to appeal the Vatican decrees, announced at a news conference April 17 that he would not appeal and that he would reopen the 12 churches. "It's time for peace and unity in the Diocese of Cleveland," he said. At the news conference, the bishop said he could not say how soon the churches would reopen. He said his first order of business was to assign priests to the parishes. Responding to questions from The Plain Dealer this week, diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said in an email, "The complex process of appointing clergy leaders for the affected parishes has been moving forward steadily since the April 17 announcement and continues on a daily basis." But so far, no assignments have been publicly announced, frustrating some parishioners eager to return to their churches. "We haven't heard anything," said Miklos Peller, who wrote the appeal for St. Emeric, a Hungarian parish near the West Side Market. "We might have to stir up certain interests in Rome again because it looks like this is going to be dragged out. People are getting anxious and edgy." Lennon leans strongly toward having priests -- not nuns or lay administrators -- running parishes. Given the scarcity of priests, some Catholics are wondering where Lennon is going to get 12 new pastors. Tayek said Friday in a prepared statement, "Bishop Lennon and his staff are making every effort to appoint clergy from the Diocese of Cleveland to fulfill the pastoral leadership roles in the 12 parishes." Lennon's predecessor, retired Bishop Anthony Pilla, who also struggled with a priest shortage, was open to using parish life coordinators -- nonpriests -- to handle the nuts-and-bolts operations of certain parishes. Pilla declined to be interviewed for this story, but in a 2001 pastoral letter he wrote: "I do not want priests to be so overburdened with administrative responsibilities. [I]n the future assignment of priests we will . . . consider different alternatives. "These alternatives," he wrote, "may include . . . assigning a pastor or priest to more than one parish; placement of a deacon, religious or layperson to serve as parish life coordinator; or the assignment of a pastoral team (priests, deacons, religious, laypersons) for two or more parishes." When Pilla retired in May 2006, he had about a dozen parish life coordinators in place, running mostly inner-city parishes. Shortly after Lennon took over, he drastically trimmed the program. Only two remain today. Asked at the news conference last month whether he might reactivate parish life coordinators, given the priest shortage, Lennon said he might think about it "down the road." "I'm not prepared [now] to rekindle a program that has waned," he said. Tayek, in his emailed statement, said staffing is only part of the complex process of reopening churches. "For instance," he said, "each parish has to be re-established as a separate legal entity, and that process is nearly completed. "Additional meetings and conversations are scheduled with the bishop over the next few weeks," he said. Asked how soon he expected churches to reopen, Tayek echoed the bishop's words at the news conference, saying there was no timetable. "We would expect that the parishes will be able to reopen expeditiously following the assignment of a clergy leader for each parish," he said. Meanwhile, in a sideshow to the unfolding drama of reopening churches, some Catholics are angered over the bishop's recent closing of the diocese's office of Pastoral Planning, resulting in the layoffs of longtime diocese employees Rick Krivanka and Dave DeLambo. An April 26 letter from Lennon to parish pastors and administrators explained that the move was a result of a budget crunch at the diocese. But sources who declined to be publicly identified told The Plain Dealer that eliminating the jobs of Krivanka and DeLambo could affect the timely reopening of the 12 churches because the two men had the skills necessary to take on the complex tasks of reconstituting parishes. In response, Tayek said in a statement that the people making that claim "apparently do not know how the diocese functions and were not aware that the Pastoral Planning office has had limited involvement in the parish closing or reopening process." "The disengagement of these two individuals," he said, "was about looking for efficiencies to maintain a balanced budget and to maximize the work that we can perform with the valuable resources available." Krivanka and DeLambo declined to discuss the matter, saying only in a statement, "We have truly loved serving the people of the diocese and have found it very difficult for our work to end and the closing of the Pastoral Planning office." To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: momalley@plaind.com 216-999-4893
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