Catholic Diocese of Cleveland's Bishop Lennon Meets with Parishioners to Discuss Reopening Closed Churches

By Michael O'Malley
Plain Dealer
May 15, 2012

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/05/bishop_lennon_meets_with_paris.html

Bishop Richard Lennon, speaking at a news conference last month, has been meeting with parishioners of closed churches this week to discuss reopening them. The diocese has not yet publicly disclosed a timetable for unlocking the shuttered sanctuaries.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bishop Richard Lennon of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland has begun meetings with parishioners of 12 closed churches to discuss their re-openings.

The diocese declined Tuesday to provide any further updates on the reopening process. But parishioners from the closed St. Adalbert in Cleveland and St. James in Lakewood said they were called by the bishop's office to meet in separate sessions Wednesday.

"It's very interesting and very exciting," said Toni Sabo one of four St. James parishioners who will meet with Lennon at 3 p.m. today.

Linda Gamble and four parishioners from St. Adalbert will meet at 1 p.m. "We're looking for the positive," she said.

Parishioners from St. Barbara in Cleveland met with Lennon on Tuesday. "He was very pleasant," said parishioner Michael Minich, who said the session lasted for about an hour and a half. "It was very informal."

Minich said the bishop told him that all money and sacred artifacts taken from St. Barbara when it closed will be returned. But he gave no date to reopen the church and named no pastor.

"His concern was our membership," said Minich, noting that Lennon said he wanted to meet with him and other parishioners again in a couple of weeks.

Parishioners from St. Emeric in Cleveland are scheduled to meet with Lennon on Thursday.

Some of the 12, as of Tuesday evening, had not yet heard from the diocese.

Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek wrote in an email statement to The Plain Dealer that "work is progressing in the matter of the reopenings. When we have something to report, we will release the information."

No timetable has been made public for reopening the churches.

The 12 churches were among 50 Lennon had closed over a 15-month period beginning in 2009. The closings were part of a financially driven reconfiguration of the eight-county diocese that saw some parishes merged and some churches closed and sold.

The 12 appealed their closings to the Vatican in Rome, arguing they had enough resources to stay alive. During the appeals the diocese was prohibited by canon law from selling the padlocked sanctuaries or their properties.

In March, the Vatican released 12 decrees upholding the appeals, saying Lennon had failed to properly follow canon law and procedures when he closed them.

Lennon had 60 days to appeal the decrees. But last month he told a news conference he would not appeal and would reopen the 12.

Besides St. Adalbert, St. James, St. Barbara and St. Emeric, the others are St. Casimir, St. Peter, St. Wendelin and St. Patrick (West Park) all in Cleveland; St. John the Baptist and St. Mary in Akron; St. Mary in Lorain and St. Mary in Bedford.

Contact: momalley@plaind.com