‘nothing Official’ on Church Mergers Phoenixville Priest Claims

By Frank Otto
The Mercury
May 29, 2012

http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120529/NEWS01/120529311/-nothing-official-on-church-mergers-phoenixville-priest-claims

After a local priest e-mailed parishioners saying he was informed that Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity parishes would close, a Philadelphia archdiocese spokesman said there is no official word on the parishes’ statuses.

In an e-mail sent to some parishioners around noon Tuesday, the Rev. Michael Rzonca said Sacred Heart would merge with the St. Ann parish and Holy Trinity would merge with St. Mary of the Assumption.

“I received a call from (the Rev. Monsignor) Arthur Rodgers informing me that I will be leaving the pastorate of Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity parishes, effective June 30, 2012,” Rzonca, the pastor of both Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity, wrote. “Holy Trinity will be merged with St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart will be merged with St. Ann’s.”

The supposed mergers would follow geographic lines in the borough. Holy Trinity and Sacred Heart merged several years ago into one parish but use both church buildings.

The plan Rzonca wrote about Tuesday differs from a merger plan he said he was told of in a letter to parishioners in the fall. In that case, both Rzonca’s churches were to merge with St. Ann’s.

At that time, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia denied that a merger plan existed.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said there is no official word on the current possible mergers.

“There has been an ongoing discussion in Phoenixville,” Kenneth Gavin, associate director of the archdiocese’s communications office, said Tuesday afternoon. “There is nothing official at this point.”

Every parish in the archdiocese is participating in the Parish Pastoral Planning process, an initiative designed to create a stronger and more supportable system of churches.

The process in Phoenixville is “very collaborative” and “a lot of plans were circulated,” but “there is no timeline on this right now,” he said.

According to Gavin, Rodgers, who Rzonca said in the e-mail informed him of everything, is involved with the Pastoral Planning Process efforts run by the archdiocese.

Rodgers could not be reached for comment late Tuesday afternoon.

Rzonca, the Rev. John P. Hutter, pastor of St. Mary’s, nor the Rev. John J. Newns, of St. Ann’s, also couldn’t be reached for comment.

When asked how much notice the archdiocese would typically try to give parishioners if their church was closing, Gavin couldn’t give an answer, saying each planning process is different and has different timetables.

“It’s a very long process,” Gavin said. “The archdiocese is working with parish leadership and then communicating to the parishioners. (It’s designed so) people should not feel they are being kept out of the loop.”

However, parishioners like Richard Kirkner feel those at the archdiocese aren’t doing that at all, that they “don’t care.”

Kirkner is Phoenixville’s borough council president and a parishioner at Sacred Heart who received Rzonca’s e-mail.

“It seems like the archdiocese isn’t giving us parishioners much consideration at all,” he said.

If the parishes were to merge June 30, as Rzonca’s e-mail suggests, parishioners have roughly a month of notice, something Kirkner took umbrage with.

“We had known the plan for closing the parish...had been in review for some time,” Kirkner said. “I guess we were expecting something in the fall. Now it’s like 30 days’ notice.”

Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity are both ethnic Catholic churches. Sacred Heart is a Slavic church, of which Kirkner’s wife’s family has been a part of for four generations, and Holy Trinity is Polish.

There is a feeling that those identities will be washed away if both churches merge with the larger ones.

Gavin acknowledged the difficulties in a possible closure or merger case.

“We are very cognizant that people are tied very closely to their parishes,” he said. “Even the potential for a parish merger can be upsetting for someone.”

Additionally, Kirkner said even those that don’t attend mass at Holy Trinity or Sacred Heart and are not Roman Catholics would be affected by the closure of those buildings.

“They’re not giving the community much notice either,” he said. “What’s going to happen with those very substantial properties? These are very large properties that are going to require consideration.”

Although there is nothing official, Kirkner believes this merger threat is more likely than the one last fall.

“The reason this one is different is because it gives a date when it’s effective,” he said.

On top of that, Kirkner said he knows that the charity, Mom’s House, which had been renting the Sacred Heart Convent, is moving.

“They were told their lease isn’t being renewed,” he said.

Although nothing is definite now, Kirkner would like more consideration from the archdiocese and more communication. His son is set to be married at Sacred Heart in October, after the supposed merger.

“It’s (all) very disheartening and I think it shows a crass insensitivity on the part of the archdiocese,” Kirkner said.

Gavin promised to inform the Mercury whenever, if ever, any decision would be made regarding the Phoenixville parishes.