CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer
By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio –Bishop Richard Lennon said in a prepared statement today that he has not yet decided whether to appeal recent Vatican rulings that reversed his closings of 13 churches in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
The bishop’s statement comes two weeks after he officially received word from Rome that he did not follow church law or procedures when he closed the churches between 2009 and 2010.
The 13 churches — out of 50 he closed in a finance-driven, diocesewide downsizing — had appealed to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, arguing they were self-sustaining communities that shouldn’t be closed.
The Congregation issued decrees in favor of the churches and gave Lennon 60 days from March 14 to appeal.
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