Month: March 2014

One week ago, we rallied in front of the Archdiocese to ask Archbishop Chaput to hear us – his families seeking to understand the closure of our churches without a full explanation from those who decided this was best for the “salvation of souls” and would enable the Archdiocese to provide even better “pastoral care” to the faithful of Philadelphia. Before we are able to host the World Meeting of Families in 2015, we need to get our own house in order.

You have heard us and the press has heard us. We believe. We continue to work to get answers to our questions regarding the Parish Area Pastoral Planning Initiative and the resulting abandonment of the lifeblood of the Church here in Philadelphia.

Al Dia pubished another article on our story this week. You can read it here. If you need to translate it to English, copy the url, visit Google Translate and simple paste in the url and hit “translate”.

We thank Channel 6 news, The Metro, Al Dia and you for caring about this most important issue.

Our thanks to Gilberto Gonzalez who shared this on Facebook.

Archbishop Chaput, please hear us!

Pope Francis in a homily on March 18, 2014 reiterated what Isaiah told the people of Sodom and Gomorrah: “Redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea and defend the widow!” This assures us that we are on the “good path”!

That’s what we want for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, too!

Now is the time to act if your parish has been one of the 46 being studied and probably recommendations have already been made. It is much easier to keep a church open than to have to re-open it. Make your voice heard if you believe that the Parish Area Pastoral Planning Initiative is as flawed as what some of us have already experience. Working together, we can come up with a fairer, more inclusive process that doesn’t destroy parishes that for generations has served the Catholic families of this Archdiocese. The people who have sacrificed to keep these churches going need us to continue the legacy of the Church in our communities.

Look at this list. If you know people, contact them and bring them tomorrow! Join us at 12 Noon on Thursday, March 20, in front of the Archdiocese Office Building at 222 N. 17th Street.

See you there! Stand up to make your voice heard! God bless you!
photo credit: PMillera4 via photopin cc

Pope Francis recently gave a homily where he talked about how you know you’re traveling on the good path? We are all familiar with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Pope reminds us of what Isaiah also told the citizens of those cities, “Redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea and defend the widow.” Are we doing that?

That’s why we can seriously ask the Archbishop to “redress the wronged”: we whose churches were closed without involving those parishioners of those churches.

Read more of the Pope’s homily here.

photo credit: Fr. Stephen, MSC via photopin cc

The Parish Area Pastoral Planning Initiative began in 2010 with  “a pastoral letter from the Fall of 2010 which called on all parishes in the Archdiocese to determine if they possess the resources necessary to accomplish their roles in the mission of Christ while remaining sustainable and vibrant faith communities”. It continued in 2013 with an announcement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that 46 parishes would undergo this study.  St. Joachim in Frankford was among them. We maintain that this process is severely and systemically flawed because:

• It began with a premise that a certain number of churches had to be closed rather than what could be done to bolster them or at least ask new questions and try new ideas;
• Some pastors involved their parishioners while others felt it was a “secret” process not to be discussed;
• Some of the representatives on the Parish and Finance Councils are handpicked by the pastors because they totally and fully agree with them, thus leaving out all points of view;
• Surveys were only distributed at the pastor’s discretion with no hierarchical oversight to see that it was in fact done;
• Possible conflicts of interest if pastors and deans stood to gain by churches closing;
• There were no meetings with some Parish and Finance Councils as proposed in the process;
• This process did not allow for full participation by each parishioner even to ask them about their ideas or possibilities of willingly merging with other parishes rather than be closed;
• The stated purpose of this planning process was for the “salvation of souls” and it failed as many “souls” are now lost and looking elsewhere for a spiritual home; and
• Some communities (as Frankford) were left without any Catholic church after 160+ years of the faithful being faithful to their God and church.

While Vatican appeals were able to be filed, many do not have the resources to be able to do that. We know that churches had to be closed as for many years we were blessed with an abundance of them geographically close.

But such things cannot be dictated or done expecting that the people will just “accept” these decisions as being final – when they were never involved.

In June, 2013, 24 parishes were closed or merged.  More closures are expected this spring. It’s time for Philly Catholics to make their voices heard for the good of our faith.