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
We made this last summer, the week after we learned we were closing. Since then, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, opened their doors to us to meet weekly, which we have since 6/1/13, on Wednesday nights to work to reopen St. Joachim, to network with our other sisters and brothers in Christ who have lost their churches, and to continue the work of St. Joachim in Frankford. We help feed the hungry on Saturdays and the Catholic Daughters relocated their food cupboard, Matthew 25, there. We are still Catholic and feel that we must be the Catholic presence in Frankford since both of our churches, St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa closed. We have filed a Vatican appeal of the Archbishop’s decree that merged us with Holy Innocents. It is not that we don’t want to go to Holy Innocents; it is that we cannot abandon all that our ancestors did so that the faith would be handed down to us. We must do the same. Our appeal is waiting to be heard by the Apostolic Signatura (the Vatican Supreme Court).
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:
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.
Please visit often as we are developing our site. Many churches have been closed and will be closed as this Parish Area Pastoral Planning Initiative continues throughout the Archdiocese. We believe it is systemically flawed as it is not equitablly applied nor are parishioners adequately involved in many cases. Please show your support this Thursday, March 20, at 12 Noon in front of the Archdiocesan office building, 222 N. 17th St.! God bless you!