US Catholics win rare victories on church closures

  • Thread starter Thread starter ProVobis
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Quoting from the article:
Three years later, Lutkus and parishioners at eight other shuttered churches in Pennsylvania’s Allentown diocese have persuaded a Vatican panel to overturn the bishop’s decision to close them down — an exceedingly rare reversal that experts say may signal a policy shift on U.S. church closures.
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In a series of decisions that parishioner groups began receiving in January, the Congregation for the Clergy — the Vatican office in charge of the world’s 400,000 Catholic priests — said the bishop had failed to come up with a “grave reason” for shuttering the churches as required by Catholic law. The panel ruled that parishioners must be allowed to use the padlocked buildings for worship.
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Parishioners and diocesan lawyers in Allentown are still evaluating the rulings, and Bishop John Barres could appeal to the Vatican’s highest court. Complicating matters is that the Congregation for the Clergy upheld the bishops’ decision to merge parishes, the broader territorial units that include churches and other Catholic buildings.
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I was actually happy to see parishoners who went through the proper channels instead of being disobedient to the Bishop.
 
My guess is that the diocese will refuse any financial help to those parishes and won’t rescue the parish corporations from creditors.
 
AHapka said:
I was actually happy to see parishoners who went through the proper channels instead of being disobedient to the Bishop.
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Is there evidence to the contrary? My reading of the article was that the parishoners appealed to the Vatican, rather than make and end run around the bishop.
 
ProVobis said:
You’re probably right but wouldn’t that be akin to forcing a schism?
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I don’t think that such an extreme outcome would be likely. The basic fact of diocesan life is that parishes are expected to be financially viable. Otherwise, they close.
 
And without a priest assigned there, the church merely becomes a prayer chapel.

Jim
 
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