Could members who leave Holy Spirit, St. Dominics, and Our Lady of Peace fall back in place at their old churches? These churches will take much work to revitalize them and the members must work together to rebuild their congregations.
By JAMES W. WADE III
Staff Report
The Diocese of Cleveland has received official decrees reversing the closure of 13 Roman Catholic churches. In a statement, Bishop Richard Lennon said that the decrees were received from the Vatican and that he is reviewing the rulings with advisers.
Lennon has 60 days to must decide whether he will appeal the decisions. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy ruled the bishop failed to follow church law and procedure in the closings three years ago.
The 13 churches were among 50 shut down or merged amid declining numbers of parishioners, priests and finances. One of those churches was St. Adalbert/OLBS, located in the inner city at 2347 E. 83rd St. and the first African American Catholic congregation in Cleveland.
Close to 100 members united this past Sunday to have mass and pray for their church. Phillis Fuller Clipps never lost faith that her church would one day reopen. St. Adalbert was the only Black church on the list to reopen.
“We pray this opportunity may be used to begin the healing process of the Catholic Church in the Cleveland Diocese. This can and should be a wonderful exercise in reconciliation for everyone. How fortuitous we should receive this news during Lent! We are fully aware of the commitment, dedication and responsibilities that lie ahead. With the grace of God, continued collaboration with all of our sister parishes who have also received a reprieve, we are confident that we will become stronger and more vibrant parishes, breathing new life into the community and others we encounter,” said Clipps.
During the Mass, the church was asked to forgive anyone involved in the closing of the church. It was 3 years ago in March when a letter came to say St. Adalbert was to close and now almost to the date a letter saying to reopen.
After the mass, the members came out of the school singing “This little light of mine” as the marched to the front of the church to have prayer. Among those were the one and only Sister Juanita Shealey. She and her family were members of St. Adalbert Catholic Church for a very long time, until its recent closing.
“We are all grateful for this opportunity to unite again. Prayer is powerful and you must always believe in the power of it,” said Shealey. Her blood sister Joyce Sanders also said she never gave up.
“God is good and I love my church. I have been here 73 years which is my entire life,” said Sanders.
The letter that came to St. Adalbert explained the overruling. One of them in the list read:
The Bishop of Cleveland was given sufficient time to present to this Dicastery information which would solidify the decisions he made, and to forward all of the acts pertinent in the matter to this Congregation. The absence, in acts, of any decree indicating and formalizing the dispositions of the Bishop made in the letter of 12 March, 2009 is troubling. Even should this document be taken as a manifestation of the Bishop’s dispositions in the matter, which is the essence of a decree, it can be clearly seen that it lacks the requisite elements indicated by the cannons. Hence, the Bishop of Cleveland is held to have acted in violation of the law on procedural grounds with regard to c. 515 section 2.
Some parishioners of closed parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland are expressing cautious optimism about the reopening of their churches, despite calls by some critics to restore them quickly.
If you are at another parish for three years, is it easy to pick up and leave? Some of the factors I am sure would be if everything could be restored the same. In response to the closings, parishioners from shuttered parishes throughout the diocese came in support of St. Adalbert Sunday.
Could members who leave Holy Spirit, St. Dominics, and Our Lady of Peace fall back in place at their old churches? These churches will take much work to revitalize them and the members must work together to rebuild their congregations.
It is everyone’s desire, of course that these 13 churches will be reopened, but I seen many happy faces at St. Adalbert this past week. It still doesn’t make sense to me that these churches sat empty and that the parishioners who built these churches, paid to maintain them and volunteered to keep them open, never really got to ask the bishop to answer their questions. Keep the faith to all of the churches scheduled to reopen and especially to St. Adalbert.
