Archbishop Chaput Says It’s His Fault

In a wide ranging interview on September 6, 2012 with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Chaput went into depth about his first year.  You can read the entire interview here.  It is the best I have come across and gives some perspective.  Still this quote comes home:

Have parishes and schools at risk of being closed been informed?
I’m committed to telling them. We have reviews of many of our parishes going on now, and it’s been my insistence that the parishioners become part of those reviews so they can know what the problems are and suggest solutions.

People won’t be surprised [if their parish or school is closed], but they’ll still be angry, I’m sure. If they are surprised, it’s my fault.

Mater Dolorosa and St. Joachim parishioners are the case that proves the point.  As I said before, nobody was surprised that a church was closed but nobody expected the decision to close both churches.

We were not part of the process.