Author Archives: Robert Smiley

Notes from the Demonstrators

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From Florence Stanowski:

I’m here hopefully till things go our way, my health permitting, that they will finally admit they were wrong.  It’s not a bad thing to admit it.  This will only bring back our trust in you.

How can you say you are doing the Lord’s work, when you are actually destroying everything our Lord wanted for his people. I am actually ashamed to say I’m a catholic, when our, so called, holy leaders of the church are doing such injustice to God’s people.  Not your people mind you, but Our Lord’s people that he put in your hands to nourish our faith, not destroy it.

 

 

 

 

Demonstration Today June 26th

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As we head downtown to make our cause known today, here are some words from Archbishop Chaput:

MALLORCA, Spain — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has called on Catholics to be “active witnesses” of their faith, taking inspiration from the 17th-century missionary Blessed Junipero Serra.

Rejecting the idea that the Christian faith is “a useful moral code” or “an exercise in nostalgia,” he stressed that the Christian faith is “a restlessness, a consuming fire in the heart to experience the love of Jesus Christ and then share it with others — or it’s nothing at all.”

“Young or old, we need to live our faith as Junipero Serra did — all in, 100%, holding nothing back, with charity, endurance, passion and hope,” Archbishop Chaput said. “That kind of faith changes lives and remakes the world.”

Good to remember as the Church abandons the Catholics of Frankford.

The Very Last Eight

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Good friend and forever parishioner, Jack Hohenstein, the Frankford Haiku Master, wrote this yesterday when he heard the 8 o’clock bells for the last time at his house up on Penn Street.joachim bells

The parish churchbell

Calls for the last Eight O’Clock Mass,

The very last “Eight”.

 

He has hope that this title may need to be revised in the future.

Demonstration June 21st

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We had a small crew on Friday since many of our number wanted to attend the last Friday noon Mass at St. Joachim.  After that they were going to demonstrate on Frankford Avenue to make sure that all the people know that St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa are being closed by the Archdiocese.

A photographer came to take some pictures for a story to run in the Daily News on Saturday.  It hit philly.com this morning.  You can find it at this link and is in the print edition of the Daily News available today and tomorrow.

I was standing near the driveway to the Archiocesan building yesterday when I met a distinguished looking gentleman walking down 17th Street and as he was about to go into the parking lot, he came over and asked about what the sign that I was holding.  I had the one that says Archbishop Chaput please don’t abandon us.

So I told him the Archdiocese was closing all the churches in Frankford and of course he asked where is Frankford.

So I explained and he got a pained expression and asked is your church all filled.  So I explained our demographics etc and he pointed  to the upper floors of the building and said he can’t fill the seats for you, meaning the Archbishop couldn’t help with that.

Then he said “where are the young people”.  Why aren’t they coming?  You can’t keep churches open that are failing.

I said they were closing all the churches, not merging the two into one, to make a single stronger parish.

He wasn’t satisfied with that and said if you can’t fill the seats then what do you expect.

I said that closing the churches doesn’t fill the seats either.

After he left, I wondered if maybe he is right about what the Church is aiming to do.  The logic of his argument is to close all the churches except a few and fill the seats.  Run the Church like the Kimmel Center and consider yourself successful if you have a full house.

Is that what it’s come to?  Is that the work of the church?  Is there no greater mission for the Catholic Church in Philadelphia except to pack a full house?

Here is a slide show recap of some of our demonstrators during the last few weeks.  This is a fraction of our movement because most are working people and others unable to travel.

 

Demonstrating on June 20th

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Once again we were on duty at 222 N. 17th Street to provide information to passersby about the movement.  When people hear what the Catholic Church is doing they are truly shocked.  Hundreds of people see us on the street as the pass by.  Honks and waves from motorists signal that the support the cause.  See Brenda talk about it in the video below.


 

Demonstrating June 18th and 19th

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Sudden rain closed us down early on Tuesday but Wednesday was beautiful.  We had had our youngest demonstrators and our most senior all this week.   The lady in her 9th decade put us all to shame standing the entire time.

See some comments below.