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- St. Joachim RC Church
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- Mater Dolorosa RC Church
Rosary for Justice
The first Rosary for Justice in support of those who lost churches took place on Sunday August 18th. Representatives from La Milagrosa Chapel, Keep the Faith in Frankford and St. Leo’s parish prayed in front of the Basilica before Mass.
Representing You on Q102! One for All and All for One!
My first “organizing” words were “I represent the parishioners of St. Joachim” so, in whatever capacity or environment I find myself, I remember that I am not speaking for myself but for you, for us! While we still mourn the closed gates of our Church, we have opened the doors to many new relationships, friendships and possibilities. For that, I am truly blessed.
I met Loraine Ballard Morrill when Bob and I joined Ellie and Al Stark at the weekly Saturday night Rosary that the parishioners of La Milagrosa Chapel said outside their chapel since it was sold and no longer available for them to gather and worship there as they have for the past 100 years. No one from the Archdiocese has come to their aid. It’s a given that the Archdiocese did not own the building but those parishioners belonged to the Archdiocese. As we talked, Loraine shared with me that she worked for ClearChannel Media+Entertainment and would like to interview me to find out more of our story. Loraine is the News and Community Affairs Director and we scheduled the interview for Wednesday morning, 8/14. Loraine is very knowledgeable about our community and its happenings and I am very grateful to her and to ClearChannel Media+Entertainment for their interest and concern about the recent closings of so many of our churches. Loraine asked very thoughtful questions and ones that helped me to form some new insights into our current situation. Loraine also wrote a great story that you can read on her blog, “Pat Smiley to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia – Bring My Church Back!” This interview aired this morning on “What’s Going On” between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM on Q102, Radio 104.5 and Mix 106.1.
We believe in Jesus because He believes in us. We must start with relationships. That is what holds us together and keeps us together and what made St. Joachim a special place. As Father Steve said, “God has visited His People”. Initially, we believed we had a relationship with those charged with the Area Planning Process but their concern was achieving the closing and merging of parishes with as little disruption as possible. We have gotten in the way of that – relationships matter!
As a group, we, Catholics, have been very respectful and cognizant of the life choices that our clergy and religious have made in order to live out their mission call from God and to serve the people of God – us! I would not be the person I am had I not attended St. Veronica’s and St. Cecilia’s schools and taught by the IHM’s that God expects us to share the gifts he gives to each of us. Cardinal Dougherty, during the late 60’s and 70’s, helped to form my social awareness and being a child of the 60’s, my ability to question and believe that questioning only helps all of us. We have asked questions of our Church leaders and, instead of counting on the relationship we expected, we have only been “shut down” like our Churches and asked to accept what has been decided and will not be changed. We require wisdom because we cannot accept this. Our view is that we are asking these questions to strengthen and form a real working relationship and to assist in building the city of God right here in Philadelphia – if we’re given the chance.
For those of you who missed the interview this morning on the radio, here for your listening pleasure:
St. John was a “Voice in the Wilderness”; Frankford Voices Cry Out Today, Too!
We are continuing to demonstrate in front of 222 N. 17th Street, the Archdiocesan Office Building. At a recent meeting, we discussed the value of continuing these efforts. Mainly, Bob S. explained that it’s important to show that we are down there “in front of” the Archdiocese every day because we believe in the need for a Catholic presence in Frankford. I believe we have spread our message far and wide (as we have signatures from all the tourists who come to our area) that the Church hierarchy needs to involve the laity in more substantive ways. This begins with having a real dialogue. If we had a voice, we could have found a much better solution for everyone than simply closing 2 churches. Closing our churches was taking the easy way out – it would have been much harder to meet with all of us and tell us that the needs of the Archdiocese outweighed the needs of the faithful. That is indeed true sometimes, but we don’t think that was the case in this particular instance of closing both our Frankford Churches.
In a recent radio interview with Loraine Ballard Morrill, the News and Community Affairs Director for Clear Channel Media+Entertainment, her questions led me to understand that we are kept at arms’ length from having a voice, from real involvment in the Church here in Philadelphia. There is a distance between the laity and the hierarchy and to realize it on a deeper level is saddening. It doesn’t have to be this way. Please find Loraine’s Blog here.
So, we continue to make our voices heard through demonstrating, our prayer services, meetings, reaching out and joining together with others who have suffered loss of their church and to focus our efforts on continuing to work to Keep the Faith in Frankford. Here are some of our “Frankford Voices”!
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- Demonstrating at Archdiocese
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- Prayer Services Sign
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- Justice for Immigrants Mass
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- Meeting and Strategizing
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- Getting our Message Out
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- Asking for Help
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- Family Strong
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- We Believe
Who Are We?
As we work to reopen St. Joachim Church, it’s not an easy road to walk. But the rewards are well worth it! I have gotten to know so many wonderful people, connected with St. Joachim and not, but caring about the fact that anytime a church is closed, the candle of faith burns less bright! But we are tenders of that light and it is up to us to keep it burning bright – in spite of not having our beloved church. We are like the other believers who, after Jesus was crucified and His followers were persecuted, scattered to other parts of the world and became the first missionaries. We merged with Holy Innocents who have been very welcoming to all who have lost their church – we of St. Joachim, Mater Dolorosa, St. Joan of Arc and last year, Ascension. But we also have many people looking for that “spiritual home” mentioned in an earlier post. We hear each other talking about being “Roaming Catholics” (Maureen and Agnes) instead of Roman Catholics.
I came across this article in the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales’ Pillars of Faith section on their website where Father Kevin Naldoski, OSFS, Director of Communications and Development, wrote “Eulogy for a Church” based on Father Steve’s sermon and Judge Timothy Savage’s own “Eulogy” at our last Mass on June 30. I thought how we are coming up to the one month anniversary so very quickly. Father’s words so eloquently say what we have been living, what we have been doing.
“Yet, our Spirit is bigger than any one place. Perhaps that is why Jesus was able to appear to his disciples in a locked room. God cannot be limited to any one space. God is larger than that. So are we.”
You are so right, Father! Psalm 77:13 “God, your ways are holy! What god is as great as our God?” Our prayer is that we always walk in holiness in all we do, in all we are!
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.
Parish Closings and Avoiding Bankruptcy
When the history of this episode is written, the issue at the top of the list will be the money.
Harold Brubaker, in the Inquirer on July 5th, lists the financial woes that drive Archdiocesan financial planners. Years of financial mismanagement have brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
There has been a problem with balancing the books every year. If they came up short, in the past they borrowed. That might mean not paying into the retirement fund. That solves the cash flow problem for a year but kicks the can down the road. The result is listed below. The long term liability could be $354 million or more.
$82.0 million – Shortfall from the trust-and- loan fund, which invests or makes loans from money collected from parishes.
$89.9 million – Shortfall from the priests’ pension fund.
$151.7 million – Shortfall from the lay employees’ retirement plan.
$30.4 million – Shortfall from a self-insurance reserve.
The $82 million gap also includes investment losses and reserves for bad loans to some parishes. The plan to pay that money back by selling real estate was formalized last year in a promissory note, essentially an IOU, to the trust-and-loan fund.
Translated into English, this means that the Archdiocese made loans to parishes that are not going to be repaid and some bad investments. They have not fully funded the retirement accounts for lay or priests. This is something that a lot of companies and governments do because its easy in the short run. In the end, that money is owed and has to be made up. Guess who is going to pay the bill. There is nobody else, it is you.
The issue is clear enough for now. They closed Mater Dolorosa and St. Joachm, both of which were financially self sufficient. Why would they do that? I believe the idea was that those assets would be better used by transferring them to another larger parish. Small parishes like ours are expendable.
On the other hand, some may be too big to fail. Does that sound familiar. From Harold Brubaker and the Inquirer on October 1, 2012:
St. Martha parish in the Far Northeast, with 2,200 registered households and nearly 7,000 people on June 30, 2011, owed $637,500 on an archdiocesan loan for a parish center that opened in 2004. Between 2009 and 2011, St. Martha paid no principal on the loan, and the amount of unpaid interest climbed to $202,929 from $160,985.
St. Martha, which was founded in 1966, was also far behind in its assessments, insurance bills, and pension payments. Those debts were $2.1 million on June 30, 2011.
The Rev. Alexander Masluk, pastor at St. Martha, said in an interview this month that parish debt “is not growing at the same rate it was. We’re on a five-year plan that we put in a year ago to stop the bleeding.”
It is rare to get this kind of detailed information at the parish level but it should be made public. It would be good to see for all the parishes involved in closings or mergers. If small self sufficient parishes in the city are being closed to pay the bills of parishes in the suburbs, they should know the truth.
Church of the Locked Gates
Locked out of their church by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, St. Joachim parishioners are not deterred. Regular prayer services are conducted at the times Mass used to be conducted before the lock out.
If We Ever Needed a Hero…
It just might be Peter Borre. He is our canon law consultant working with our Italian lawyers to appeal the decision in Rome to close St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church here in Frankford. Along with Mater Dolorosa, these two Churches no longer serve the Frankford community. Their loss has touched not only us but our community as well.
It has been my pleasure to talk with Peter on the phone. He is caring, insightful and tireless in his efforts on behalf of those he tries to help. I’m glad he’s on our side. Here is an article from last year’s Daily News about Peter’s work and those he is helping. Titled, “National Advocate Could Be Local Parishes’ White Knight”, foreshadowed many of the current events happening in the Archdiocese.
One of the Vatican’s top priorities is the “re-evangelization” of church members who have “drifted away,” he said, but the Archdiocese “is going in the wrong direction.
You gotta like this guy!
Frankford and Delaware County in the Same Boat
While we are focused on our own issue, it’s important to note that it was a process that lead to a preordained result.
Holy Saviour in Linwood and Immaculate Conception of Lourdes in Marcus Hook suffered the same fate. Their story reads like our narrative.
Calling the process “terrible,” committee member Janice DiMarino said in her opinion, the closing was predestined and predetermined.
“It really didn’t matter what we did or said, the decision was made that our church was closing and that was the way it was going to be,” she said. “I worked in the corporate world for many years and I have never seen such a lack of communication.”