After the big bump from the publicity on the weekend, we were downtown again today.
The Very Last Eight
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.
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.
Rally on June 23rd
Just a short piece of video to remember your voices loud and clear.
Demonstration June 21st
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.
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- We Believe
Demonstrating on June 20th
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
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.
Our Faith is Alive…and Well!
Hello! We’ve created a video to help spread the word about St. Joachim and that we are closing as of June 30, 2013. We hope you like this video enough to share it! God bless you!
Comments from the Demonstration at the Basilica
Fine weather today, June 17th, as some of our parishioners walked the line to “Keep the Faith in Frankford”. Our Roll of Honor for today included: Tammy H., Greg M., Terry P., Florence S., Maryanne S., Al S., Ellie S., grandchildren Caithlyn, Grace and Rylie and Bob S., Pat S.
We are sharing some comments in the video below.
Basilica Demonstration
On Friday, June 14th, we moved over to the Basilica sidewalk and got a good reception from office workers, tourists and folks coming to the 12:05 p.m. Mass. Just a short video but catch our hardest working demonstrators at the end.
Balancing the Budget on the Backs of the Poor
You may have heard that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is closing churches. It has been in the news of late but there has been very little follow-up except to say that people are naturally unhappy.
Frankford (a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia with a population of about 50,000) is in a unique situation in that the two churches in the heart of Frankford, Mater Dolorosa and St. Joachim, are both being closed. They are within a few blocks of one another and both are in the the poorest area of Frankford. However, both of those churches are financially independent thanks to the astute financial management of their pastors, Father John Large and Father Steve Wetzel.
During the period while this issue was being studied, people in Frankford thought that the two churches would eventually have to merge. They were prepared for that likelihood but the announcement that both would be closed was sad and puzzling.
So, naturally, they are asking a very simple question of Archbishop Charles Chaput. Why is the Archdiocese closing two financially sound parishes and abandoning the Catholic population in Frankford? They are being cut loose without the slightest care for the hardships the parishioners may endure as a result of this callous treatment by their Church. Many are seniors on fixed incomes. Some are physically disabled. All are the faithful that have stuck with their church over these past years of scandal and shame caused by that same Archdiocese. Now they are being treated like criminals rather than the victims of a money driven Archdiocesan Planning Committee.
So what happened to bring this about? Father Tom Higgins, Pastor of Holy Innocents Catholic Church and Dean of Deanery 12, Lower Northeast Philadelphia, has indicated that he made a proposal to the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee to close one of the Frankford parishes and merge the other into it. He has said that he believed Frankford should retain a Catholic Church. His proposal was rejected.
He then offered an alternate proposal to close both parishes and merge them into St. Bartholomew in Wissinoming. That also was rejected. The end was dictated by the Archdiocesan Planning Committee that both Churches along with another, St. Joan of Arc, would all be merged into Holy Innocents.
Well, if they did not listen to the Dean, who did they listen to? It might have been the cash register. We can’t say for sure but that is the only reasonable explanation for this crazy idea. It’s like a corporate raider has taken over the Catholic Church. The parish’s assets are worth more liquidated than operating. Those stained glass windows in these old churches alone are of significant value. The land and buildings, even in Frankford, are going to bring in cash.
Given that the Archdiocese is bleeding red ink, this makes it too tempting. Why leave these working class parishes continue when their assets can be put to use supporting other favored projects, like paying off lawsuits, legal fees and making up the deficient pension system for retiring priests.
Sounds like Gordon Gecko in a Roman collar. For their sake, let’s hope that Jesus doesn’t turn up at 222 N. 17th street any time soon. I can’t imagine he would approve that the occupants have placed the god of money above the welfare of souls.