Tag Archives: Philadelphia

If Faith Can Move Mountains, It Can Certainly Change Our Minds and Hearts (including those of our hierarchy)!

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faithkeySt. Joachim, the Church, has been closed since June 30, 2013. However, St. Joachim Parish is alive and well! We are committed to staying together and working together as a parish community to reopen St. Joachim Church. In fact, we have begun a nonprofit organization, Keep the Faith in Frankford, to continue the work of the Church in our community.

We meet weekly, we demonstrate downtown, we hold our prayer services, we participate in Archdiocesan events, we visit Holy Innocents and other churches to fulfill our weekly obligation of Mass but we long for the day when St. Joachim reopens. How can we do that? What makes us think that we are able to change the minds and hearts of our hierarchy and accomplish what some people feel is a battle already lost? The answer is simple – it’s our faith!

We have had so many opportunities to walk and live by faith as Catholics. Since our Church closed, our faith has increased and become even more meaningful! This past Sunday,October 13, 2013,  to commemorate the Year of Faith now ending, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia invited all to participate in a Pilgrimage of Faith. From different “landing points”, the faithful would walk to the Basilica to “Rediscover the Joy of Believing in Christ and His Church”. Sandwiches and water from Williamson’s would be distributed. A holy hour would take place at 5 PM with Exposition and the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Archbishop would say Mass at 6:30 PM.

We have been blessed to meet and work with other brothers and sisters whose parishes have also been impacted by decisions over which they had no voice. One such group is La Milagrosa whose efforts to resolve the sale of their chapel to a building developer is being led by Miguel Ortiz and Gilberto Gonzalez. Miguel and Gilberto, along with their families and fellow parishioners, have been models of humility, devotion and a real love of the Lord.

So together we would walk to the Basilica from La Milagrosa Chapel and witness our faith and say a Rosary for Justice for our Churches and all Churches that have been closed. Al and Mary McK., Al S., Ann Y., Barbara J., David and Shannon H., Florence S., Gregory M., Josephine L., Maryanne S., and Pat and Bob Smiley stepped off. (La Milagrosa started a little later than us but we all met later.) As we walked to the Basilica, we passed a group of homeless men in a park along the parkway. Greeting everyone with a God bless you and friendly faces just didn’t seem enough in this situation. I will never forget when Al S. and David H. talked to Williamson’s about donating the extra sandwiches to those men in the park. They assured them that’s what they would do after everyone had arrived and had been fed. It’s great to have faith but you have to use that faith to help others. The Lord constantly uses us to teach and learn from each other using our own gifts and talents to help make it “heaven here on earth”.

Yesterday, we walked, we sang, we talked and shared with others about what our faith means to us! Now we have to put it into action! What will you do as part of St. Joachim Parish to love, serve and witness your faith with and for others? Let us work to reopen St. Joachim to continue our witness which began back in 1844.

 

 

We Are One Church and We Want One Church in Frankford!

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Mater Dolorosa RC ChurchSt. Joachim RC ChurchThis Saturday, September 14, 4:00 PM, Mater Dolorosa RC Church will open its doors to celebrate the Feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. Who better than a mother to understand our sorrow? Who better than the mother of our dear Lord to turn to and to implore her help to reopen a Church in Frankford?

When it was announced that both St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa Catholic Churches would be closing, to say that there was great disbelief in our community would be an understatement. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia can always make up contrived reasons for their actions but doing so doesn’t justify those actions.

As each parishioner was trying to make sense of the closing two neighborhood churches – Mater Dolorosa established in 1911 and St. Joachim in 1844, many asked questions and sought answers as to how this event came to pass. It has been 2 1/2 months since these churches were closed. That’s not a long time when one’s memories are much, much longer. So where are we now?

St. Joachim parishioners grouped together and formed Keep the Faith in Frankford. This name is really dual-purposed – to reopen one of our Catholic Churches and to use our faith to help Frankford become an even better place to be. St. Joachim filed an appeal to the Vatican as allowed under Canon Law. However, this can be a long and arduous process with no guarantee of success. Our overriding goal is to have a Catholic Church in Frankford as we have had for over 169 years.

To achieve that, it is time to unite and to bridge any divisions between us! If we truly want a Catholic Church in Frankford we need to stand together, to show the fire and strength of our faith and to act with the belief that God can accomplish all things if we are willing to let Him work through us! It is not easy to do this but we have been blessed with an opportunity to show that our faith doesn’t reside in these church buildings but in our God and in each other as we Live Jesus!

We must make this effort, not just for ourselves, but for our ancestors who passed on the faith to us and who believed in the goodness of God even during the darkest of times. We

(l-r) Pat Smiley, Shannon and David Harris

(l-r) Pat Smiley, Shannon and David Harris

must do it for our children, our grandchildren and all who will come after us.

Following his visit to Brasil for World Youth Day, the Pope shared the following words during his Sunday Papal Audience:

“the encounter with the living Jesus, in the great family that is the Church, fills the heart with joy, because it fills it with true life, a profound goodness that does not pass away or decay.”

We are family and the joy that Jesus gives us is lasting and cannot be taken away! Let us join together this Sunday as one family to celebrate our God and our faith! God bless you!

 

 

 

 

St. John was a “Voice in the Wilderness”; Frankford Voices Cry Out Today, Too!

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IMG_2588 - Version 2We 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”!

 

 

 

 

 

If We Ever Needed a Hero…

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PeterBorreIt 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!

Food for Thought – “People Long for Spiritual Home….

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SaintJoachimRomanCatholicChurch_1 copy 2I have been researching the Archdiocese’s Parish Pastoral Process which failed the faithful in Frankford – miserably. It has taken a little over a month to put the pieces of this puzzle together. We will tell the story. We also want to save future parishes from this obviously flawed process. I came across this post on CatholicPhilly.com and found Franciscan Sister Katerina Shuth’s explanation of changes in parish life pertinent. In her lecture, “Shaping Parish Life: Ongoing Influences of Vatican II and the Catholic Common Ground Initiative“, Sister used the life of Monsignor Phillip J. Murnion to illustrate how parish life has changed from 1963 to now. Monsignor was the founding director of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York and this later became the home of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. What hasn’t changed is what the best pastors know:

Msgr. Murnion’s efforts to envision and support vibrant parishes relied on a deep understanding of the Incarnation and a commitment to dialogue, partnership and collaboration among all levels of the church, Sister Schuth said.

Monsignor passed away in 2003. Monsignor Murnion, pray for us, as we try to find the “common ground” here in Philadelphia. Read all of the story at People Long for a Spiritual Home, an Inviting Parish, Says Franciscan Nun. 

It’s Official…

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Today we received the acknowledgement from the Apostolic Nunciature that our “recourse for St. Joachim’s Parish in Philadelphia has been forwarded through the diplomatic pouch to the Congreation for Clergy”. You really have to love the intrigue of this!

What we don’t appreciate, quite frankly, is that your voice and my voice were not involved in the Parish Pastoral Process. I appreciate that the hierarchy was involved, that our Pastors along with three representatives were involved but, and we must make it clear in the case of St. Joachim, “interested parishioners” did not receive information about this process along with the rest of the parishioners. We truly believed in this process and it turns out our faith was truly misguided.

What makes an “interested parishioner”? Was this term used because you didn’t want to tell all of us what was going on – which took us 30 days to find out that our Pastors and representatives believed that St. Joachim parishioners and Mater Dolorosa parishioners had irreconciliable differences and would not, could not find a better solution than shuttering two viable Churces? Did anyone question that 4 people may not have been fully representative of 200-300 others in the parish? Hand picking representatives doesn’t lead to a diversity of thought but commonality of beliefs. This is the same idea that my husband and I couldn’t work as caring members of the Transition Team because of our concerns about how this process was handled and the subsequent decisions made. (For the record, we still received information and shared it with our parishioners. It’s not hard. Try it.) Who was really listening? Was this process just “lip service”? Did this give you another out to blame us for your flawed process? Did you have to be selected to be an “interested parishioner”? Each of us received a letter telling us our Churches were closing. Each of us received a letter welcoming us to the “new” old Holy Innocents. Why did each of us not receive a letter informing us of the status of this process and it’s progress. It appears that to do that would have been troublesome and opened up debate.  Real debate that all “interested parishioners” could have participated in. Imagine having a discussion on the future vitality of the faith in Frankford BEFORE closing two viable Churches? Well, surely we qualify as “interested parishioners” now!

We would hope and pray that as this process moves forward these same mistakes and judgements are not repeated. We will be watching closely and offering other parishes the benefits of our woeful experience with this process to safeguard their Church from those more interested in their “process” than “parishioners”.

 

Receipt from Apostolic Nunciature

 

 

 

The Demonstration Daily – Friday, June 14, 2013!

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Happy Flag Day! We celebrate that we are able to voice our opinions! Today, 3 young visitors from Russia wanted to get a picture with Greg Minetola, an”American Protestor”! We weren’t quick enough to save this moment for posterity. So, perhaps our struggles will reach Russia!!!!!!

Here’s our Roll of Honor for the week:

Wednesday, June 12th – Janice C., Bill McG., Greg M., Kate M., Mary M., Maryanne S., Bob S., Pat S., and Ann Y.

Thursday, June 13th – Mary M. (All by her lonesome – she’s a trooper! A few others would have gone except for the threatened downpours!)

Friday, June 14th –  Brian H., David H., Shannon H., Dolores M., Greg M., Linda N., A.J., Florence S.,  Tina D., Kate M., Bob S., Pat S., Ellie S., Al S., their daughter, Kelly,  grandchildren Caithlyn, Grace and Rylie, Jackie Young

As I’ve shared with you, these demonstrating efforts do have a great effect and are a great way to share information and publicize our plight. Today, we were joined by those protesting the abuse of children by the clergy. Wanting to give them an opportunity to express their opinions, we walked over to the Basilica to demonstrate there. We thought this was much better than 222. We had less wind so we could have a display; it was sunny; we were able to reach people on the Parkway. There are a lot of tourists and many did come to the Basilica. We would be there for Mass as well. Since the Basilica is being renovated at a total cost of $25 million; it may make more sense to align our message with the Basilica – Church to Church!

Bob Smiley has been taking pictures and interviewing those who want to share “the St. Joachim Good News”! Enjoy the photos and an interview with Tina D! We are creating new spaces on our website and the text of Tina’s letter will be posted there soon.

 

Smileys Unable to Accept Merger Plan So Removed From St. Joachim’s Transition Team

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Father Thomas Higgins, Pastor of Holy Innocents, reached out to Bob and Pat Smiley, the Transition Team representatives from St. Joachim. The Smileys were invited to meet with Father Higgins at the parish rectory. We met today. The beginning of the meeting was very cordial with Father asking how everything was going and we asking about his work. Father shared with us, as he has said from the beginning, that he believed there should be a Catholic presence, a church, in Frankford.

This pastoral planning process was long and arduous for all. That we can all agree on! Father told the Smileys that he had made two proposals himself suggesting first that St. Joachim merge at Mater Dolorosa and St. Joan of Arc at Holy Innocents. When that was not accepted, Father tried again with St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa merging with St. Bartholmew and St. Joan of Arc merging with Holy Innocents. Again, that was not accepted. The Smileys thanked Father for his efforts and believe that someone in the Archdiocese will have the wisdom to overturn this unfair and unjust decision.

JuniataAs it became clear that the Smileys would not cease trying to “Keep the Faith in Frankford” by keeping one Church open in Frankford, Father expressed concerns that the Smileys would not be able to truly “be on the same page” with Father and the rest of the Transition Team. The Smileys, especially Pat, restated their committment to helping in this important process while acknowledging that, according to Father, we wanted the same thing, a Catholic presence in Frankford. Pat Smiley asked if either Smiley had done anything to warrant or cause these feelings. Emails Father has received from the Archbishop, Monsignor Rodgers and the latest article from the “Juniata News” titled “St. Joachim Parishioners Want to ‘Keep the Faith in Frankford’ by Keeping Their Church Open are evidence of the successful efforts that St. Joachim parishioners and supporters have demonstrated regarding the unfair and unjust decision to close St. Joachim. Father indicated that we were not accepting of the Archdiocesan decision to merge our parish. Father felt this gap was too big to be able to be bridged and he was not comfortable with the Smileys remaining on the Transition Team. As of today, the Smileys are no longer on the Transition Team. The Smileys expressed regret that Father felt this way and wish the entire Transition Team and staff of Holy Innocents only the best and many blessings on their efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

Where else to find us.

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The fight to keep the faith in Frankford has stretched out to Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites!!! If you are on any of these sites feel free to take part as the effort grows.

For Twitter search on and use the main hashtag of #fkdfaithful to make your comments or to find out what others have already posted.

We are also posting images to Instagram and for that we have multiple tags. We are using the same #fkdfaithful for all images but we can also tag them with as much description as possible. This helps to reach a wider audience. For example, you can use #stjoachimphila, #materdolorsaphila, #catholic, #philadelphia, #church, etc. Remember, the more descriptive the wider the audience.

Our Facebook groups have been flooded with new members. Be sure to look for us there if you haven’t already click and visit here!!!!

And as always remember the site to sign the petition to keep the faith in Frankford. Every signature helps!!! Click here to sign the petition.