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• Deferred maintenance of many parish facilities is a big and increasing concern

• Catholic assets are being used in our Diocese just for the purpose of maintaining more buildings than we can realistically support due to the changed demographics

• 60 parishes have negative net savings (liabilities exceed savings)—27 do not involve mortgage debt

• 17 other parishes have positive net savings of less than $60,000 (low reserves for emergencies)

• Parishes own these assets; yet, it is the Diocese that is compelled to respond to the emergencies28

A parish owned its assets but, like a slave in the antebellum South, it did not own itself. This reality radiated from Boston to New Orleans, from Scranton to New York City, back again to Cleveland and elsewhere as shuttered parishes joined Peter Borré’s Council of Parishes. Canon law calls the parish a “juridic person.” Conflicting opinions of canon law in diocesan bankruptcy cases demonstrate that the bishop has the power to suppress a juridic person, take its assets, and issue a death warrant for sale or demolition of the physical plant.

FutureChurch flew into action with e-mails to area parishes and information kits, matching sympathetic canon lawyers with protesting parishes.

In Cleveland, twenty-eight Catholic churches had already been designated as historical landmarks. Under Lennon’s order, eight would be closed. “St. Casimir, one of the biggest and most beautiful churches in the diocese, also learned its Polish Masses will be coming to an end,” reported the Plain Dealer.

“St. Ignatius is everything a Cleveland diocese should be,” said Cleveland City councilman Jay Westbrook. “It’s like the United Nations here. They have an integrated school and church. This is where the diocese should be taking its stand.”

“Understandably, there will be sadness and upset,” Lennon said in a statement posted on the diocese’s Web site. “There may well be questioning why us and not them. And even for some there will be anger.”29

The “upset” extended to Father Joseph Mecir, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Slavic Village, who said in a sermon, “This is a real blow to us. We were not expecting this at all. We are the only parish in Slavic Village whose bills are paid. We are not in the red at all. We have no idea why this came about.”30

Lennon’s plan, for all of its foreboding tone, had no data from urban planners, public officials, priests, or nuns. It was Lennon all the way.

AN OVERVIEW OF KEY DIOCESAN REALITIES SENSE OF URGENCY NEEDED

• In total, the finances of the Diocese and most parishes are not in a crisis state … today

• However, there are indicators of immediate or pending crisis for many of our entities

• All parishes must proceed with a sense of urgency before there are more crises than we can handle

• Often the process of closing parishes appears to be about finances

• Granted, finances often create the final sense of urgency

• However, finances are a trailing indicator of stress in a parish

• The leading indicators and real causes are the demographic shifts that began long ago in our area, continued for many years, are still occurring at present31

Removing icons, statues, and paintings was like “ripping out copper plumbing in foreclosed houses,” bristled Councilman Westbrook. “If the diocese is going to make closing announcements and just let the community suffer the consequences, it will require us to enact stricter legislation.”32

Michael Polensek, a city councilman for more than thirty years, represented Collinwood, a lakefront ward and ethnic quilt that included old Slovenian streets where he had been raised. “I went to see the bishop,” Councilman Polensek told me. “Even though I’m a lifelong Catholic I made it clear this would be a massive fight and it would not be pretty. Lennon said, ‘The numbers aren’t there, the flock has moved.’ Many of the figures I wouldn’t dispute.”

But Polensek knew the four parishes in his ward were in the black. “They were maintaining the racial stability,” he said. “Here’s my Catholic