‘Dying ... and Rising’ (Approximately 50 New York parishes to close, merge)

Catholic New York ^ | October 30, 2014 | Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan

[NYer]

As we came up Park Avenue, we passed Our Savior (38th). You could peek in - it was dark, full of candles, just the most beautiful little church. I said, “That is the church I want to attend.”

When I worked in the governor's office in Albany, I was occasionally sent down to the city office for a day. That office was on 3rd Ave, and I had to pass by Our Saviour's Church on the way to Penn Station. The door was always unlocked and I would drop in for a few minutes of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Rutler grew that parish. His choir was videotaped and featured on EWTN during Lent. The, suddenly, Cardinal Dolan pulled him from that church and re-assigned him to St. Michael's on the west side. He was also assigned to Holy Innocents as a visiting pastor. Now, both of those parishes are on the chopping block. Dolan might just as well as ripped the heart out of Fr. Rutler.

If it interests you, you can sign up for Fr. Rutler's weekly, Sunday meditation on the Church of St. Michael home page. On the right side, you will see Subscribe to Fr. Rutler's Weekly Column.

[Alex Murphy]

Any town that has turned into liberal USA, like NY City, Buffalo, Pitt, Boston, are closing down Catholic Churches left and right. Liberals by and large don’t go to church.

...According to the USCCB, the five most Catholic states, in population, are: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. According to the American Life League, the states with the most pro-life legislation (i.e., inhibiting abortion in various ways) are: Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Texas. This is a shocker. In short, there is no Catholic political impact in support of life in those states reportedly having the most Catholics.
-- from the thread The Mythical Catholic Vote: The Harmful Consequences of Political Assimilation

[NYer]

Shouldn’t at least some of these parishes have thought about evangelization before they shrunk too much?

Here in the northeast, european immigrants arrived to work in factories. To cite an example, in the City of Watervliet, there were 5 Catholic parishes, each one ethnic in nature. They were constructed by Italians, Irish, Germans, French and others. As I pointed out earlier, their descendants moved away. The factories closed (no longer need to manufacture leather gloves and shirt collars). The population shrank. Each community held onto their "family's" parish even though it was across the street from another parish. Several years ago, the bishop stepped into the fray and closed 5 of the parishes, merging them into one. That resulted in angry and disenfranchised Catholics who decided to attend the flourishing Evangelical Church.

Secularism has gripped the west and today, people spend Sunday watching sports or shopping at the mall. The government supplies their needs, not God ... at least, that is the mindset. Pendulums swing. Pray for them!

[VermiciousKnid]

If I’m reading this correctly, the archdiocese’s website indicates that Our Savior will merge with 2 other parishes, with Our Savior acting as the main parish church. Neither St. Michael’s nor Holy Innocents appear anywhere on the list, so it looks like both of them survive, too.

Deo Gratias.

http://www.archny.org/decisions-released;jsessionid=0FB80E6BE4A1A511EE5C2D9F34D6DAC9

Regards,

PS: Interesting that no parishes are closing in either Queens or Brooklyn.

[NKP_Vet]

“Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Texas”

Protestants dwarf Catholics in these states. Your remark makes no sense. The point I was trying to make is LIBERAL Catholics, i.e., those that do not follow the faith live in the NE. These lib Catholic include most of the politicians in the state.

Do away with the liberal Catholics in this country and the ones that follow the faith still outnumber any protestant faith in the land.

Catholics founded the pro-life movement in this country. After Roe v. Wade almost all the protestant faiths in the country went along with abortion on demand. I am glad some finally came around, but after Roe v. Wade, it was mainly Catholics that fought against abortion. Rep Chris Smith is the most ardent pro-life defender in the US Congress. He has been fighting the good fight for the last 34 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Smith_%28New_Jersey_politician%29

[Coleus]

a sign of the times, the white Europeans moved out of the cities and into the suburbs while the new Hispanic immigrants do not regularly attend mass...Yes, some churches do have a large Spanish mass but that’s usually because there may be only one Spanish mass in that church...from my observations here in the urban areas of new jersey, which is full of Hispanics, I see that a small percentage of them regularly attend mass. And many of them are joining fundamentalist, Mormon and

[bboop]

I do get his newsletter. Any idea why he was moved? Tsk tsk, the devil is at work.

[NYer]

Any idea why he was moved? Tsk tsk, the devil is at work.

No but I will conjecture it is due to his love for the TLM. It is like this in any diocese. When one does not march in lock step with the "shepherd", they are re-assigned to another parish or ministry. Up here in Albany, several devout (read: humble) priests, who drew large attendance for their reverence in worship and solid catechetical homilies, were shipped off to remote parishes. In one instance, the priest was re-assigned to prison ministry. Perhaps you recall the silencing of Fr. Robert Altier by Archbishop Harry Flynn. Archbishop’s Action Against Priest . . . Reverberates Throughout Cyber Universe.