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New York Churches Receive Tearful Farewells
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 7/26/15 | Melanie Grayce West

Posted on 07/28/2015 4:49:29 AM PDT by marshmallow

Thousands of Catholics attend final services at parishes set to close

Parishioners of the Roman Catholic Church of All Saints in Harlem openly wept at Mass on Sunday as the sounds of the choir lifted up to the soaring ceilings.

Rosalind Maybank, president of the usher board, broke into tears as she thanked congregants for spending one last Sunday “with your family.”

“It’s very hard, but the love that we share among each other will always be with us no matter where we go, whatever church we go to,” said Ms. Maybank, 68 years old, as sunlight poured in through the stained-glass windows. “Family is always together, forever.”

The final Sunday services for thousands of area parishioners marked another step in the broad, controversial reorganization of the Archdiocese of New York parishes. Across a region stretching from Staten Island to the Catskills, 368 parishes are set to merge into 294, effective Aug. 1.

The first wave of merger decisions was announced in November.

In an interview Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the parish mergers were difficult decisions but were made with “monumental consultation and input from the people.”

Cardinal Dolan likened the painful process of saying goodbye to a familiar church to that of closing up the family home. And, he said, he was saddened, too.

“I apologize to them because I know I’m the one that made the decision that is causing such sorrow,” he said. “But I remain very hopeful.”

At St. Stephen of Hungary on the Upper East Side, a parish set to close following its merger to the nearby Church of St. Monica, scores of people attended a morning Mass and hundreds filled the basement church hall for a farewell luncheon with home-cooked traditional Hungarian dishes.

Robert Winer, vice president of the parish’s lay committee, said......

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Ministry/Outreach; Worship
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1 posted on 07/28/2015 4:49:29 AM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

Supply and demand.


2 posted on 07/28/2015 4:55:15 AM PDT by sakic
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To: sakic

Importing too many Muslims. Not enough Catholics reproducing.


3 posted on 07/28/2015 5:01:24 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: marshmallow

And what is to be done with the Churches that are taken out of service, so to speak?

The Churches need to stay open Cardinal. They are being used. If it’s money, why can’t the socialist in Rome throw a few bucks to keep the doors open?

Or is he too busy going around criticizing capitalism?


4 posted on 07/28/2015 5:05:51 AM PDT by Paulie (America without Christianity is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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To: Vigilanteman

Catholics are reproducing, just not in the old cities of the northeast and the Midwest. Parishes are growing in the south and southwest, where businesses are growing. Massive infrastructure in churches and schools in inner cities cannot be sustained. New parishes and buildings are needed elsewhere. It is a challenge and a sadness for the ever-dwindling number of people whose families have generations-long relationships with closing NE city parishes.


5 posted on 07/28/2015 5:10:57 AM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: marshmallow

I know it’s cost-prohibitive, but it’s too bad some of these grand old churches can’t be disassembled, moved, and rebuilt where the congregations are.

The same consolidation/closing happened in Cleveland a few years back.


6 posted on 07/28/2015 5:17:22 AM PDT by chrisser (This space for rent.)
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To: Vigilanteman

“Importing too many Muslims. Not enough Catholics reproducing”

I guess that’s it in a nutshell.

Catholics themselves to blame. If the statistics are right, a good number of Catholics vote Dem, and presumably helped elect 0bama.

And due to contraception and abortion, far less offspring are available to carry on the Faith. Both against Church teaching.


7 posted on 07/28/2015 5:21:17 AM PDT by Paulie (America without Christianity is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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To: marshmallow

More evidence America has turned it’s back on God.

THAT is what needs fixing if we expect any return to the true America.


8 posted on 07/28/2015 5:28:50 AM PDT by G Larry (Obama is replicating the instruments of the fall of Rome)
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To: marshmallow; All

NEED to get the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL of JESUS proclaimed to ALL!


9 posted on 07/28/2015 5:47:25 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: G Larry

Get the GOSPEL of Jesus proclaimed is the answer.


10 posted on 07/28/2015 5:48:01 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: sakic

They could have kept these churches open. I know people in some of these parishes and they had raised the money for repairs and running expenses and wanted to evangelize in their areas (either blacks or the unchurched young whites or Hispanics moving in). The archdiocese just didn’t want to, because Dolan wants to sell the property and he wants the number of parishes on NYC reduced to ONE THIRD of what they were when he took over.

Dolan and his boss are both creepily smiling, evil statists who don’t give a darn about the Faith or about the flock. Unless they happen to be LGTBQWXYZ.


11 posted on 07/28/2015 5:50:55 AM PDT by livius
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To: Biggirl

Ya....the Gospel of Jesus is read at every Mass!


12 posted on 07/28/2015 5:51:47 AM PDT by G Larry (Obama is replicating the instruments of the fall of Rome)
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To: G Larry

Yes........but beyond the mass, in our daily lives.


13 posted on 07/28/2015 5:52:53 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: livius

I call this failure to evangelize.


14 posted on 07/28/2015 5:54:07 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: chrisser; All

Actually, that is beginning to happen in some places.

Check out newoldchurch.org to see a good example.


15 posted on 07/28/2015 5:57:31 AM PDT by LurkLongley (Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam-For the Greater Glory of God)
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To: marshmallow

If it’s anything like what they’re doing here they are closing long-standing parishes in Harlem and The Bronx, and putting the arm on those parishoners to fund new churches and schools in swanky upscale communities on Long Island and in Westchester.

Follow the money.


16 posted on 07/28/2015 5:58:06 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: marshmallow

How long before these churches become mosques?


17 posted on 07/28/2015 6:15:46 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Let's put the ship of state on Cruz Control with Ted Cruz.)
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To: Paulie

How many protestants and evangelicals voted for Obama? Why are Catholics always mentioned, but the whole truth never told?


18 posted on 07/28/2015 7:15:51 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Paulie
The rest of the story:

8 out of 10 white Protestants voted for Romney...95% of black Protestants voted for Obama...

6 out of 10 White Catholics voted for Romney...75% of Mexican Catholics voted for Obama...

Another source: Pew: The Evangelical Hispanic vote went 50-39 in favor of Obama in 2012. Hispanic Protestants in general went 55-33 for Obama in 2012.

19 posted on 07/28/2015 7:18:29 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

This post is about Catholic Churches. Only Catholics go the Catholic Churches.

What any other denomination does is not relevant to the issue presented here. Do Protestants or Baptists attend Catholic Church? Do they listen to the Pope, Cardinals, or Bishops?

There is nothing else to discuss here.


20 posted on 07/28/2015 7:40:48 AM PDT by Paulie (America without Christianity is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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