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 ...
“How long before these churches become mosques?”
This is my big fear. All we can do is pray.
Cardinal Dolan has already demonstrated he won’t listen to the likes of us.
Amen!
Dolan is not a good shepherd.
This has zero to do with Muslims.
Young people are less into Catholicism and others have drifted away.
Catholic turnout is way down.
Not sure what motivates Dolan.
Always make these Catholic Caucus posts, please.
Don’t the Muslims have enough mosques in NYC?
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