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Challenging “Challenges” Exposing Carpetbagger Egan on the Lie of “Realignment” Your Eminence: One could drive a Popemobile through the holes in your shopworn rationale for “realignment.” We exposed them a year ago in a letter to Catholic New York [CNY], still neither published nor answered. In “Challenges,” your November 2004 editorial for CNY, you didn’t even try to cover them. As far as you’re concerned, they simply don’t exist.

ROCHESTER (1/20/2005) - Citing overburdened leadership and a lack of worshippers to help carry the load, parishioners at the Church of the Redeemer have decided that now is the time to move on. Parishioners met privately with Bishop V. Gene Robinson Wednesday to make official the closing of the church after more than 100 years of operation. Those who spoke of the closure said the decision was made solely by the parishioners, not Robinson or the Diocese of New Hampshire. "With much disappointment and sadness, (the parishioners) reached the decision that there was just not a critical mass of people...

A MESSAGE TO CARDINAL EGAN AND HIS LACKEYS ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAST NOVUS ORDO MASS AT THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT ANN’S You, Sir, may be finished with this church. But we are not finished with you. You may think you have won, but we will not rest until your name is blackened in the annals of the Church and the mere mention of “Egan” nauseates the faithful as does “Esau” and “Judas.” When you enter a room, be it the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom, the Metropolitan Opera’s Belmont Room, or any of the other humble venues you...

Vt. diocese faces historic changes January 9, 2005 By KEVIN O'CONNOR Staff Writer How do you staff 130 parishes with 55 priests, settle yet another round of clergy misconduct lawsuits and replace a retiring bishop? For Vermont's 148,000 Catholics, the new year promises historic challenges and change. Members of the state's largest religious group will start work Saturday on their chief concern when as many as 300 priests and parishioners meet privately to discuss how to consolidate churches to deal with a clergy shortage. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont projects the number of priests will drop by half in...

Officials of the Archdiocese of New York, one of the city's largest property owners, expect to sell off a significant number of church buildings, schools, and charitable facilities in the next year, to compensate for shifts in Catholic population concentrations, a church spokesman said yesterday."We are going through a process of realignment that will very probably result in the sale of property in Manhattan, the Bronx, and possibly Staten Island," the communications director for the archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, told The New York Sun. "We will also look to add parishes in Rockland, Dutchess, and Orange counties where the Catholic communities...

Seventeen churches in Aceh province were closed down during September by local government authorities. The authorities gave no reason for these closures that have deprived over 10,000 Christians of places to meet for worship. One congregation has tried to meet in the open air in a palm oil plantation. Christians in Aceh have been under increasing pressure since the implementation of Shari’ah (Islamic law) in the province in March 2002. Although Shari’ah regulations were only supposed to apply to Muslims, Christian women are being forced to conform to Islamic dress codes. Aceh is a strongly Islamic province and the implementation...

Catholics outraged by the treatment of parishioners attending a South Natick church's final Mass are considering staging sit-ins at other parishes the Boston archdiocese intends to close. ``The archdiocese has shown its true colors in calling in the police, and we will act accordingly,'' said Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, a coalition of parishioners concerned about Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's decision to close more than 80 parishes because of fiscal problems. Our Lady of Mercy in Belmont is scheduled to close Friday after its final Mass tomorrow, and four Cape Ann parishes are slated to close Jan....

The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com READ IT - LEARN FROM IT - PRAY OVER IT - SHARE IT --- Why 85 Episcopal churches closed their doors December 25, 2004 By Les Kinsolving New Hampshire's Episcopal bishop, the Right Rev. Vicky Gene Robinson, continues to attract extensive coverage in our nation's left-wing dominated Old Media – because he is the only known Anglican (or Episcopal) prelate who left his wife and daughter and who now lives unmarried with his sodomist lover. The decision to consecrate him a bishop has caused a worldwide rift in the 77 million-member Anglican communion. There are further...

Saturday, December 25, 2004 Why 85 Episcopal churches closed their doorsPosted: December 25, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Les Kinsolving © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com New Hampshire's Episcopal bishop, the Right Rev. Vicky Gene Robinson, continues to attract extensive coverage in our nation's left-wing dominated Old Media – because he is the only known Anglican (or Episcopal) prelate who left his wife and daughter and who now lives unmarried with his sodomist lover. The decision to consecrate him a bishop has caused a worldwide rift in the 77 million-member Anglican communion. There are further consequences at home in the United States. Already reported has been...

A century-old Catholic church in Boston closed its doors on Sunday after police stepped in to force out protesting parishioners. About a dozen members of the Sacred Heart Church were holding a vigil to protest the decision by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to close their church over Christmas weekend. According to the Associated Press, two church members, Anne Green and Leo Ryan, were arrested on Friday night, and the dozen parishioners stepped in to resume the vigil. Police entered the building and threatened the parishioners with arrest; there were no arrests since all the parishioners heeded to the advice...

The Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle: From Sanctuary to Abortuary Egan's relentless pursuit of "realignment" is untutored by any notion of churches as tools of Catholic evangelization. Does he believe Catholic churches only serve the people who are already Catholic? (I had thought, as William Temple famously wrote, that the Church is "the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members.") If Egan gets his way, many more scenes of heartless, and needless, destruction such as those above will be visited upon New York City. Click on the link above for more evidence of his legally...

As with Saint Ann and Saint Thomas, so with Saint Brigid . . . blind-sided parishioners . . . monies collected under false pretenses, whereabouts unknown . . . inflated repair costs, parishioner alternatives ignored . . . "no decision has been made". . . talk of low-income housing . . . 1011 First Avenue sings the same tune, but no one is dancing to it. "ARE YOU NEXT ON EGAN'S HIT LIST?" Seen on placard at Save Saint Brigid/Save Saint Thomas Protest March and Rally outside Saint Patrick's Cathedral, November 7, 2004

65 Boston-Area Churches Slated To Close BOSTON -- The announcement this week that the Archdiocese of Boston would close dozens of churches has left many faithful parishioners stunned and angry. NewsCenter 5's David Boeri reported that Masses this weekend could be especially difficult, and include some unusual instructions the archdiocese has given to priests. When Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley and his staff met with pastors behind closed doors in Weston Thursday, a planning guide was given out to the pastors of 65 parishes slated for closure. Comparable to manuals for factory closings and other exercises in corporate downsizing, the manual...

Today is not an easy day for the people of the Archdiocese of Boston. This morning all of our pastors and parishes were notified of the results of the reconfiguration process. Many parishes received the news that they would be remaining open and welcoming people from other parishes in the months ahead. As a result of this process there will be 65 less parishes, but this translates into the closing of 60 churches since five of the former parish churches will continue as worship sites. Although this reconfig-uration responds to the very special needs of the present, a radical reconfiguration...