Cleveland Catholic Diocese closing 50 churches

[Algorem]

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/02/plans_for_church_closings_by_d.html#comments

...Bishop Richard Lennon is expected to announce early next month the closing of nearly 50 churches, mostly in the inner-city neighborhoods of Cleveland, Akron, Lorain and Elyria.
St Stephen Catholic Church prays to remain open

It is believed to be the first downsizing and major reconfiguration in the history of the 162-year-old diocese.

The closings are in response to a shortage of priests, changing demographics and empty collection baskets...


Forty-two percent of the diocese's 224 parishes are in the red, diocese officials say. Many churches can't afford needed repairs...

























Aw.

[madrchsod]

1. roll out the cats and scrape the abandoned cities clean

sell off the land to the homesteaders...80 acres and a plow.

[NJCher]

2. there's a lot to this story

I just searched for the story I heard on NPR but their search engine didn't turn it up.

Part of it is that there is no longer this reserve of unpaid labor, what with hardly anyone going into the priesthood or nunneries these days.


Cher

[jimshoes]

3. The Parish where I attended

school and basically belonged to forever (suburb of Cleveland) is getting the axe. I don't attend much these days but my wife and her mother are active and are a bit stressed about it.

[blm]

4. Columbkille was my school and church....

I doubt it will close, though.

[jimshoes]

9. I went to Assumption in Brook Park

Grades 1-8 although they haven't had a school there since the 1980's. They will be closing the church by all indications that we've heard. It's just not official yet.

[YOY]

5. But there are those who need faith...

and part of me would rather them get it from the Catholic Church which breeds skepticism and agnostics like me along side the next generation of the faithful (and fewer fanatics than some other branches of Christianity) than the crazy evangelists who I am sure are partially loving this economic downturn as more folks need to turn to their little version of Jesus.

I wonder how Catholic education is faring. As a product of Padua Franciscan (the kind they made more than a few of, I am grateful for the better education than my friends received in Public Education.) Remember that Catholics accept science and the Church has promoted higher education...(and done plenty of unsavory things of the contemporary.)

This may not be a totally "good thing."

(and I am waiting for the first "pedophile priest" comment in 3,2,1...)

[blm]

6. heh...Columbkille/Holy Name here.

And you're right about the pros...and I say that as an atheist since 1994. One of my aunts was a nun in charge of Parmadale and they did a great deal of important work for the greater community....and even housed a child named Dennis Kucinich for some time.

My church school was very charity-minded, and we were always collecting food and clothing for the underprivileged around Cleveland. My own family was pretty darn poor, but, we were able to fake middle class back then.

[YOY]

7. Ewww...you're a "Namer"...beware the Green Puddle!

:P (Just a bit of stupid razzing for the sake of ol' times.)

And I went to the dreaded Incarnate Word Academy for grade school...that place's memories still bring back all kinds of hurt.

[jimshoes]

8. Hi there,

I did 9th grade at Padua then I decided on a less regimented curriculum a la public high school.

[YOY]

10. I thought it served me well enough.

Frankly, I knew friends in the public schools who really didn't get the same level of education as I got save a couple of honors kids. Not to be snooty but they really didn't know some basic stuff that I knew in history and literature. And mathematically I was totally on tops despite not being in Padua's honors math. The honors kids who went to public did though.

They just about all went to Brunswick HS, Strongsville, one of the Parma HSs, or Rocky River.

I always like to tell people about Mr. Cohen (one of the math teachers at Padua.) The Jewish math teacher who prefered to teach math at a Catholic HS. Nobody gave him flack and he was a nice guy but I could never figure out why he wanted to teach at a Catholic HS.

Shame you didn't make it to Jr or Sr. Year. Although Mr. Novak taught American History he always brought up his Pro-life BS every fucking day and would show off his aborted fetus posters behind the maps. I think he took them down after enough kids put up porn covering the posters while he wasn't looking. It was such a joy to fuck with that man...

[blm]

12. How long ago? Agree about the education value - I had enough credits to graduate by end of junior

year. Enough for public schools, anyway.

[YOY]

14. Graduated in 93.

n.t.

[jimshoes]

15. Whoa, I think I had him for some class or other

Remember Fr Jerome Thelin? He was my homeroom teacher. I was there in 1967 if memory serves.

[YOY]

16. I heard about him...but he was long gone.

We had Father Jerry. We drove that man crazy. A few classes ahead of me, I remember one kid mocking a siezure and another "saving him from biting his tongue off in class." Father Jerry beleived everything.

The newspapers actually printed the story.

[blm]

17. What did you think of Mr. Giulivo?

.

[YOY]

18. Jimminy Cricket? Great guy. Nice wife too.

A little naive at times but his heart was in the right place. Everyone knew it.

[blm]

19. I went to HS with him. One of the nicest human beings on this planet.

.

[YOY]

20. He was principal while I was there. I think he went back to teaching though.

He was strict when he had to be and fair most of the time. I liked the guy overall, but I don't think leadership was really his cup of tea. He just was more of a cheerleader than authoritarian... He married Joan Riley (quite the pretty young teacher at the time) when I was a freshman I think...I don't know if they had any kids. Nice couple though.

The Mr. Jenrich the Assitance VP was mostly fair but he did give me a detention for no reason once because a teacher once "thought" I told her "fuck you." (Crazy ole hag though she was, I did no such thing!)

[blm]

21. No, he was never one for authoritarianism, though highly competent as an administrator -

except society tends to prefer those who come off as authoritarian over the competent.

[YOY]

22. This is true.

n.t.

[ZombieHorde]

11. Doesn't your post have the first "pedophile priest" comment? nt

[YOY]

13. In parenthesis.

It totally vindicates me...:sarcasm: