Commentary
Eyewitness to Irony
Francis X. Piderit, VOTF NY
[Our Lady Queen of Angels is in East Harlem, NY. The archdiocesan reconfiguration
plan is detailed
here).
See an excerpt from a message sent by Chris Schenk of FutureChurch following
Francis’ report.
Francis Piderit notes, “We did not act as instigators of this vigil
or any other action. We did not contact all the parishes when the closing list
was published in January, as was implied in a recent Boston Globe article.
We supported parishioners who stood up to defend their faith communities, but
we did not incite their actions.” Read the Boston
Globe article.]
I am sorry to report that the vigil at Our Lady Queen of Angels was stopped
last night shortly after 11PM. We are still piecing together the complete chain
of events, but as an eyewitness I can attest to the following:
A press conference was held outside the church at 2PM, during which the locks
on the church lavatory were surreptitiously changed. Several large men unknown
to the parishioners appeared in the church around 7PM. These men turned out
to be hired by the Archdiocese as security agents. The parishioners called
the police because they did not know who these unknown men were.
All the doors of the church were locked by the security agents, and anyone
trying to enter the church whenever the side door was opened was forcibly shoved
back out into the street, including me. Police outside stood by while this
occurred.
Priests from the Archdiocese entered the church at approx. 9PM and addressed
the crowd of about 30 parishioners, including men, women and children, asking
everyone to leave. The priests then retreated to the sacristy and did not appear
again.
At approx. 9:30PM, Carmen Villegas, chairperson of Our Lady Queen of Angels,
managed to open one outside door. Several supporters rushed in, along with
many members of the media and camera crews.
The camera crews were physically forced to leave the church shortly thereafter
by the security agents. There was scuffling in the aisles and some of the news
crews were nearly shoved to the floor. (I am still trying to determine whether
all this took place in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.)
A police lieutenant and two other officers entered the church, and began to
talk with a City Councilwoman who had entered the church when the doors were
opened at 9:30PM, and then with the priests sequestered in the sacristy. In
the church, the parishioners continued to pray the rosary and sing hymns. Soon
the police captain from the precinct joined the group.
For the next 90 minutes, the police shuttled back and forth between the parishioners
in the pews, and the priests in the sacristy. Negotiations went back and forth.
The lawyer for the parishioners arrived on the scene but was refused access
to the church.
At the end of this process, the police said that all parishioners had to vacate
the church by 11:30PM, or everyone would be arrested. Carmen Villegas and the
other leaders of the parishioners considered all the available options, but
it was clear that the police were going to back the claim by the Archdiocese
that it was the owner of the property, that the
parishioners were trespassing on church property, and that the parishioners
would have to leave or face arrest for illegal trespassing. So the decision
became: How do we best conclude this protest?
The decision was made to have six parishioners agree to be arrested and taken
out of the church in hand-cuffs, so that all the media outside could see what
was being done. All other protesters were to leave the church first.
When we left the church at approx. 11:15PM, the scene outside was surreal,
camera crews and trucks everywhere. Some 15 minutes later, the six hand-cuffed
parishioners were led single file down the driveway of the church, as a crowd
of perhaps 100 supporters chanted "Save our church." The media rushed
forward as they were being loaded into a police van in front of the church,
and the arrested parishioners managed to shout brief comments to the press.
Some of the children of the arrested parishioners were crying as their mothers
were loaded into the vans. The parishioners were taken to
the precinct on 102nd Street, where they were booked and then released.
These are the facts as best I can recall them.
In the end, the Archdiocese asserted, and the police backed, a claim to be
the owner of real estate, and refused to acknowledge the rights of the parishioners
to conduct a peaceful prayer vigil in their own church. The Archdiocese resorted
to intimidation, threats of force, and invitations to police to enter the sanctuary
of the church in order to suppress the vigil through threat of arrest.
I am trying to understand the true implications of these events. It is always
about faith, but had I not seen these events with my own eyes, I never would
have believed this could happen inside a Catholic church.
Chris Schenk of FutureChurch shares the following thoughts:
Apparently, Cardinal Egan has a policy that every parish must have a priest.
The Capuchin Franciscans can no longer staff Our Lady Queen of Angels, so this
appears to be a factor in the decision to close the parish. While Queen of
angels “has dwindled to 400 at Sunday services” (see excerpt below)
it is important to remember that a) this is a LARGE congregation by protestant
standards and b) 400 committed Catholics in a poorer neighborhood may have
more Gospel impact than 4000 or even 40,000 in a more affluent neighborhood.
FutureChurch is working to keep viable parishes open with parish life coordinators
rather than close them simply because no priest is available.
I have been in contact with several New York folks who are involved. The parish
is largely Hispanic and in a poor area. In a neighborhood where there are evangelical
storefront churches on every corner, it makes little sense to remove this vibrant
Latino presence. Latina Carmen Villegas is providing important leadership.
FutureChurch has supplied resources to some of the leadership and is sending
Carmen our “Spanish Women Witnesses” and “Save our Parish
Community” resource packet (which has prayers for use at vigils and other
good resources) to Our Lady Queen of Angels. These materials are available
here.
Voice of the Faithful NY Supports Our Lady Queen of
Angels Vigil in East Harlem
In the wake of recently announced parish closings in the
Archdiocese of New York, parishioners have been supported by VOTF NY, Council
of Parishes (Boston
MA) and parishioners from churches all over the archdiocese and beyond.
Below is excerpted text from VOTF NY’s press release.
New York, New York, Feb. 12: Voice of the Faithful New York supports the parishioners
of Our Lady Queen of Angels parish in East Harlem, who began a 24-hour, round-the-clock
vigil yesterday to save their church from threatened closure. Located at
226 East 113th Street in East Harlem, Our Lady Queen of Angels has several
hundred parishioners and serves the spiritual and pastoral needs of community
residents, including significant immigrant populations from Central and South
America….
The Archdiocese of New York published a list of 10 parishes to be closed and
11 parishes to be merged on Jan. 19, as part of its parish realignment initiative.
Another parish not on the list was notified of its closure by fax. Archdiocesan
officials provided no reasons why specific parishes must close or merge. Our
Lady of the Rosary in Yonkers already closed this past Sunday, and two parishioners
protesting the closure were arrested by police inside the church and charged
with illegal trespass.
“We do not protest every closure decision,” said Francis Piderit,
a member of the leadership team for Voice of the Faithful New York, “but
principles for the realignment have been discussed only in general terms,” said
Piderit…. “The attitude of the archdiocese seems to be, ‘Trust
us.’ But the last time we trusted our bishops with something we loved
-- our children -- that trust was too often tragically abused. Will our parishes
fare any better?”
A parish church is a physical reflection of the true parish, which consists
of the people who gather to worship together in that building. A decision to
close a building is effectively a decision to shut down a faith community.
The members of a parish who sacrificed to build and financially support the
church, and to carry out its mission over many years, deserve to know the reasons
why their parish must close.
The absence of a resident priest is not a reason for closing a parish, in
the view of Voice of the Faithful. Many parishes across the US have demonstrated
that they can survive and even thrive under the guidance of non-clerical parish
administrators, with visiting priests for liturgies. Given the shrinking number
of priests in the US, every decision to close a parish because a priest is
not in residence is a decision to abandon the mission given to Catholics by
Jesus Christ to go and spread the Good News to the entire world. In the Albany
Diocese alone, there are 26 parishes run by lay administrators, with priests
that live centrally and support multiple parishes. This is where the Catholic
Church is headed nationally.
The archdiocese has said that it will not sell the property of any parish
that is closed. Yet the property of St. Ann’s Parish on 12th Street was
sold, and construction of new buildings has already begun. The fact is that
many of the parishes slated for closing in Manhattan are located in economically
challenged neighborhoods, and lie on valuable real estate. Voice of the Faithful
agrees with the view of parishioners of Our Lady Queen of Angels that they
are being discriminated against because their community is less affluent than
other parishes in Manhattan.
Voice of the Faithful calls on the archdiocese to withdraw the letter of suppression
issued to Our Lady Queen of Angels at the earliest possible date. Voice of
the Faithful also calls on the archdiocese to provide public explanations of
the reasons behind all decisions to close or merge a parish, so that these
reasons can be evaluated on their merits.
For the future, VOTF believes that parishes should only be closed or merged
through a communal process of discussion, debate, prayer and discernment in
which all the members of the community—the laity, the clergy and other
religious – confront the strengths and needs of the faith community honestly
and openly. Parishes with strong and vibrant faith communities should present
reasonable plans for worship and for financial support of continued operations
to the entire community. A local determination on a parish closing or merger
should then be made through a formal vote. Final decisions should be entrusted
to the bishop in consultation with publicly elected, voting members of the
clergy and laity seated on diocesan-level pastoral councils.
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