As some may know, there has been a great deal of stress, sadness, and consternation in Cleveland over the closing of many of the area’s Roman Catholic Parishes. A new website, Endangered Catholics, highlights many of the issues of concern.

I previously wrote about one of the Cleveland Parishes who, with a large share of their membership and priest, have formed their own church in: “What will happen next?” These people are taking concrete steps in an effort to do what the PNCC did over 100 years ago, establish that those who support and work for the Church have a say in its management.

People are finding the courage to speak out. The Rev. Donald Cozzens recently editorialized in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Why our priests remain silent:

In her letter to the editor, “Silence of the priests” (July 31), Frances Babic lamented the silence of Cleveland’s priests in the face of church closings by the Catholic bishop of Cleveland, Richard Lennon.

For some time now, Bishop Lennon has been the target of heated and often cutting criticism for the closing and merging of 50 of Cleveland’s Catholic parishes. But the strongest cries of protest arose over the closing of perhaps 10 to 12 parishes whose spiritual vitality and ability to meet their bills appeared evident. No satisfactory rationale, it was claimed, was ever extended to these parishioners explaining why their churches had to close their doors — only the oft-repeated talking points of demographic changes, financial realities and the shortage of priests.

But the silence of Cleveland’s priests, with the exception of the Rev. Bob Begin (“Priest sends public challenge to bishop on church closures,” The Plain Dealer, March 13), goes beyond the fate of closed and boarded churches. We priests have remained silent because it is our way of life.

We priests have remained silent as evicted parishioners of closed parishes coped with feelings of disorientation and spiritual abandonment while searching for new parish communities — and others decided not to search at all.

We priests have remained silent about our own tattered morale and the widespread spirit of discouragement in the people of our diocese.

I suspect Frances Babic and other Catholics are thinking: What have you priests got to lose? You have no family to support, no mortgage to pay off, no children to educate, and you enjoy unparalleled job security. Why do you remain silent?

Here is why I think we priests remain silent…

In times of crisis, and I believe it is clear that the Catholic Church of Cleveland is in crisis, mature believers need to ask what they can do to help their church regain its equilibrium and renew its spirit. This is especially true of its leaders, its priests.

A few weeks back I spoke with members of a closed Parish in St. Johnsville, New York, courageous folk who have been hurt. Others in the Albany, New York area have made quiet inquiry. Having just spent a few days at Synod, I heard more on the numbers of disaffected Roman Catholics opening talks with the PNCC so that they might found their own parishes; Parishes where they democratically control the parish property and where each member gets a voice and a vote over their parish’s administrative, managerial, and social matters:

In administrative, managerial and social matters, this Church derives its authority from the people who build, constitute, believe in, support and care for it. It is a fundamental principle of this Church that all Parish property, whether the same be real, personal, or mixed, is the property of those united with the Parish who build and support this Church and conform to the Rite, Constitution, Principles, Laws, Rules, Regulations, Customs and Usages of this Church. — Constitution of the Polish National Catholic Church, Article VI, Section 3

The National Catholic Reporter recently did an article on The ‘had it’ Catholics. The article’s slant toward liberalism aside (no, you cannot change defined Doctrine in any of the Catholic Churches), the statistics reported therein are alarming. The goings-on in Cleveland exacerbate the loss of R.C. adherents. As I have noted on previous occasions, people may not necessarily leave the R.C. Church after a forced closing, but their attendance rate drops. They stay nominally R.C. so that they might be buried from the Church. For those who do leave, and desire Catholic truth in a Church where they have a voice and vote, the PNCC should be seriously considered.

When a group of Christians decide that the idea of this Church answers its convictions and desires to organize a Parish, representatives of said group shall communicate with the Bishop of the Diocese and make known its intention. The Bishop of the Diocese, after investigation and being satisfied of the group’s intention and convictions, shall authorize the giving to the group all manner of assistance, furnish it suitable Church literature, legal requirements, a copy of the Constitution and Laws of the Church and a model charter. This action shall be done in concurrence with the Prime Bishop. — Constitution of the Polish National Catholic Church, Article V, Section 2

This Sunday marks both the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) and the observance of Heritage Sunday in the PNCC. We mark this Sunday as a day to honor the heritage of our members which now spans the ethnic and cultural diversity of this nation and others. As I reflected today, I felt sorrow over the report at the Endangered Catholics site noting that many of the items from Parishes to be closed are being sold off, even while there are appeals before the Vatican over the closings (anyone get the idea that the Bishop already knows that the response to the appeals will be a pro forma “No”). These items are more than glass, plaster, wood, and cloth. They are the pennies of our ancestors and their heritage, the Church Triumphant. They are now the tears of those who have no say over the fruits of their labor, the Church militant. Looking at them, we have to ask, Who will buy me? Who will cherish me? Who will see more in me than outward appearances?

You can have St. Stanislaus Kostka sans Crucifix for $875 and St. Wenceslas with his brass flag for $3,750.

And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. — Zechariah 11:12