From just across the border, east of Albany in The Berkshire Eagle: Vigil at St. Stan’s to be featured in Time magazine

ADAMS —” The St. Stanislaus Kostka parishioners’ vigil to keep their church openAlso see St. Stanislaus Kostka, Braving the storm. is featured in the next edition of Time magazine hitting newsstands Monday.

In fact, the growing effort to prevent Catholic church closings is garnering growing media attention, including a front-page story that appeared last week in The New York Times about the ongoing vigils in Boston titled “Quiet Rebellion.”

And a news crew for WNYT, Albany television channel 13, stopped into St. Stan’s Friday for interviews and footage.

In particular because the WNYT is building up for a similar occurrence here in Albany when the Roman Catholic diocese closes a large number of parishes next weekend.

St. Stan’s parishioners —” who’ve been keeping vigil since the morning of Dec. 26 and beyond the church’s Jan. 1 closing —” are glad they’re getting the widespread attention, but they aren’t sure it’s going to help.

“I think it’s indicative of what’s going on in Catholic churches across the country,” said Adams resident Paul Demastrie as he stood vigil in the church Friday afternoon. “It’s a major story because it’s national, not just a community issue. And if the church winds up closing anyway, at least we can say we did our best.”

“It’s getting the word out nationwide and even worldwide of what’s happening with the churches,” said Francis Hajdas, a spokeswoman for the St. Stan’s vigil. “As far as we’re concerned, there’s no reason to close our church, outside the fact that they need the money to pay off lawsuits for clergy abuse.”

The vigil movement has had mixed results.

Of nine vigils in Catholic churches in Boston, four churches have been reopened, and five vigils are ongoing. Vigils that started in October to keep two churches in New Orleans open were ended earlier this week when the diocese put an end to the sit-in. Police there forced their way into the buildings, and two parishioners who locked themselves in and refused to leave were arrested.

The closings of St. Stan’s and St. Thomas Aquinas was announced in August, and went into effect at the first of the year. Those two churches are being merged with Notre Dame under a new name.

‘It was heartbreaking’

…

Although owned by the Diocese of Springfield, St. Stan’s was funded and built in 1905 by Polish immigrants, and has been decorated, enhanced and added to using donations from the local Polish community ever since. Parishioners contend the diocese is trying to take away the spiritual and cultural center of their community that was paid for, built and maintained by generations of their families.

Yes, the Diocese is, but as every Roman Catholic should acknowledge, parishioners and parish councils, even pastors, have little power other then that delegated by their bishop. Roman Catholic bishops in the United States own everything, and most particularly each parish’s property. Therein lies the real power. It is their right to demand that parishes close or merge, to sell the property, and take charge of the property’s contents, determining its distribution.

This is exactly the thing that the parishioners of Sacred Hearts in Scranton rallied against in 1897, and the very reason for the organization of the Polish National Catholic Church. Bishop Hodur and the members of the PNCC enshrined the democratic character of the PNCC in its constitution and in its life so that this wouldn’t happen.

On August 25, 1907 Bishop Hodur presented a speech at the blessing of the Polish National Church in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania:

Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)

These words came to mind today and I would wish them to cling also in your hearts and thoughts and when you return to your homes that they might occur to you and strengthen you in your faith and love in the national wandering in the diaspora. For these words are for us of more particular attention because they are the source of that value of sanctifying humankind about which bishops and priests speak so little, and which always pose a fundamental difference between the old Roman Church and the Polish National Church.

In the old Church may often be heard: Prayer, the Sacraments, the Holy Mass, are valid in this place conducted by such a bishop or priest and by that one are even more valid, but we feel that the great significance of the Holy Mass comes from Christ, from God. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

If, therefore, God abides everywhere, then why build churches?

Because the church is a collective place to honor God, it is a visible monument of the love and gratitude of the nation in serving the Most High Being, and the Church is also the nation’s school. God likes to visit temples raised by human hands.

The National Church lives by these ideals to this very day. By working together in a democratic society which seeks to fulfill our Lord and Savior’s instruction to us, we build and support parish churches. Those parishes are owned and operated by their parishioners, because they are a visible symbol of God dwelling among us and our collective cooperation with God.

We support parish churches and see them as the center of our communal life. The building of a church, its establishment, its life, is more than a legal deed and a bishop’s power. It is the people’s power, their work and support, which raises a living monument to love and gratitude. More so, it is our school, where the teachings of Jesus Christ take root. God visits us there. A parish’s presence in our community bears witness to the world. Closing a parish may be practical and financially sound, but its diminishment is a blow to community, to man’s striving, and to our ability to meet with and learn from the Word. It is an insult to the faith of those who support the witness of faith in the local community.

The PNCC has many small parishes, but regardless of size, their life is a direct result of the love, dedication, and hard work of their parishioners. The people of the parish work together as part of a free society of believers.

The Roman Catholic faithful who formed Resurrection PNCC in Temperance, Michigan went through three church closings before they left the Roman Church. Now they are building their monument of love and gratitude – a place that is theirs, where Christ lives in their midst. That opportunity is open to everyone who wishes to buildup rather than tear down.