as the Homecomings become routine

A very few, perhaps a handful of people, frequently check this site for a story. I have a perspective on many things. Of course, not everyone is enthusiastic about my views. I did not intend this to be a religious page. But it has come to pass, in this portion of Rustbelt America [northeasterly Ohio], that, a continuing saga of parishioners and episcopal authoritarianism has been manifested unto an unfolding serial drama. It has been so for a few years now. That IS a religious story. Now, there is a religious press in this country. There are several religious presses, by denomination. This story has slightly caught the attention of the National Catholic Reporter; beyond that ... there is an approaching absence, at least a dearth. There are many so called 'bloggers' on religious themes. Many that self-identify as 'Catholic' largely fall into authoritarian, proscriptive, allies of a rigid episcopacy. They would have cheered Cauchon, the bishop that ordered Jeanne d' Arc to the flames of faggotted sticks. So, only the secular press is writing or filming this story, and they are limited by their understanding, and their critics and censors, whom are often allies of the episcopacy.

I do not always have a comment for this journal, and besides, i type slow. The camera helps, the pictures tell a story themselves; they often only need a little identification, and context. The last few weeks wonderful stories have been reported by the local press on the parish Homecomings. It is an interesting point, that no significant chancery presence has attended any of these. Are these Homecomings not good for the diocese? They are certainly good for the communities. All of these are Homecomings. Under church law, none of these parishes went out of existence. The doors were closed, and now they are opened. The very term 'Homecoming' is not a term appreciated by the chancery.

Pieces are coming together. People have returned. They are beginning to renew, or restart a routine. Saint Wendelin (Cleveland's very near West Side) has just completed their first week back. Their new pastor alluded to the first reading at Mass, where the nation under Moses first have manna. He pointed out their exile in the desert lasted forty years, and after the initial miracles [that allowed them to escape faro] they had to continue everyday existence. They had heavenly food to sustain them, so do we. We need to live with Jesus as a community.

Wendelin's Marian grotto

Mary's grotto has been repaired by parishioners this week. When the diocese took the statue, they knocked off several stones. With the statue returned, the masonry was to be restored. The parishioners did so.

Wendelin's exile is over. Not so, for its near neighbor, Saint Emeric. The only parish that is left in the street is St. Emeric's. Why is this so? Every Sunday they meet for a prayer circle at 9.45 a.m.. They are the only one of the five who held these regular gatherings still doing so. The need has disappeared for SS. Casimir, Patrick, James, and Wendelin. Fortunately, they still meet for Mass on one or two Sundays a month at Saint Colman. In that way, their community has held closer together. At any moment they are ready, and fully capable, of moving inside THEIR church. Their exile has continued too long [Rome called it to end on the First of March]. As Richard Lennon says, “I am the bishop, and I make the decisions”. It seems so. In an attempted dialogue, the parish representatives insist they require an Hungarian speaking priest. Some one needs to understand confessions and spiritual questions from those not comfortable, or proficient in English. Lennon, when someone speaks words that he disapproves of is not a pleasant interlocutor, “Don’t give me that ethnic stuff”. Some questions he will not answer, or is not capable of replying to.

Lennon defines the first step of the Homecomings is the selection of a pastor, whom will co-ordinate everything. Ten parishes have had pastors named, not one had been the old pastor. Saint Emeric's parish would be very happy with their old pastor returning. “No, this is to be the bishop’s decision. Father Sandor is off the table. I am the bishop, and I make the decisions”. The rough tone does not reproduce in the transcription.

Władek

Before Mass, a ninety-nine year old man prays before the high altar at St. Casimir. He had spent six years as a war prisoner of the hitlerite Germans. He was the fellow, that, unplugged Lennon's microphone during the Mass of Eviction. That began the women leading a protest that completely unnerved Lennon. Patriotic and Marian songs filled the church to the dismay of the lennonists. Władysław "Władek" Szylwian has outlasted occupation before; his abiding and enduring faith is a lesson for the learning.
This is just an interesting sign. On Broadview, in Parma, some churches have attempted to put a clever message to spur one to think of God, and their relationship with Him. I have posted a previous sign of St. Mary's Polish National. In the oldest writing there is no spaces between words, or punctuation. This can make thoughts less than straight forward. Was this message to read as two different sentences? or does it do so unintentionally? is the sentence three words, or four words long?