List of Cleveland diocesan closings

Here follows a list, a long list, really two lists: the parish closures before the arrival of Richard Lennon and those after. It has been broken into groups of ten. Before April 2006—25 parishes were closed, 1 suspended; since then —58 have been closed (a nebulous number, perhaps 15 have appeals currently in Rome). In comparison to the previous essay (cf., some closures were mergers), which gave some details of why and wherefore parishes closed, those closed after 2005 were closed almost entire by a lone executive fiat or ukaze. The list abbreviates the parish name, nationality (if any), dates of existence and municipality (if outside of Cleveland proper). It is to be noted, that, the diocese of Cleveland was created in 1847; the first resident priest came in 1835. The diocese was the northern half of Ohio. It now is 8 of 88 counties, and only those parishes of the Roman (or western rite) are considered for this list. Note: last Mass said, and closing date are not always identical. If parish was merged, and stayed open as the resultant worship church: it is not listed. If the merged parish closed: it is listed with the name of origin.


St. Mary on the Flats Irish 1826-48, cathedral 1847-52, chapel of ease to1886
Annunciation French 1868-1916
St. Anthony Italian 1880-1938
St. Columbkille Irish 1871-1957
St. Peter Claver African-American, Akron 1945-1959
St. Martin Slovak 1893-1960
St. Bridget Irish 1857-1961
St. Wenceslaus Czech 1867-1963
St. Mary German 1854-1959, chapel-of-ease to 1968
St. Agatha 1945-1975

St. Edward Irish, African-American 1871-1975
St. Marian Italian 1905-1975
St. Agnes 1893-1980
[Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Vermilion 1979-1981 suspended]
St. Joseph German 1855-1986
Holy Family Czech 1911-1988, chapel-of-ease to1997
St. Peter Lithuanian, Akron 1919-1989
Transfiguration Polish 1943-1992
Nativity BVM Slovak 1903-1993
St. Benedict Slovak 1928-1993
St. Thomas Aquinas 1898-1993

St. Joseph Collinwood‡ 1877-1994
St. Mary of Czestochowa Polish 1914-1996
St. Josaphat Polish 1908-1998
St. Mary Polish, Barberton 1912-2002
Holy Trinity German, African-American 1880-2004
§  
===========================
mural by Romeo Celleghin for St. Andrew Svorad, demolished.

year established•date of last Mass or 'closing Mass'
1894•10 28 06 Assumption of Mary Polish, Grafton, chapel-of-ease to 2010
1945•11 12 06 St. Jude Warrensville Hts.
1911•09 02 07 Holy Trinity Hungarian*, Barberton
1923•10 28 07 St. Wenceslas Czech, Maple Hts.
1946•12 30 07 St. Henry
1898•12 30 07 St. Catherine
1914•05 27 08 St. Philip Neri
1906•06 02 08 St. Andrew Svorad Slovak
1908•10 25 08 St. George Clinton
1910•04 26 09 Holy Cross Polish, Elyria

1944•05 24 09 Epiphany
1905•06 14 09 SS. Cyril & Methodius Slovak, Barberton
1928•06 21 09 Christ the King, East Cleveland
1922•06 28 09 Sacred Heart of Jesus Hungarian, Elyria
1872•08 30 09 St. Procop Czech
1906•09 19 09 St. Hyacinth Polish
1912•09 26 09 St. Hedwig Polish, Akron
1908•09 27 09 St. Stanislaus Polish, Lorain
1890•09 27 09 St. Ladislaus Hungarian, Lorain
1887•10 04 09 St. Francis, German (school continued)

1905•10 04 09 SS. Cyril & Methodius Slovene, Lorain
1895•10 18 09 St. George Lithuanian
1907•10 31 09 St. John the Baptist Slovak Akron
1921•11 01 09 St. Margaret of Hungary Hungarian, Orange
1975•11 07? 09 Community of Saint Malachi†
1891•11 08 09 St. Casimir Polish
1965•11 14 09 Holy Trinity Bedford Hts.
1910•11 15 09 St. Mary Bedford
1860•11 21 09 St. Paul Euclid
1935•11 28 09 Christ the King Croat, Akron (now chapel-of-ease)

1906•12 13 09 Holy Trinity Slovak, Lorain
1922•12 20 09 St. Vitus Croat, Lorain
1950•12 27 09 St. Robert Bellarmine Euclid (weekday Masses before 1 Jan.)
1947•01 09 10 St. Louis Cleveland Heights
1905•01 17 10 St. Hedwig Polish, Lakewood
1915•01 24 10 Sacred Heart of Jesus Hungarian, Akron
1925•02 13 10 St. Christine Euclid
1896•03 07 10 St. Joseph German, Lorain
1899•03 14 10 St. Rose
1903•04 10 10 Blessed Sacrament

1853•04 11 10 St. Peter (last Mass 04 04 10)
1935•04 17 10 Corpus Christi Polish
1915•04 25 10 St. Cecilia
1888•05 02 10 Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish
1950•05 03 10 SS. Philip & James
1905•05 09 10 St. Barbara Polish
1922•05 09 10 Our Lady of Mercy Slovak
1860•05 16 10 Assumption of Mary Brook Park
1903•05 23 10 St. Wendelin Slovak
1924•05 30 10 Annunciation

1848•05 30 10 St. Patrick West Park‡
1883•06 06 10 St. Adalbert Czech-Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament African-American
1948•06 12 10 St. Margaret Mary South Euclid
1901•06 20 10 St. Lawrence Slovene
1936•06 20 10 Our Lady of Mount Carmel—East Italian
1908•06 26 10 St. James Lakewood (Mass celebrated next day)
1887•06 27 10 St. Mary Akron (now chapel-of-ease)
1904•06 30 10 St. Emeric Hungarian
(of the last 58 closures: 33 national parishes + 1 other personal parish + 5 in african-american communities)
____________________________________
*At origin: African-American was listed Negro, Czech listed as Bohemian, Hungarian listed as Magyar.
†Community of Saint Malachi was an unique personal parish, they formerly worshipped in the parish church of Saint Malachi.
‡Collinwood and West Park have been annexed to Cleveland for about a century, but there were other parishes in Cleveland of the same patronage.
§1975•San Juan Bautista, became La Sagrada Familia 1998
nota bene: Conversion of St. Paul has changed status from parish to shrine.
St. Colman, St. Ignatius and St. Stephen have been given conditional reprieves. Which comes to: $$$
POSTCRIPTUM 30 JANUARY 2013: By Vatican decrees of 1 March 2012, the parishes in Red have been publicly restored.

closures before lennonism

The closing of parishes in the diocese of Cleveland, outside the city itself was extra-ordinary, until Richard Lennon:

Saint Peter Claver 1945-1959 in Akron was created by the diocese for African-American* Catholics in Akron. The parish had difficulty recruiting members. The tendency for the black population in Akron was to attend existing neighborhood churches, the pastor thought that right too. This storefront church was razed. The few members of Saint Peter Claver then went to St. Mary's. Items from the church began St. Albert's in North Royalton.

Saint Peter, Akron began as a Lithuanian parish 1919-1926. It continued to the end of 1989 as a territorial parish until I-76 and I-77 bought the property. Bit by bit, like several Cleveland parishes, the neighborhood disappeared. The parish records went to St. Mary's.

The diocese thought population would expand near Vermilion. Our Lady, Star of the Sea, 1979-1981 held Masses until it became apparent, that only, a few people came. The parish was suspended, it could open some time in the future.

St. Mary Barberton (Polish) 1912 merged into Sacred Heart of Jesus (Slovene) in 2002, and the parish was renamed Prince of Peace. It was the first time the name of the resultant parish did not contain the former name. This event is used by the chancery as the start of the current re-configuration..

Those were all the parishes closed outside Cleveland before lennonism. It was not normally done in Cleveland, either. The tendency was to merge parishes. Even the names of parishes did not disappear readily. Not all parishes maintained parish status. Some fluctuated from mission status, or chapel and shrine. When numbers dropped far below to-day's standards, parishes (or missions, if that small) were kept open. Church communities spent years in flux. Some begging for a resident priest for years, but even without a priest they continued. Up until the first world war factionalism and strife, in certain parishes, existed. People had greater freedom to 'spout off'. People successfully had priests dismissed. Rome even dismissed the first bishop, Louis Amadeus Rappe.

In 1956, three new parishes were created in Parma (SS. Anthony, Bridget, Columbkille). They received the parish records of SS. Anthony 1880, Bridget 1857, Columbkille (Irish)1871-1957 of Cleveland. Anthony (Italian) and Bridget (Irish) merged at Bridget's from 1938 to 1961. The Italians marched in procession from the old church to the new with statues and banners and paintings. The old St. Anthony's became St. Maron's (Lebanese, Syrian) and is still there. Bridget became part of the inner belt highway, as had Columbkille. Old Columbkille migrated around the intersection of E. 26 and Superior; it progressed clockwise from the NW, to the NE, to the SE corner. The pews, and other stuff went to the new parmese Columbkille.

St. Bridget, Cleveland

In Cleveland, land that held many residences had buildings razed for industrial and commercial buildings, and also for the interstate highway system. SS. Bridget, Columbkille, Martin (Slovak)† and Wenceslaus of Cleveland were razed for roadage. The phrase, 'urban renewal' was often used. St. Wenceslaus (Czech‡)1867-1963 had considered moving their parish to the mission church in Maple Heights, instead they remained and the mission St. Wenceslaus became a separate parish.

Now, St. Joseph (German and Franciscan) 1855-1986 was the temporary home for several ethnic parishes. It became an island amidst highways, which had eaten the entire neighborhood. The building was wanted for preservation, but the second fire started by bums in 1993 pushed it to demolition. It was sadly missed by many. Many of its tall windows were cut into arrangements for the short walls of St. Raphael's. Three windows are now behind the altar of St. Stephen's (German), Cleveland. The glass was made by the same studio in Munich. Some small windows are in St. Stanislaus (Polish, and Franciscan through most of its history¹), Cleveland; the high altar to St. John Cantius (Polish).

St. Ladislas (Slovak) burned in 1970. Mass was still said at the parish for over a year. Insurance disbursements went to the diocese, and a further disbursement was available if construction began before September 1973. On 28 August 1973, a $325,00 brick was laid in Westlake for the new territorial St. Ladislas. It is now one of the least attractive (ugly) churches in the diocese.

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, the first African-American* parish 1922-1961, merged into St. Adalbert (Czech‡). Its building on E.79th was in poor shape. Adalbert was beautiful, but getting progressively smaller.

St. Agnes, Euclid Avenue Cleveland, O. (the campanile (bell tower remains) 

Superior Avenue had a herd of Catholic churches. Euclid Avenue had none. It was Millionaire's Row, and only 'decent' people were there. The city's eastern border continued to move. At one time it was E.55th (then Willson), and then E. 79th, and the Hough neighborhood was outside the city. Eventually there was a Catholic middle class and they wanted a parish. The first St.Agnes was built in 1893 on Euclid, and what became E. 82. In 1914 a grand new church was built. By 1960 Hough was a black neighborhood, and a devastating riot hit in the summer of '66. St. Agnes burned in 1973. St. Agnes merged into Our Lady of Fatima in 1980. 

St. Agatha, and later St. Joseph merged into St. Aloysius (Irish at origin). St. Agatha's had a short history. It began in 1945 as a mission of St. Thomas Aquinas in its east end of territory. By the 1960s the Glenville neighborhood was a black neighborhood, and few were Catholic. An attempt at evangelisation was made. In 1971, instead of being sent a pastor, the priest was sent as an administrator. He was told the parish was closing. The people came to Bishop Issenmann's residence, and he relented. The new bishop Pilla, merged the parish in 1975. In 1994 St. Joseph Collinwood became a part of Aloysius too. It became apparent that territorial parishes on Cleveland's east side had difficulty in sustaining their selves. Collinwood has four remaining parishes, three being nationality parishes. 
 
Cleveland's one French parish, Annunciation (Église de l'Annonciation de Cleveland) 1868-1916 merged into St. Malachi (Irish), and the building went to St. Emeric (Hungarian§), which lost theirs to a fire. It was soon sold with a land swap to the Van Sweringen brothers for railroadage. Annunciation had so few Frenchmen, that the parish was enlarged territorially with Irishmen. It used to be difficult to extinguish a parish. There were many parishes that continued to exist with numbers far lower than those supposedly necessary now. What did happen, were parishes reverted to mission status or chapels until they became larger.

St. Edward (Irish)1871, (African-American*)1943, merged with Holy Trinity (German)1880 in 1975. It lasted till 2004. St. Thomas Aquinas once grand church was condemned in 1975, the parish continued till 1993. St. Marian (Italian)1905 was made up of former residents of the village of Rionero Sannitico, Campobasso in Italy. Case Western took some of the neighborhood, the parish was closed in 1975. The records and parishioners went to the nearby Holy Rosary. The building became the Second Bethlehem Baptist Church. The neighborhood had early undergone racial turnover, and St Marian was the first parochial school to have black pupils. St. Josaphat's (Polish) 1908-1998 neighborhood residences (E. 33 between St. Clair and Superior) also disappeared, it has become an art gallery.

St. Mary's 1968 (German) Carroll & W. 30th

St. Mary's of the Assumption (German) 1854-1959, was absorbed steadily, and calculatingly by the Jesuits of St. Ignatius High. The church was razed in 1968. The campus now has a separate chapel. Part of the absorption involved St. Patrick's. St. Mary's became part of St. Patrick's (Irish).

Holy Family (Czech‡) 1911-1988, chapel to1997; Nativity BVM (Slovak) 1903-1993; St. Benedict (Slovak) 1928-1993; St. Mary Czestochowa (Polish) 1914-1996 could not withstand demographic change. St. Benedict especially suffered racial strife. Transfiguration (Polish)1943-1992 was visited by the bush/quayle campaign in 1988, and experienced a fire two years later.

The first parish in the city of Cleveland was St. Mary's on the Flats (or Our Lady of the Lake). It was organised by Irish immigrants in 1826. The previous group of Catholics in northern Ohio had been the Wyandot to the west, part of French Huronia. The first resident priest, John Dillon, came in 1835. He died the next year, 29 years old. The first Mass said in a Catholic church in Cleveland was in 1839. St. Mary's was the cathedral from 1847 to 1852. Some records count it closed in 1848 as the new cathedral parish, St. John's, began. It held Masses for St. Mary of the Assumption, Annunciation, St. Wenceslaus and St. Stanislaus. The term, chapel-of-ease, would fit. The last Mass there was in 1886.

The only other major factor was racial. Antagonism between African-Americans* and other Americans was hard to overcome. The eastern and southeastern wards of Cleveland became unable to 'adequately' sustain parishes. There were attempts at evangelisation, with some success (St. Agatha), but overall the national and local Catholic population of African-Americans is about 3%. The Hough riots of '66, and the Glenville shootings of '68 did great damage to the east side. The desegregation of the public schools a few years later further precipitated 'white flight'. The crux outside of legalities was a turf war. It may have been a legal and political victory, but it was a social loss. To use a non-christian religious term, there was a lot of bad karma going around.

In 1975 a Puerto Rican personal parish was formed as San Juan Bautista (previously Puerto Ricans attended Masses at Our Lady of Fatima, and Conversion of St.Paul on the east side, many had moved to the west side). They, with the Chapel of Cristo Rey, became La Sagrada Familia with a new church built on Detroit in 1998.

Such were, I think, all the closures before Richard Lennon. The rule was to merge parishes, to keep something of their former status alive. An outright suppression (extinction) was rare. Generally, it took nearly complete depopulation and/or fire for a parish to close. Then came Lennon, slow walking, slow talking Lennon. Parishes have been extinguished not for any organic reason, not of necessity, and certainly devoid of charity since his appearance.

Cleveland has suffered change and decay, but where people wanted to really stay they stood. Our Lady of Mount Carmel-East was reduced in status from parish to oratory(chapel), and was financed by pasta dinners, and stayed "vibrant", though tiny, under the administration of one indefatigable parishioner, Rose Criniti. The neighborhood is part of a great swath of territory on the East Side that is impoverished, and depopulated of the original residents and parishioners. It was suppressed by Lennon on 20 June 2010 [his second of the day, St. Lawrence being the first], without even the courtesy of being listed in the diocesan closings. 
__________________________________________
nota bene: There is irregularity in dates, the official closing date and the last Mass said, are not always the same. It is very easy to find, e.g., 1958 or 1959 used for the same parish.

 *Negro was the term used before the 1970s. It is the correct historical term. The term 'colored' was also a correct usage. Now both terms are considered 'uncomfortable'.
 † As St. Martin (of Tours) disappeared in Cleveland, St. Martin began in Maple Hts. 1960
‡Bohemian was used before. Bohemia is the largest Czech province.§Magyar was often used before.

addenda: ¹The Franciscans [Wisconsin Province] formally left at the end of June 2012.
essay expanded 18 January 2013 after seeing lines absent on Hough/Glenville/Collinwood
  
click for formal list 

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead.

Before Ted Turner bought The Wizard of Oz, it was nationally broadcast yearly (once, twice). For a few years it was around St. Patrick's. At one time Danny Kaye served as host for the movie on Sunday nights, and a laundry powder company put one of eight puppets in their box of detergent. Dorothy, her dog, three friends and the witch were often reproduced.

It is a truly enjoyable film. It easily quotable, and its characters are iconic, and referential. America (the music group) had a line, "But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn't, didn't already have." A Mike Myers skit on Saturday Night Live popularised a rude phrase about flying monkeys.

Many, many people have quoted lines, or made references, in everyday conversation, not everyone picks up on it. I have often been stiff, and squeaked, "oil can". There was a joke that Jerry Falwell clicked his heels and said, "There's no place like Rome."

It came from a novel (from Frank Baum) and the 1939 movie was a combined collaborative effort. It became the best known and loved american fairy tale.
_______________________
Munchkins: Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead. Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed. Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go, Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out. Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low. Let them know The Wicked Witch is dead!

Mayor: As Mayor of the Munchkin City, In the County of the Land of Oz, I welcome you most regally.

Barrister: But we've got to verify it legally, to see

Mayor: To see?

Barrister: If she

Mayor: If she?

Barrister: Is morally, ethic'lly

Father No.1: Spiritually, physically

Father No. 2: Positively, absolutely

Munchkins: Undeniably and reliably Dead

Coroner: As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

Mayor: Then this is a day of Independence For all the Munchkins and their descendants

Barrister: If any.

Mayor: Yes, let the joyous news be spread The wicked Old Witch at last is dead!

Beauty of St. Aloysius

The #1 bus on St. Clair has zipped by St. Aloysius for several decades. The passengers can ride from Public Square to Euclid, and not pay special attention to this marvelous church. Brick is quicker and cheaper than stone to build with. A lot of buildings were built with brick on the main avenues of Cleveland. Brick is less grand than stone. For those reasons one may overlook Aloysius.

It is dense with beauty in everything. The serenity and grandeur of sacred space is all about you upon entering. There is beautiful glass, statuary, shrines, paintings. It is beautiful and full of stories and lessons for those willing to see, and have understanding of christian theology and iconography (understanding symbolism). Aloysius was a daughter parish of St. Thomas Aquinas, if one looks at the time scale--more of a twin sister.

The neighborhood has had major change in the decades. It went from village to urban in less than a generation. Later as post-war highway expansion and increasing per capita wealth led people out and to Glenville (and so many other communities in the Middle West), and the immigration changed from over the Atlantic, to from south of the Ohio River the population changed. White flight, increased poverty, and finally a reduction of population changed demography.
Glenville was a separate municipality at the time Aloysius was founded--1898. Cleveland was annexing neighboring villages at that time. Cleveland's mayor from 1901 to 1909 was Tom Johnson, "the best mayor of the best run city in America". The Republicans ran a minor german beer magnate and beat him. Glenville and neighboring Collinwood, both on the northeast of Cleveland were annexed in 1910. The small and rich village of Bratenahl, on the lake shore betwixt them is still separate. It had the summer homes of the millionaires from Euclid Avenue. During Prohibition they received canadian whiskey by boat.

Cleveland was expanding, soon it was the 5th most populous city in the country. It maintained a near 900,000 population till the 1960s. In the 1930s and 1940s Glenville was very jewish. By the late 1960s it became very black, now it is about 98% so. In 1968 it suffered police shootings and riots. St. Aloysius was an irish parish, that had some germans and a few others.

Bishop Issenmann (1966-74) lived in Bratenahl and often went to St. Aloysius. Aloysius still has the visiting bishop's chair. ...a sister parish... St. Philip Neri was quietly suppressed by Lennon prior to the "official" announcement of reductions. A wooden statue of St. Philip Neri is now at Aloysius.

Main entrance has three double bronze doors, each door has three bas-reliefs. The left one has some of the most dramatic Old Testament scenes, truly edifying art.
The Vatican II changes were implemented keeping a beautiful rail. Some removed pews were sold to parishioners.
The stained glass is on the floor level, and a clerestory level. Beautiful south german painterly style. In the bottom right corners of the evangelist windows surrounding the original altar is the maker's name FX Zettler of Munich.
Over the years, Saint Agatha (1945-1974) and Saint Joseph parishes and schools were merged into Aloysius. There was an odd situation of Saint Joseph in which the parish closed for years, and the school remained open. Saint Joseph was the territorial, and original, parish in Collinwood (1877-1994). When the new church was built (1922) several blocks away, the school was on the top two floors, and one walked down steps to the church. Saint Joseph began as a mission church from St. Paul (Euclid). St. Jerome (1919) was a daughter parish of St. Joseph. Catholics along the lake shore petitioned the bishop in 1918 for a new parish.

A Sunday Mass is extremely warm and pleasant at Aloysius. At the beginning there is a near promenade of the parish with welcoming hand shakes and hugs. There is a reprise in the usual point after the Pater Noster. It is not the only parish in Cleveland that does this, others could still follow. Both they and St. Timothy engage in this joyous custom, and in hearty singing. Both are currently staffed with non-diocesan priests: Marianists and Capuchin Franciscans respectively.

Parishioner Survey

The diocese of Cleveland has closed nearly 60 parishes and churches in the yet uncompleted five year reign of Richard Lennon.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PARISHIONERS GONE?

The press barely has scratched the surface of the question. The chancery has not publicly responded. In October (for years) ushers have done head counts at Sunday Mass, and the parish has sent the numbers to the chancery. These numbers have not been compared and released, and even if they were, it would not point to where the displaced parishioners have gone. I am not comfortable with the phrase 'displaced parishioners', for I know how those resulting initials were used as an insult towards millions of Americans.

The Endangered Catholics coalition of faithful has put together a survey looking for comments about the recent Reconfiguration. Many, many parishioners from closed parishes have not registered at another parish yet. It is our hope that this survey will give them the opportunity to speak up about the two years of leadership in our diocese and the fallout from the closure of more than fifty parishes. -- Bob Kloos, Vice-President of Endangered Catholics

I believe if you use this 'link' it should proceed to the survey form:

http://tinyurl.com/reconfig2010
____________________
Postscriptum: the poll was to end 8 December, to be replaced by another tabulation service, using the same questions.
Postscriptum II: The new version is -- here. It is to end 31 January 2011??
Postscriptum III: It is up through March 2011.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/reconfig2010

St. Tho. Aquinas, Cle., O.

photograph scanned from a book published for Christmas 1938
A friend of mine bought a slim, well bound book at a flea market. It was celebrating the 40th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas' Parish in Cleveland, and the 50th year of its only pastor's priesthood. It was in the year before the hitlerite war began, when the US was expanding in its proclaimed ideals: 1938.

The last Mass inside the church was in 1975. The parish continued on till 1993. The church has been torn down. The parish no longer meets. The school is still in operation, in 1988 Philip Neri's school merged into it.

St. Thomas would be an early english speaking parish on the east side of Cleveland (St. John 1848, Immaculate Conception 1855, Columbkille 1871, all on Superior Avenue). For its first six weeks it met at St. Casimir's schoolhouse. Very early it became apparent, that, Glenville needed a separate parish, St. Aloysius; which would have the same pastor, Fr. Thomas Mahon. Soon people in East Cleveland asked Fr. Mahon to organise another parish, St. Philomena in 1902. In 1914, the parish of St. Philip Neri was formed from the parish's original territory. St. Agatha began in 1945 as part of Bp. Hoban's plan to add parishes in between large parishes.

The sermon upon the dedication of the completed church in 1905 by Fr. Miles Whalen of Detroit included these words:

... it is a glory of the Catholic Church, ... that her places of worship, most particularly here in America, have been built by the sacred pennies of the poor. ... This is your parish church, made so today, for the glory of God and your eternal interests, ...

A century later these words and sentiments do not come from the chanceries of America. The attitude is hardly distinguishable from the capitalists' boardrooms.

Loyalty to person or justice

Judge not according to the appearance: but judge just judgment. — John vii. 24.

Even people who ought to know better do it. Every man is responsible for his actions. It is said, that americans do not read enough. I am wont to believe those that do read, read too much rubbish. It's impossible to supervise. One would be able to shame them, but americans do not know shame. Albert Camus wrote in The Fall, that the Last Judgment takes place now, every moment.

"Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day."

Now, what i find vexing is that we are a supposedly democratic people, and christianity (especially catholicism) is supposed to be a communal religion, and many of us give every possible benefit of doubt, and profess subservience to at least some of our leaders as if they were absolute monarchs and our masters. This is done counter to evidence, and betraying justice.

gwbushjr has released a book of deception to re-write history according to his will. This criminal is not allowed to be accused in "polite" society. He was a miserable failure, who came dubiously to power, and lied to create war, and ruined the domestic economy. He recognised no law.

Locally, criticism of Bishop Lennon has been discouraged and suppressed. It has been suppressed by even those whom have been harmed by him, and those whom have publicly questioned his actions.

There are catholics who regard loyalty to Lennon as part of the faith. It is not. Lennon is a man accountable to God; he does not get an exemption by benefit of office.

When he lies it is no less wrong than when one of us lie. He is to be judged as is every man.

Some have suggested, that, to criticise his lordship, publicly, does harm to the faith. No. His bad actions do harm to the faith. To suggest one should collude in silence, or in deception, to protect his prestige, and the office is more than absurd, it is wrong (sinful).

Some have demanded, that, we must obey him. They start from the point that — the bishop is the standard bearer of belief. In ages past we have had times in history where the minority of bishops were catholic. Were catholics in non-catholic (arian, nestorian, gnostic) dioceses wrong to maintain catholicity, when this conflicted with their rightful bishop? We have had bishops whom were political appointees of the state, and acted in the interest of the state, and neglected ecclesiastic service completely, except for ceremony and title. If a bishop were to teach four persons in the Godhead, would that be our belief? No, a catholic is not bound to follow every bishop that comes his way. The Bishop of Rome, alone, is infallible, and that particular privilege has been made twice. The church has had bishops who taught heresy, others who became schismatic, others that were depraved. Should they be honored and obeyed because of their office? No.

Lennon has done more harm to the diocese of Cleveland than any man in its history. He may very well be gone soon, and still he is treated gently. The Scene, a free weekly, has ran two articles on the "reconfiguration": one after St. Andrew was levelled, and one on the parish that continued in the street (St. Casimir). Their management does not want another, and they do not want their writers to go 'hard' on Lennon. They run pages of risqué advertisements, but are timid in being critical about Lennon?

Several media outlets have photographs and video they won't run, because it would be perceived as unfavorable to the bishop. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has been sitting on an expected major article; they have chosen not to cover several stories that would embarrass or question Lennon's authority, judgments and actions. Wednesday evening WJW-8 is expected to have a story on his lordship. Will it finally run? Both these expected stories are to touch on his demeanor and rapport with parishioners in private. I have heard of story, after story, after story, of his dismissive and incredible arrogance, pettiness and meanness. I have witnessed a small portion.

It would be polite to wish him farewell and good tidings. Hell no! His departure has been long delayed. His damage enduring.

Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause. — Psalm 24:4a DRC

Cold Turkey

Slightly fortuitous confluence of unexpected disparate items is a multi-syllabic attempt to describe an instance of serendipity. I knew of an education professor about to retire, whose favorite concept was serendipity. Sometimes it is great, sometimes small.

Recently, i was channel surfing and came across the film, Cold Turkey, released in 1971 and filmed in '69. The scene i came upon was a hilariously tipsy Tom Poston,

My drinking is directly connected to my smoking. Now, when I say "directly", I mean there's a thing - a physical thing - that is directly connected from my liquor buds to the smoke pouch in my lungs. If you want me to quit smoking, you would have to cut - I mean, you'd have to physically cut that thing! And when you do, my head's gonna fall off! Do you understand, reverman? The booze bone's connected to the smoke bone. And the smoke bone's connected to the head bone. And that's the word of the lord!

being bullied by clergyman Dick Van Dyke. The cleric was going to beat Poston, because Poston could not stop smoking. Poston came to the solution of leaving town for the month of non-smoking.

The only hold outs left were the town's "Christopher Mott Society." Listening to their tenets, these were last generation's teabaggers. Their leader explains that he was not crazy enough to believe that Eisenhower was a communist. This was the John Birchers. Van Dyke converts their leader, Graham Jarvis. The Christopher Motts were quick to be deputy police. It was no time that the cigarette fanciers were equated with communists?

The cigaretteers were disgusting in the movie. At this time in real life, cigarette warnings were recently printed on packages, and commercials were to be banned on television. They still had their science and medical deniers, and aggressive lawyers. In the movie they had Bob Newhart.

The supporting actors were from All in the Family: the actors that were to be Edith Bunker, Frank Lorenzo, Fr. John Majeski, Mildred 'Boom-Boom' Turner. This was Norman Lear.

Several things unfold in the movie. There are a lot of actors, and a lot of implied commentary on society.

The character of the clergyman is disturbing. His dismissive treatment of his wife, when she sees calls him on the mischief he has let loose is wretched. He belittles her not as a spouse but as a pharisee caught red handed and verbally smotes her with his office. Now, Pippa Scott at a certain angle is an extra-ordinarily handsome woman. In most scenes she is silent, but speaking in her movements and expressions. Recently she has been involved in human rights documentaries. She is the only moral center in the movie.

The film's ending leaves three people shot and ignored, while President Nixon comes to town to announce the re-opening of the missile plant. Four huge smoke stacks becloud Grant Wood's Iowa. This is black satire, at times fantastically funny, but a bit short of a fully satisfying film.
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postscriptum: Cold Turkey is sponsored for the Thursday prior to US Thanksgiving. In 2010: 18 November.

No, not Archie

A friend sent me a cartoon by Mr. Fish recently. It was almost as a pencil traced etching of a composite photograph, such was the likeness. My friend is a christian pacifist who really prefers National League base ball. Thirty years ago I was in Athens, Ohio. Athens, joking only slightly, sometimes thought of itself as the omphalos of the world. Athens had a series of ridges, and valleys, including the Great Hockhocking. Satellite television was not advanced for home usage yet, cable television was what one had if he wished to watch something other than WOUB. He might have liked it. On most spring and summer nights, one could watch the Mets, Reds, Braves or Cubs. The National League then had twelve clubs, what they had at the end of the 19th century. Pittsburgh was not distant, though the cable did not have a pawanian station to carry the Pirates. The Reds Caravan would come through town in the preseason. Mike Schmitt had been a Bobcat. It was not a big base ball town, but not without enthusiasts. An history professor wrote biographies of Cobb and McGraw.

There is in the Lincoln Memorial the great stone cathedra with the sitted martyred Lincoln. It often has been used in political cartoons. The site on the steps of the memorial by the National Mall has seen Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt stand with Marian Anderson, the singer denied the use of Constitution Hall because of her race. Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary sang there the day of the Civil Rights March that saw Martin King make a famous american oration.

On the anniversary of that date, there was another event with a provocatively, even insulting name of "Restoring Honor." Who was this ass mocking? King? Obama? Later the comic newsmen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert answered with the greater attended "Rally to Restore Sanity", which received far less press, and greater crowds.

Archie Bunker's armchair sits in the Smithsonian. It became that well known. The cartoon has Archie in Lincoln's chair, and Glenn Beck standing under it.

Archie was the main character in "All in the Family". This show made a raucous debut on american television of Nixon's America in 1971. Norman Lear was a Hollywood 'leftist' that adapted an english programme. Lear did not create Bunker to be loved, but to be ridiculed. He did not get what he wanted out of Carroll O'Connor and the writers. Archie received his imposed bigotry from the America around him. Archie was not malicious, nor vicious; he was the product of his environment.

Archie was grumpy, cantankerous and beleaguered. He lost and lost again. He grew up in a rough America. The urban working class did not live in luxury. The US was not a land of milk and honey, it was a gritty scramble to survive.

The bigotry was provided for him. Instance after instance, Archie's internal humanity was released when he came to really know people, rather than to know their roles. He became friends with people that he would never have chosen to be with, of course at the introduction, he had no intention to do so.

In one episode, Edith's cousin, Maude (played by a nearly insufferable Bea Arthur) argue about Roosevelt. She reminded him, that his family voted for Roosevelt too. Archie's response was on the lines of—well yeah, the first couple of times, but then he ...

So there was the real character of Archie that was below the rough surface. Now, many people agreed with the outward imposed masque of Archie, that was not too gentle and mellow. I am supposing that this was the one in the cartoon.

Now, there is the teabagger provocateur, Mammon seeking egotist, mormon John Bircher, ex-drunken dope fiend, the semi-literate, fraudulent, vicious radio buffoon that worked on local radio to create lunacies for knuckle draggers. He used to do radio carnival with Jessica Hahn and a gerbil. He called another radio jackass's wife to humiliate her about her miscarriage on air. He has advanced to bigger paychecks, and his audience is a significant percentage of the country. Some would say Beck throws gasoline on the fire. Noooohh, he goes beyond finding embers to ignite with petroleum aerosols. He is an arsonist, who gathers punk, tinder, sawdust and shavings before the kerosene and gasoline is poured. It is somewhat remarkable that he has not had a public psychotic event.

The beekeeper and St. Martin

supra: painted bee panel at St. Mary (Collinwood), Cle., O.
To-day is St. Martin of Tours. Martin*316, †397, was raised to be a roman soldier. He became a christian, a pacifist christian, and then bishop of the gallican-roman town of Tours. He became a very popular saint.

Anton Janša *1734, †1773, was a successful peasant's son, who first became a painter, and then the austrian imperial beekeeper. Honey had been gathered from logs for centuries, logs became carpentered into hives. Janša stacked removable hives into houses, sort of an apartment building. These are still found in the slovene countryside.

About this time, apiarist farmers began to paint the front panels. People knew that bees were attracted to colors. The painted bee panels (panjske končnice) would help the bees find their homes. Janša being both a painter, and the bee guy; a brother became a professor of painting in Vienna, the capital. Vienna was the center of a polyglot, multi-national empire, it collected the talents of many lands.

The apiary panels are a slovene folk art. Its height was the two generations after the fall of Napoleon. At first the motifs were religious, they eventually became more diverse. The first one was a Marian one. Some stayed purely religious, others picked up folk tales, and some were secularly decorative. Now, these were painted by peasant men, and some of them had accepted the lore of the annoying, and shrewish woman. From Eve being tempted in the Garden, to women being allied to the Devil do show up in scenes, such as a devil sharpening a wife's tongue on a stone grinding wheel.

At the social hall of St. Mary's (Collinwood) there are nine. St. Florian and St. George are great favorites amongst the slovenes, and have a panel. The central panel of the nine is St. Martin.

Martin was first the great saint of traditional France. He suffered greatly under the protestant rebellion (his bodily remains were trashed). The revolutionary republicans destroyed his basilica. Centuries before the vikings destroyed the monastery, in which carolingian minuscule was developed. When world war one* ended on St. Martin's Day, the french saw his intervention.

The most famous story of Martin is that of sharing his cloak with a cold beggar. Later in the day the sun came out and melted the frost away. That what is called "indian summer" in the US, was called St. Martin's summer in the old countries.

At one time, the advent fast began the day after St. Martin's. St. Martin's was a great feast day, a precurssor to american Thanksgiving.

In the panel there is a barrel, and a bottle of wine. The first wine of the harvest was blessed, bottled and drank on St. Martin's. The geese are there for two reasons. Martin did not want to be bishop. He hid amidst geese, and the geese being geese--were noisy. He was found bishop. The big feast was with roast goose.
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*To-day there is but one combat veteran (Claude Stanley Choules*1901) alive of that war and he is living in Australia, and has no part in military celebrations.

Candlelight at the Cathedral

To-day at the western rite cathedral, those wanting their parishes re-opened were the majority of Mass attendees. Afterwards, they held a candlelight prayer, and singing vigil using a truncated form of St. Patrick's Sunday vigil. The still appealing parishes represented were St. Patrick, St. Wendelin, St. Peter and St. Casimir. Before Mass a half dozen gathered with signs protesting the present bishop whose five year plan will be ending soon, perhaps after the tail of his departure. The security officer did not check up on the protesting parishioners.

Fortune cookies

Johnny Carson would often refer to his college thesis on humour. There are only fifteen jokes in the world, or something close to that. They are then like equations where you change the values (by 'plugging in' new variables) to get a new laugh. Johnny was on the Tonight Show for over twenty years, and I had neighbours who used to still refer to it as the Jack Paar Show. I would expect someone to call it the Steve Allen Show. Whiny Long Jaw just does not cut it, David Letterman does and he went to CBS.

Well, there are set jokes I have always found amusing. There is the light bulb joke, "How many Xs does it take to change a light bulb?", and the elephant joke. The poor pachyderm, to have been hijacked by such a vile political party; well the rattlesnake is far more appropriate. I always thought they were a nest of vipers and scorpions. Knock, knock jokes are not new. Shakespeare had a series of them in Macbeth Act II (in my book it is numbered in the middle of scene i; in other editions, it begins scene iii), it crossed into the St. Peter joke, which usually has some one trying to gain entry into heaven. Peter is both janitor, and porter, and sometimes accountant. Back to Will, in the mystery plays of his youth, there was a porter at hell-gate as counterpart to Peter at heaven-gate. In Macbeth he gets a jab in on a Jesuit (equivocator) and other sinners.

Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Knock Knock, knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i’ the name of Belzebub? ...

There is an old saw, "Humour is where you find it". Which can mean nothing, or that funny just happens. Fortune cookie messages are not really soothsayers predictions, but a riposte to smile at. How they got to us first is, perhaps, forgotten.

American chinese restaurants are required to have fortune cookies gratis, no not by law, but by american custom. How did we get there? In the old country, the chinese have not done this. Somewhere in California, probably before the second world war, some japanese bakers began this. There must be an old movie clip, perhaps even a silent movie clip to evidence this, or a newspaper, or magazine aside in an article mentioning their existence. You can see some one in the old country thinking. "They want the newspaper in their pastry, with their tea; no...no...you mean they read the paper with their tea and cookies."

They are one print avenue that has not been taken over by commercial advertisers, I thought; then I read one, "Chinese food is good for you." Some are written as faux-confucian proverbs, and witticisms; and are enjoyed for their lame humor by people finding them quaint. I should have saved this legendary one, which I think, I did crack open and find, "Help! I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery."
That last one I remember comedians referring to. The one that is supposedly never been printed is, "You have just been poisoned." Now, that would be falling off the stool funny for some, while others who are in constant fright mode would have a paroxysm or conniption. Novelty shops sell cookies with rude sayings. I could see it as a writing assignment in school.

Now dear reader, if you could contribute a not particularly rude one that entertained you ...
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postcriptum:  recently, i have encountered these cookies. After breaking the cookie, and looking at the paper, it just as well could have been "have you considered wearing glasses?", or "old man needs glasses"; for at that point i could only be somewhat sure that the printing was in a roman script, well possibly cyrillic.
Another one, that i've seen, i am reminded of is "Only listen to the fortune cookie; disregard all other fortune telling units."
If writing for fortune cookies is evaluated as other jobs, then the honest writers would be fired, "The meaning of life is not printed on the smallest of papers".

A year in the streets

There was a letter floating around announcing one of today's events:

St. Casimir lives!

The Polish national anthem begins with the line, Poland has not perished. In the original poem, the verb was 'died'. There is a stubborn determination for survival. It is not only for the nation, the land, but also of the faith and parish. St. Casimir Parish lives!

On 8 November 1917 Lenin took Russia. On 8 November 2009 Lennon took Casimir's. The party of Lenin lasted till 1991. We look forward for the end of our lennonist reign. We have been victims of unsympathetic tyranny, but we have not surrendered. We have fought the good fight, we have kept the faith.

The church buildings were taken, and St. Casimir's was thrown to the curb and street. We did not disband. We still congregate and celebrate our faith and community.

11.30 a.m. 7 November 2010 will be the 52nd Sunday gathering of St. Casimir-in-Exile meeting on the street and curb outside our church. It is true that not 100% of the members have joined us there, but friends that have recognised our plight, and the justness of our cause -- have. We will be joined by some of our brothers and sisters that have been dispatched from their parishes also, for we recognise our sadness is not a singularity, but others have suffered too.

We ask for the Divine Mercy of Jesus to come to us all. We believe in the words of Jesus, that were quoted by His apostle, Matthew:

For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

There is another letter making the rounds, also:

"Nie Bojcie Sie", in Polish it means "Do Not be Afraid". These words are the famous words spoken by the late Pope, John Paul II on his first visit to Poland as the Vicar of Christ. These words ignited a nation to throw off the chains of tyranny.

These words are also the words that have inspired the faithful of St. Casimir Church to continuously hold prayer vigils outside the locked gates of their church, which was closed by Bishop Richard Lennon on November 8, 2009.

On this upcoming Sunday, November 7th, at 11:30 AM, the 52nd prayer vigil will be held to mark a year of these Catholics refusing to give up their parish.

Every Sunday, the prayer leader, Wojtek Fleszar repeats these words, "Today we pray and sing on the street in front of our boarded up church but we hope for the day that once again we can kneel in prayer inside our church".

No matter the weather, rain, snow or freezing cold, the Casimir Catholics and Catholics from throughout the diocese return to the vigils week after week.

Krysia Moreno, a longtime parishioner said that at the vigils, "I have witnessed faith in action, strangers coming together to pray." Another longtime parishioner, Ray Kasperski said that "Many people from other closed ethnic parishes attend the vigils to express their support and solidarity with us. God bless freedom of speech."

At St Casimir, this Sunday, the prayer vigil will be special. Representatives of churches that have been closed and churches that are appealing the bishop's closures to Rome will be attending.

A third note circulating, in part:

Sunday the 7th of November, the displaced Christians of the Diocese of Cleveland shall again meet in the streets, our sidewalk catacombs. We are not hiding in fear to worship God with our brethren. We are cast off by the bishop. We are visible to all, whom wish to see us. Richard Lennon is the canonical ordinary of the diocese. He is the latin rite bishop. He is rightfully bishop, but his actions are not pastoral, not loving, not Gospel inspired, nor are they in the spirit of canon law, and the tradition of Holy Mother Church.

We are five parishes that still exist and are functioning in brotherhood: St. Casimir, St. Patrick (West Park), St. Emeric, St. James (Lakewood) and St. Wendelin. St. Peter's is celebrating a valid and licit Liturgy (Mass) indoors in rented space, and is the sixth parish continuing against Bishop Richard's wishes.

We pray to Jesus, as our patron in His Divine Mercy, in which we trust to aid us. We ask the Holy Spirit to soften the hardened heart of our current overseer, Bishop Lennon.

We want our closed parish buildings opened, and our parishes recognised as existing, if not by Richard our bishop, then by his successor, whomever he may be. We built (or I should say, our forbears built these churches; we merely sustain them) these churches and parishes. We were here before the arrival of Richard Lennon, and we will be here after his departure. Our Catholic Christianity has been dealt a harsh blow by his tenure, it has not been vanquished. We were baptised Catholic, we live as Catholics, and we remain Catholic.

St. Emeric will celebrate their patronal feast (transferred from 4 November) of St. Emeric. Their exiled pastor, now ministering in Chicago, Sandor Siklodi will be celebrating with them on their cul-de-sac next to the West Side Market at 9.45. St. Patrick will have their service on the front steps of their church at 11.30. St. James will have theirs at 12.30. St. Wendelin will have one at 9.00. St. Casimir will meet on E. 82nd and Sowinsi, in the street, curb and sidewalk for the 52nd consecutive Sunday.

At St. Emeric four dozen came to pray outside their church. Their pastor, Fr. Sandor Siklodi, came from Chicago to lead the prayer litany. People sang national magyar hymns, and a translation of How great Thou art. Later they would go to St. Colman's to celebrate an early afternoon Mass. They also marked their patron's day [4 November, St. Emeric]. They have maintained a consecutive vigil since their eviction. They congregated again. There was noise from a constantly circling, advertising aeroplane (there was a nearby football to be played later), and the electric trains. Just before 10 o'clock the Cleveland police circled the cul-de-sac and went on.
Their faith remains constant. Later on the east side, the Casimiri met for the 52nd time since their eviction. Three other parishes also met on the street to-day: St. Wendelin, St. Patrick, and St. James. St. Peter's had Mass inside rented space outside the reach of Lennon.
To Saint Casimir more than two hundred people came. There is an argument in american society, that, if it's not on television, then it didn't happen. Two television cameramen came. They like to have pre-interviews, and to set themselves up for the best angles. They get shots, and then leave; but the event continues.
Across the street from the church is the closed convent, and on its lawn is a Madonna and Child statue. After the initial prayers, a procession was made there to lay flowers. Several people, young and old put them down. People sang a polish Marian hymn, and then recrossed the street to continue there. They sang, far from there best, but still the hymns count as augmented prayers. A few people spoke, the local councilman, TJ Dow; leaders of two lay groups Nancy McGrath of Code Purple and St. Peter's, and Patricia Singleton of Endangered Catholics and St. Patrick (West Park); Dr. Michael Klymiuk whose dream of the Black Madonna [Matka Boska Częstochowska] began the street vigils. Dr. Klymiuk scolded the behavior of Bishop Lennon, and proclaimed that the people also had proper say in the diocese.

All along the fence, there were many national flags, signs, posters, and photographs of the past vigils. Afterwards people enjoyed a pastry and coffee table.
Far away across the ocean sea, the situation has not gone unnoticed. The word on the seventh hill of Rome is, "Lennon e' pazzo."

St. Charles Borromeo

Inside of the rose window of St. Charles Borromeo, Parma, O. there is Charles writing. His correspondence was extensive. He wrote continuously at the Council of Trent. He also was in communication with several kings and popes. His opinion was sought. About the central window there are portrayed the Seven Works of Corporal Mercy (Feed the hungry, Give drink to the thirsty, Welcome the stranger, Clothe the naked, Visit the sick, Visit the prisoner, Bury the dead), and his emblem, from his family shield, 'Humilitas'. St. Charles, Parma is the sort of parish Bp. Lennon likes, its weekly collection is sometimes $25,000+. He has four resident priests there. It was in no danger of reconfiguration.

Yesterday, I was having supper conversation with some Catholic friends. They were talking about the crowdedness of the calendar to schedule an event. My comment was, "We're Catholic everyday is an event: yesterday, was All Souls, to-day is St. Martin Porres, to-morrow is St. Charles Borromeo".

To-day is St. Charlie. Four hundred yeas ago he was canonised. Milan, where he was archbishop, must be having some sort of commemoration this year. To-day, Pope Benedict had released a message to the press, part of it says, "He knew that a serious and credible reform had to begin with the pastors". Charles was one of the major figures of the Catholic Reformation. He was one of the four saints mentioned in the current Catechism as being an author of Trent's catechism. He also began the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (catechism classes for children, the protestant version of this became 'Sunday schools').

Charles had denounced his confessor and other priests for unnatural acts. He was active in cleaning the Church in Milan from corruption, and was a model to others. This and other activities caused him to have enemies. He survived assassination when shot at close range the ball hit his skin, but did not penetrate.

Charles believed much bad activity was caused by ignorance. He encouraged education. One of two seminaries in Cleveland (in this case, the suburb of Wickliffe)(there is one in Philadelphia too) is named after him. It is unfortunate that his ideals did not take stronger footing here.

Charles was well respected for his charity, humility, austerity and asceticism. In 1576-7 the bubonic plague hit. He was not afraid to minister to the sick. He went about barefoot, and with a rope about his neck in public penance. He died in 1584 and the Milanese kept his anniversary as a saint day. His formal canonisation was 1 November 1610, and he was placed on the calendar for the 4th.

Observing a year of loss

central portion of monument, now at 10000 Miles Avenue, Cleveland, O.

Marty Haugen wrote a hymn, where the last line of the refrain is, “we remember, we celebrate, we believe”, and we do. Several parishes have had parishioners mark their sad anniversary already. St. Stanislaus, Lorain did publicly. Certainly many people remembered, privately, their year of loss. St. Margaret of Hungary, Orange Village, was suppressed on All Saints last year. On Friday, 29 October, a few parishioners began talking amongst themselves, and on Sunday the eve of the anniversary, seven of them got together at Calvary Cemetery, where the parish's WWII memorial of service dead had been translated to [they had fought the chancery to save it from being dismembered and sold off piece by piece]. They said a few prayers, and asked God to continue helping them in their quest to retain as much of St. Margaret's as they possibly can. They decided that they needed to have something 'official' next year to mark the day. It was modest. It was a christian witness.

The awful election day that came on All Souls, Orange Village voted 1013 to 545 to buy the church property, which is adjacent to the Village Hall. More coins to the chancery.

But things are happening at Cathedral Square. The man in charge of money, Maimone, has left his job. The officer of parish dismemberment, Armstrong (known to some as "Chippie") has left, and is working in marketing for Metro Health (formerly City Hospital). Rodents are removing themselves from the episcopal barge.

Maxwell Anderson wrote the lyrics for a Kurt Weill tune in Knickerbocker Holiday. Frank Sinatra cut the song on a 78.

...But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November

Saint Casimir will be having an observation of their one year eviction, this Sunday the 7th of November on the street, in exile, before their confiscated and closed church.

They can remember the words of the Psalmist:

Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion: On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments. For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing to us a hymn of the songs of Sion. How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember you: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy. — 137 (136) Super flumina Babylonis