On Sunday, August 15, members of the Community of St. Peter (previously members of St Peter Parish, which closed in April, 2010) gathered in a newly-renovated, leased space to celebrate Mass. The Plain Dealer reported it the next day on page 1 as Parishioners, priest from closed St. Peter Catholic Church defy bishop, celebrate Mass in new home. It has generated great discussion and controversy.
This is a very real and serious development for the life of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cleveland. It is not just about the people of the Community of St. Peter and Bishop Lennon. It concerns the unity of the Church and the liturgy. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) states, “Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the ‘sacrament of unity,’ namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops.”(#26) The Mass celebrated by the Community of St. Peter was celebrated in direct and deliberate disobedience to an earlier letter that Bishop Lennon sent to all the members of St. Peter parish. Given this, the celebration of the Eucharist as “the sacrament of unity” and “a holy people united and under their bishops” (emphasis added) seems in question and at risk. Yet, at the same time, it is significant that Fr. Robert Marrone, former pastor of St. Peter, described the gathering of the Community of St. Peter as an “act of disobedience, not a schism.”
In his column in The Universe Bulletin, Bishop Richard Lennon wrote, “The events of last weekend involve all the Faithful for what happens in the life of any one person affects all, and so it is true regarding a group of the Faithful affecting the entire Body of the Church. None of us can shrug it off by saying it does not involve me. Yes, it involves all of us if we are to be true to the prayer of Jesus: “Lord, may they be one as you and I are one.” [http://www.catholicuniversebulletin.org/LENNON/ lennon.php] (emphasis in the original).
In her August 22 column in The Plain Dealer, Regina Brett commented, “It’s a defining moment for the Diocese of Cleveland and for all those in its pews. Do you improve the church from the inside or from the outside? Do you stay and struggle or leave and start over?” In a similar vein, Bishop Lennon wrote, “this is not a time for dismissive words or actions; rather, it is a time for prayer and calmness.”
This weekend, St. Malachi used the Eucharistic Prayer for Masses for Various Needs and Occasions I: The Church on the Way to Unity. It may be fruitful for every Catholic in the Diocese of Cleveland to pray the following words from that Eucharistic Prayer regularly, if not daily, for our Church:
“Renew by the light of the gospel the Church of Cleveland. Strengthen the bonds of unity between the faithful and their pastors, that together with Benedict our pope, Richard our bishop, and the whole college of bishops, your people may stand forth in a world torn by strife and discord as a sign of oneness and peace.”
To achieve “oneness and peace” will demand a great deal of very hard work: listening and speaking honestly and openly, seeking and finding common ground and the common good, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, healing. As followers of Christ, it is a journey that our whole local Church must make, not just Bishop Lennon and the people of the Community of St. Peter. It is a journey that can only happen, will only happen through prayer.
3 Comments
Thank you for a pastoral response. I was particularly struck by the concluding remark: “To achieve ‘oneness and peace’ will demand a great deal of very hard work: listening and speaking honestly and openly, seeking and finding common ground and the common good, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, healing.”
As a member of Historic Saint Peter and a member of the new Community of Saint Peter, I can speak intimately about the cluster process and our new setting.
Before the first cluster meeting was convened, it was communicated to our pastor that HSP would close. It was pre-determined. “Listening and speaking honestly” was already tossed to the wind. When something so egregious has been perpetrated while the bishop’s office continues to encourage open collaboration in all the cluster meetings, I suggest the integrity of the entire process, and its architect, are in question.
HSP was proclaimed a “jewel” by Bishop Anthony Pilla when he celebrated our 150th anniversary in the church last October. My daughter was confirmed at that celebration. Six months later the parish was suppressed by Bishop Lennon. Amazing.
We would love to find common ground. We would love to work with the Bishop’s office toward healing and acceptance. But that presumes collaboration, hard work from both sides. Our efforts to foster that have been rebuffed, time and time again.
So what do yo do when every effort to maintain communion with the Bishop is dismissed? What do you do when the Eucharist has formed a gem of a community, the way it is supposed to happen in every parish, but the Bishop suggests that everyone should go their separate ways? How can you justify such a dismissal when the Word has fostered courage and outreach and witness — when many have become one?
He got the church. There is one less parish in the diocese. It is padlocked and up for sale. But we are still a community. We are the product of good preaching and excellent liturgy. We have become the Body that the Bishop talked about in his one-page bulletin insert last Sunday. We have grown to become what every pastor in every individual parish in the diocese wishes for his congregation. We are one of those many parts that is one Body. (I Corinthians 12)
But Paul writes in verse 21: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you.’” Bishop Lennon has said: “Oh yes it can.” Bishop Lennon has suggested that he can say that to many parts of the Body. And his word is the only one that counts.
So what did we do? We backed away. We let him have the church but we kept what the Eucharist has formed and fostered — a loving and worshipping community. He said we should go someplace else. We did. Now he wants to tell us we can’t worship in a space we have rented and renovated.
Really Fr. Tony, do you think that our Eucharist is any less of a worship experience because the Bishop says so? Is my salvation in jeopardy because I gathered with folks I have come to know and love for more than four years? Are we any less a part of the Body that we still pray for and minister to, just like we did before we celebrated for the last time on East 17th Street? Isn’t it possible that the one man who designed the cluster program and rewrote the results when they did not suit him could have erred with regard to Historic Saint Peter? And for a few other churches as well?
Bishop Lennon is not infallible. And I am not alone in this assessment. And, in conscience, I cannot stand by and let one person determine the future of this diocese, especially when his word has brought about the most radical changes in this diocese in our 160+ year history. I have been writing, witnessing, meeting, strategizing, and collaborating with many new friends for the past 18 months, ever since it became apparent that the Bishop was determined to configure the diocese according to his plan, regardless of the cluster recommendations that he asked for. At this point, I am not about to concede that everything I have done for those many months was for naught.
CSP will attempt to meet openly with the Bishop about our new model, or not at all. Ours will not be a meeting, like all the others, behind closed doors without the light of day. Let us hope and pray that “openly” will lead to a better understanding and a just and peaceful resolution to this and many other troubled circumstances in our beloved diocese.
Thanks for allowing this posting.
Thanks Bob for that response (Bob is a member of the new Community of St.Peter). It is being posted because it provides the opportunity for readers to “hear” the voice of someone directly and personally involved. Let it be noted by all readers that it represents the perspective and voice of only one side. Furthermore, the purpose of my blog post was neither to provide a forum to debate the issue nor to “take sides” about the issues (there are more than one) and/or the solutions. The purpose of my blog post was to focus on a situation that is significant and serious for our local diocesan church, to remind all members of our Church that we cannot be indifferent and that we must pray. Responses that seek to debate the issue or take sides will not be accepted; responses reflecting on the unity of the church and the support of our prayer will be welcome.
Hi,
I just want to lend my support to the people of St. Peter’s and, especially, Fr. Marrone, who had the courage to step out in faith. I have often said that if Jesus were to walk into one of our churches today (including all denominations), I believe he would be thrown out. He would be “too liberal”, “too radical” and, he would hang around with “those people”.
Sometimes when something is wrong the only way to make it right is to step out and do something different. You are following your hearts, your spirits and, most importantly, Jesus’ example. May God bless you richly.
Rose