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Welcome to Saint Mary's, Jamesville!
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	Our Calling We are a group of parishioners from the historic Saint Mary's Church in Jamesville, New York. Our church was built in 1899 through the generosity of local Catholic families. We have filed and are currently pursuing an appeal to keep our church open after it was closed by the Syracuse diocese on July 1, 2007. This website serves as a place to learn about St. Mary's and the appeal process, and receive the latest updates on our efforts.
St. Mary's Church est. 1899
Background: The campaign to keep our church open began in September 2006, when Bishop James Moynihan announced that St. Mary's would become a mission of Holy Cross parish in DeWitt, New York. The decision to make St. Mary's a mission was due to the fact that the bishop announced that our PCA (pastoral care area) needed to have a plan that allowed it to function with half the priests that were currently serving our area. The plan included closing some parishes. We decided that we needed to make St. Mary's the most vibrant parish possible in order to prevent it from being closed by the diocese. We named our campaign "Mission Possible." On Monday nights, we met to create committees, compile an up-to-date parishioner list, and to draft a submission to the bishop with a list of reasons why our parish should remain open. Many Monday nights later, we were told by our pastor, Msgr. Robert Yeazel, that St. Mary's would be closed. Acting fast, we voted that we would appeal to the Vatican to reverse the bishop's decision. That said, WE ARE NOT RADICALS. The right of appeal is fully sanctioned by cannon law. In truth, it is the Syracuse diocese who, by how they have treated us, have abused cannon law (not to mention common decency). All we ask is that the Syracuse Diocese follow the Church's own rules. For the facts, please refer to the “Appeals” and related “Documents” sections above.
Contact: If you have comments, questions, words of encouragement, or any other relevant items that you would like to see added to this site, please contact our webmaster, John A. Davies, at: <garrison202@yahoo.com>.