St. Mary's Church
Congregation Pro Clerics Prot. N.
20071311
Apostolic Nunciature of the
August 29, 2007
Bishop James Moynihan
Roman Catholic Diocese of
Dear Bishop Moynihan:
The purpose of this letter is to update our files. Enclosed please find the following
information:
I) 5/1/07 Preliminary Appeal Letter to Bishop Moynihan/Cardinal Eagan/Cardinal Hummes
2) 5/26/07 Dual Hierarchical Appeal Letter to Bishop Moynihan/Cardianal Hummes (Copies sent to Archbishop Sambi)
3) 6-20-07 Letter to Cardinal Hummes to clarify and respond to 6-12-07 letter received by Rev. Lang
4) 6-20-07 Letter to Bishop Moynihan respectfully requesting the official decree that would change our juridic personality
5) 6-20-07 Letter to Rev. Lang respectfully requesting "full process documentation" that he said he was sending to Archbishop Sambi and Cardinal Hurnmes, including "the minutes of the St. Mary's and Holy Cross pastoral councils during the last calendar year", as mentioned in his 6-12-07 letter to St. Mary's parishioners.
6) 6-27-07 Letter to Bishop Moynihan regarding
suspension of actions until final decision is made by the
7) 6-30-07 Letter from Fr. Lang to Raymond Dague
8) 7-23-07 Letter from Raymond Dague to St. Mary's Parishioners
9) 7-23-07 Letter from Raymond Dague to Fr. Lang
10) Summer 2007 (-100) signed Parishioner letters to Msgr. Yeazel, Holy Cross Parish
11) 7-24-07 Letter from Holy Cross Staff regarding Religious Education
12) 8-28-07 Letter from parishioner to Bishop Moynihan regarding Religious Education
13) 7-18-07 Letter from parishioner to diocese
14) 7-27-07 Letter from parishioner to diocese
15) 7-30-07 Letter from Fr. Lang to parishioner
16) 3-28-07 Notice of Probate for Reverend John Joseph Daley
17) Autumn 1975
NY edition of The Jesuit - "
18) Summer, 2006, Unity Grapevine - Newsletter of the Unity Kitchen Community
19) 5-23-07 Letter to Fr. Gerold Chonacki, S.J., Provincial of the Society of Jesus
20) 6-2-07 Letter from Fr. Gerold Chonacki, S.J. to parishioner
21) 8-9-07 Notes of Raymond Dague's talk with Fr. Lang and Doreen Simmons, Esq.
22) 2001 Pastoral Letter-from Bishop Moynihan
We have a number of questions related to this matter. Some of our questions were asked in our 6,.20-07 and 6-27-07 letters to Bishop Moynihan and Cardinal Hummes. (please see items #3, 4, 5, 6.) Archbishop Sambi also received copies of all of our letters. As of this date, we have not received any answers. On page six of our 6-20-07 letter (Item # 5), we also requested the "full process documentation" from Fr. Lang that he intended to send to the Congregation for the Clergy. Has this information been sent yet? When may we expect to receive the requested information?
In a letter dated 6-20-07 to Bishop Moynihan (Item #4), we
also respectfully requested that he provide the formal decree that would officially
change the juridic personality of our parish, St.
Mary's
One of the most critical unanswered questions is, why has the suspension of actions regarding our physical patrimony occurred while our spiritual patrimony continues to be disregarded? Items #7 included with this letter, outlines the diocese's decision that, "no action related to the future of the Church buildings [will take place 1 until the related issues are concluded". Attorney Raymond Dague's 7-23-07 letter to the parishioners of St. Mary's in Jamesville, states what Fr. Lang told him orally, "that they will not sell the property until after the recourse in Rome has been resolved" (Item #8). Raymond Dague's 7-23-07 letter to Fr. Lang further confirms the diocese position (Item #9).
An appeal is to be understood as also petitioning for the suspension of administrative action which has occasioned the dispute (canonI734.l) and automatically suspends the execution of the administrative decree, (canon 1736.1) and the three month waiting period or longer as the norms of the Roman Curia's Regolamento allow for the Congregation of the Clergy. In addition, there is additional time to make further recourse to the Apostolic Signatura.
Fr. Lang mentions in his 6-30-07 letter (Item #7) that,
"Additionally, the diocese is in compliance with the letter that we have
received through the offices of Archbishop Sambi, who
as Nuncio to the Unites States is the official voice and conduit for Church
matters in the
Since Fr. Manno has not been
reassigned as of 7-1-07, there continues to be three priests at Holy Cross. For
this reason, there are enough priests to offer masses at St. Mary's until a
final decision is made by the
Exhibits 10 & 11 of our 5-26-07 letter (Item #2) provide statistics that indicate significant numbers of parishioners are lost when parishes are merged and that parishes assigned to a parish life coordinator were most likely to have experienced an increase in number of households. We fear that the numbers involving the possible loss of St. Mary's parishioners may be even greater than these statistics suggest. Only 20 people from St. Mary's (out of 350 families) attended the "Welcome Mass" at Holy Cross in July.
St. Mary's Trustee, Joseph DeBottis, has also recently received approximately 100 signed letters from individuals notifying Msgr. Yeazel of Holy Cross Parish that they have chosen to, "remain as a parishioner of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jamesville, New York", in order to retain all rights and privileges guaranteed under both the applicable New York State Statues and Roman Catholic Canon Law. (please see item #10.) The number of individuals signing these letters continues to climb. A few letters have been signed by new parishioners who have just recently moved to Jamesville. A small number of families have registered elsewhere and a signifIcant amount of families have not registered at any other Catholic church.
Religious
Education
Those most affected by the decisions of our diocesan leaders are the 178 children who participate in our religious education program. As our community continues to grow, the number of children in our religious education program continues to increase. In item # 11, the staff at Holy Cross states, “... we sincerely tried to keep these classes in the Jamesville community. Since the future of the Church is unknown because of the appeal, classes in the Church basement were not an option". We do not understand how the appeal has impacted the use of the Church basement for the continuation of religious education classes. We would hope that the recent decision to move religious education out of Jamesville has not been done in retaliation and as a direct result of our appeal. We do not want the children and families of our community to be negatively effected by this process.
Can this please be
explained?
If there is a
legitimate reason for not using St. Mary's church building, why then cannot the
school rooms offered by the Jamesville Community Church (located less than a
half mile from the elementary school) be utilized? The Pastor and board members of the
Only 25 students from Jamesville Elementary families have registered for the Holy Cross at this time. We are not sure if the leaders of our diocese are aware of this situation. A detailed letter was submitted to the Bishop on 8-28-07 regarding this matter and we are currently waiting for his response. (Please see item #12.) Is this matter a concern for our diocesan hierarchy since the children are the future of our faith?
Response to Rev.
Lang's 7-30-07 E-mail to a St. Mary's Parishioner
As mentioned above, we have not yet received a response to our 6-20-07 and 6-27-07 letters (Items #3, 4, 5, 6). However, one of our parishioners who sent e-mails to the diocese on 7/18/07 and 7127107 did receive a response from Fr. Lang. (please see items #13,14 & 15.)
We are grateful that Fr. Lang responded to this one
parishioner, but we now have a few additional questions regarding his response.
In paragraph three, Fr. Lang mentions that, "Because of our previous
structure we, in part, measure whether or not we have a priest shortage on
whether or not we have a priest for each parish complex. We do not." This
is not accurate. Holy Cross continues to have three priests in residence.
According to the diocese website, many other parishes in the diocese also have
multiple priests, including those just in Onondaga county such as, Holy Family,
Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Solace, Sacred Heart, St. Ann'
s, St. Anthony of
"'One of the reasons given for not allowing Holy Cross to provide priests to St. Mary's was the fact that they would be losing Fr. Manno due to reassignment as of 7-1-07. Since there continues to be three priests at Holy Cross there is no longer a reason why Fr. Manno or any of the other two priests could not continue to say mass at St. Mary's parish both Saturday evening and Sunday morning. It seems curious to us that the official reason for the planned "amalgamation" of the two parishes was to reflect Bishop Moynihan's mantra "one priest, one roof'. Not only does Holy Cross have two priests, but also a third "bonus" priest. Since the recourse process will probably take place for many months, it would seem reasonable for Holy Cross parish to again provide the two weekend masses. We assume that you would want to provide for the spiritual and sacramental needs of S1. Mary's parishioners while the administrative recourse is still in process."
In Fr. Lang's 7-30-07 e-mail, he states the following in item #15:
"I note that you are asking about Holy Cross, which is understandable. Holy Cross will become a one priest parish. At the moment, and 1 am not certain how long the situation will exist. At the moment, Holy Cross is a two priest parish. A pastor and a parochial vicar serve the community. The third priest, can, at any time, be sent to assist elsewhere on weekends based on the needs of all the parishes of the diocese. Also, as the number of available pastors changes, the parochial vicar of Holy Cross will likely become a pastor in another parish and will not have a successor at Holy Cross".
We are glad that Fr. Lang understands why the parishioners of St. Mary's are confused and as a result of his statements outlined above, we have the following questions:
1) Since Holy Cross
is still not a "one priest parish", why should the spiritual
patrimony of St. Mary's parish have to suffer?
2) Cannot one of the
two priests at Holy Cross contribute two hours of their time per week to say
mass and assist the spiritual needs of St. Mary's parishioners?
3) Why cannot the
third priest at Holy Cross be sent "to assist" St. Mary's on weekends
and why does it appear that the needs of the St. Mary's parishioners are less
important than other parishes?
4) Since the
parochial vicar of Holy Cross will likely become a pastor in another parish,
why can't this priest become the pastor of St. Mary's parish as the
demographics of our suburb continues to increase (along with the increase in
our sacramental index) due to the increase in number of families building new
homes and moving to our community?
Appointing the parochial vicar of Holy Cross seems to be the most logical solution as outlined in question #4 above. It appears that the pastor of Holy Cross has no intention of assisting the parishioners of St. Mary's parish. He has stated publicly that, 'there is no appeal process'. We now know that Canon Law does provide an appeal process as not only a responsibility but an obligation of parishioners. In Canon Law, the first person responsible for vindicating parish rights is the pastor of the parish. If the pastor cannot or will not assume this responsibility as in St. Mary's case, then others entrusted with the care of the parish are responsible (www.futurechurch.org). Canon Law 212.2.3 goes even further saying it is not just a responsibility but an obligation to do so.
The last paragraph of Fr. Lang's letter mentions that, “... we strive to create healthy vigorous parishes by integrating the human and other resources we have at hand for the mission of Church.” When Fr. Lang refers to "human resources", is he only primarily considering male priests? In reference to "other resources", is he referring to the fiscal concerns placed on the diocese as a result of the recent sex abuse scandals involving the removal of 51 priests (as stated in the 07/02/07 Post Standard article) and the $250 million dollars in claims affiliated with law suits already fIled against the diocese (see notes of the 12/31106 diocesan financial statement)? Do these issues have anything to do with the fact the dioceses is self insured? Are these monetary concerns connected with closing of parishes with significant assets and no debt? The diocese will experience immediate and significant financial gain as a result of closing these parishes.
There also appears to be a direct correlation or at least a
trend in the number of churches designated for closure and the parishes which
have recently received significant bequests. Did the fact that St. Mary's will inherit a significant amount of money
from the estate of Reverend John Joseph Daley, influence the decision to close
our parish? (please see item # 16). The will has
been probated but the total amount of the estate is still being processed and shoUld
be finalized within the next month. However, the attorney handling the estate said the total is
"significant" and the executor of the will claims that St. Mary's will be "astonished" by the
amount. All of the parishes that will inherit money from this estate are currently being linked with
the intention to be merged and/or closed by the diocese, including St. Mary's,
Historical
Information: Jamesville Holy Ground & Martyrdom Information:
St. Mary's parish is situated on holy ground. Are the
leaders of our diocese aware of the great historical significance of a Catholic
presence in
"I was greatly surprised when
Father Bechard told me that close to
A complete description of the gruesome torture that these three martyrs endured as they died in witness of their Christian faith is fully documented in item #17 & 18.
The foregoing further expands the history of our parish
outlined on page six of our 5-26-07 Hierarchical Recourse letter. A picture of
the, monument that has been erected by the Syracuse Chapter S.A.R. and State of
According to Richard McKeon's article, "
... a manuscript on the Cause of the Martyrs of the
The summer, 2006, -edition of the "Unity Grapevine", (Item #17), recognizes a fourth martyr in Jamesville, by including an infant, (the granddaughter of an Onondaga chief) who was also slaughtered. This 2006 newsletter also quoted Pope John Paul II as saying, "As far as possible, consistory, the local Churches should do everything possible to ensure that the memory of those who have suffered martyrdom should be safeguarded ... ". (The Coming Third Millennium, #37. 1994) Closing the parish that these four martyrs initiated in the seventeenth century, (St. Mary's in Jamesville), would not be an example of safeguarding the memory of those martyrs, as suggested by Pope John Paul II.
Considering
the sacrifices of the early Jesuit missionaries to this area and the four Jamesville
martyrs, is it unreasonable to ask that one priest provide two hours of his time
per week to continue the local Catholic tradition at St. Mary's Church in Jamesville?
We have also recently initiated conversations for Beatification purposes with Joseph Heath, attorney for the Onondaga Nation. We also believe that the public would take great interest in this noteworthy story, in light of the recent news coverage regarding the local Catholic diocese and closing of parishes, including St. Mary's in Jamesville.
Le Moyne College
Jesuit Community Partnership
Is the Le Moyne
College Jesuit community aware of the significant historical role that their
forefathers played in establishing a Catholic presence in Jamesville? This
would be an even greater reason for
St. Mary's to partner with the Jesuits at either Le Moyne College or the Jesuit Novitiate at St. Andrew Hall. Both are located
just a few short miles from
Jamesville. We have just learned that Le Moyne College is part of our pastoral
care area (PCA). We were not made
aware of this information during our PCA meetings. Why was this information not disclosed?
Items #19 & 20, are letters between St. Mary's and the Office of Provincial that oversees the local Jesuits. Le Moyne College may be one possible alternative to the "shortage of diocesan priests" and a possible solution for our religious education challenges. A number of Jesuits and diocesan priests have both publicly and privately offered to assist St. Mary's, 'if there is a need'. There is certainly a need and we would welcome their assistance if the Bishop would approve. According to Provincial, Gerald J. Chojnacki, S.1., "The New York Province of the Society of Jesus typically considers requests to assume responsibility for a diocesan church only at the invitation of the focal bishop." Some of these Jesuits sit in the pews at Holy Cross during Sunday morning mass. Wouldn't their time be better spent saying mass at St. Mary's church at that time?
Conclusion
,-
The failure to utilize such obvious solutions such as
involvement of the talented laity and/or partnering with the Jesuits lead many
to speculate that financial matters are the possible core of the problem and
question if decisions were primarily based on these motives. For this reason,
it appears that the local Catholic Church is currently run more like a business
than a faith community. According to recent news reports, the
We understand that there may be a need to combine two or more Catholic churches located in the same community but St. Mary's church is the only Catholic Church in Jamesville which covers 40.3 square miles. The total population is 8,625 and continues to climb.
We have made every effort possible to try to keep this process as Christian and respectful as possible. One example of this goal involves the decision to seek mediation through legal council involving a civil attorney and the reason for items #21. These summaries of the meeting and/or conversations between Fr. Lang and diocesan attorney, Doreen Simmons, outline our intentions. We would like to avoid civil actions but understand that there may be certain parts of Canon Law that do not specifically address Civil Law issues related to this matter. Unfortunately, civil recourse may not be totally unavoidable.
Given all of this additional information, we hope that
Bishop Moynihan can now recognize and appreciate St. Mary's parish as a vital,
financially solvent and growing Catholic community and ask that he reconsider
his recent decision. If he is unable to do so, we respectfully request that the
Bishop recognize the suspension of both the physical AND spiritual patrimony in
accordance with Canon 1724.1 and 1736.1, as mentioned in previous letters,
until a final decision has been made by the
We welcome the opportunity to meet with Bishop Moynihan in person. We have recently reinstated an "interim parish council", including all district representatives and committee chairs. We are fortunate to have very active parishioners who are willing to volunteer their time and talents. Is this not what Bishop Moynihan sought to promote in his 2001 pastoral care letter, "Equipping the Saints for the Work of Ministry"? In this letter the Bishop says, "We all should invite every parishioner to a discipleship that is evangelizing and involves collaborative ministries with neighbors ... We will need to work together to invite many to ministry, to offer creative solutions to complex challenges, and to be committed to a changing Church ... and enthusiastically motivate those new professionals and volunteers who will help lead our church in the future." (Please see item #22 , p. 19) Why is the Bishop not enthusiastically welcoming the volunteers of St. Mary's parish as a model and/or pilot of what "church" could and should be? We are the laity that Bishop Moynihan was seeking to promote in "Equipping the Saints". Why is he turning us away?
We have highlighted many questions in this letter for which we are seeking answers. The members of our "interim parish council" would welcome a meeting with Bishop Moynihan to discuss possible options that might be mutually beneficial to all parities.
We graciously thank you for your time and consideration in this matter and look forward to your response .
Sincerely in Christ,
(signed: 52
CC: Cardinal Hummes
Archbishop Sambi
Fr. Gerald J. Chojnacki, SJ.
Attorney Joseph Heath