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Diocese of Cleveland
Cathedral Square
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PDF image of original letter)
21
April 2009
Mr. Miklos B. Peller
1785 King James Parkway
Westlake, Ohio 44145
Dear Mr. Peller:
I write in response to your petition dated 24 March 2009 asking me to
revoke the decree ordering the suppression of St. Emeric Parish and if I
do not revoke that decree, that I would order the suppression of the
Parish be suspended pending hierarchical recourse.
Having carefully reviewed all the information that you have provided and
having again carefully considering this matter, as I have on several
occasions with members of the Hungarian Catholic community in our
Diocese. I now write in response to your petition.
Please know that the idea of clustering St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish,
St. Emeric Parish, and St. Margaret of Hungary Parish was the idea of
the Pastors, which I acceded to. In the course of the discussions
knowing that my May 2007 letter clearly indicated that the mandate was
to go from three parishes to one parish, I found that their reply
submitted this past November was inappropriate. Please allow me to
explain.
In my May 2007 letter it was clearly stated that those who felt that
parts of the mandate of the process were difficult were free to contact
me through the appropriate persons so that I could hear their
difficulties. I never was contacted. Thus, I can only have presumed that
the cluster comprising the above named parishes was hard at work
addressing the mandate that they had received from their Bishop. You can
only imagine the surprise that I had when I received their recommended
plan that ignored what I had set forth.
Moreover, in a conversation with the Pastors and with two lay leaders we
discussed very openly the figures that they had provided the Diocese
with regarding liturgical and sacramental activity at the three
parishes. As we go forward one can only hope that there will be
awareness that all parishes are part of the larger entity of the Church
in Cleveland. Thus, in light of the prudent use of ecclesiastical goods
and the legitimate religious, liturgical and sacramental needs of the
Hungarian community it is my prudent judgment that one parish more than
adequately takes care of that. Thus, I will not revoke my decree
regarding the suppression of St. Emeric Parish, nor will I order the
suppression of the parish to be suspended pending hierarchical recourse.
I fully expect that other directives in my 12 March 2009 letter will be
adhered to.
Sincerely,
Richard Lennon
Bishop of Cleveland
1027 Superior Ave., Cleveland.
OH 44114-2560 (216) 696-6525 Ext
2030 Fax
(216) 696-6547 |