Text of Bob Kloos Speech at St. Emeric Closing Protest

“My will be done”

by Bob Kloos – Delivered at St. Emeric Church on June 30, 2010 at the 3 pm protest

216-932-1733,  http://www.endangeredcatholics.webs.com   

Today marks the final, repeated, and determined effort of Bishop Richard G. Lennon to reconfigure the Diocese of Cleveland to his own liking. It remains to be seen if this is just Phase One. Barely a year after his arrival, Bishop Lennon put into place a process that would eventually lead to the downsizing of the number of parishes arbitrarily based on the his admittedly nebulous notion of vibrancy. The diocese has never known such a radical adjustment in its 160-year history.

The dismantling of the diocese was carried out, on schedule, under the pretense of collaboration and prayerful discernment, when in fact, the end result was predetermined by the cluster architect. We have witnessed the Cleveland edition of Bishop Lennon’s Boston Reconfiguration, a debacle that has left that diocese in dismal disarray.

Vatican appeals notwithstanding, public outcry ignored, and an option for mediation dismissed, Bishop Lennon has “moved forward” in his effort to suppress or merge urban and ethnic parishes with impunity. No manner of dialogue, correspondence, or protest has altered his thinking. His public statements on parish closings have rarely been pastorally sensitive and only occasionally accurate. Instead, they manifest the observations of an authoritarian who chooses which facts to ignore and which to quote, which properties have the highest retail value and which do not, and what canons serve his purposes while those that protect the rights of the faithful are overlooked.

We are here today, not to concede our mission, but to state clearly and convincingly, that we have been faithful to it. We have done all in our power to keep our churches open. And we witness the unacceptable loss of yet another vibrant, ethnic treasure, in the heart of our aching city, not because we did nothing to save it, but because the Church did nothing to stop it.

Where were the clergy when they saw the plan that spelled out the demise of so many faith communities? Where were the other bishops when they read about the heavy-handedness of their brother Richard? Where was Rome when the letters started arriving and an unprecedented number of appeals landed at their doors? Where was the collective voice of Greater Cleveland when a relative newcomer declared he knew better what was best for our city, our region?

Over the last year, we have been disheartened, dismayed, and even disenfranchised. As the doors of churches have been padlocked and precious windows with the names of donors still etched in their panes removed, some of our brothers and sisters have walked away. Bishop Lennon has urged them to go elsewhere, to another church, any church, just not the one their grandfather help found, not the one they were baptized in, not the one they brought their children to, first in their arms and then at their side. No. Close the doors and sell them. Thank the people but send them packing: Declare there is a need in Cleveland and then have the nerve to say: “I can fix it, myself.”

But here we stand, united, committed, and still believing that our mission was sound, sacred. and, we discovered gladly, born of solidarity. We stand here today with people who were strangers to us barely a year ago. But the bishop has brought us together. And our faith still makes us one. The bishop has made a mess of things. We will do our best to clean it up. We were here before +Lennon; we will be here when he is gone. Long live the faith of the people.