Baltimore Catholics reeling after archdiocese proposes closing 40 of 61 parishes
On Sunday, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that 40 of 61 parishes in Baltimore City and surrounding areas could close due to declining attendance. St. Vincent de Paul, the city’s oldest Catholic parish church in continuous operation, is among those slated to be consolidated with other parishes.
Across Baltimore, Catholics on Monday reacted with sorrow, anger and outrage to news that the archdiocese planned to shutter two-thirds of the churches. Many vowed to fight to keep open churches to which they and their families had belonged for decades.
“Once there were thousands of people supporting these churches, buildings and ministries,” Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski said. “Now there are dozens or hundreds. They’ve been heroic and made tremendous sacrifices. They have poured their hard-earned money, energies and talents into keeping these places going.”
In the mid-1900s, Lewandowski said, there were more than 250,000 people worshipping at Baltimore’s Catholic churches. Today, about 5,000 to 8,000 attend Sunday Mass in the city, and many of them come from the suburbs.
Lewandowski said the proposal is not related to the archdiocese’s decision to file for bankruptcy in September, before a state law went into effect allowing more survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits. Last year, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General released a 456-page report outlining decades of heinous sexual, physical and emotional abuse by more than 100 members of the clergy.
Lewandowski said a final decision on the proposal would be released in June. The process of closing churches, moving programs and ultimately deconsecrating and selling church buildings, would likely take several years.
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/commu...4Y2O6UACU/
On Sunday, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that 40 of 61 parishes in Baltimore City and surrounding areas could close due to declining attendance. St. Vincent de Paul, the city’s oldest Catholic parish church in continuous operation, is among those slated to be consolidated with other parishes.
Across Baltimore, Catholics on Monday reacted with sorrow, anger and outrage to news that the archdiocese planned to shutter two-thirds of the churches. Many vowed to fight to keep open churches to which they and their families had belonged for decades.
“Once there were thousands of people supporting these churches, buildings and ministries,” Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski said. “Now there are dozens or hundreds. They’ve been heroic and made tremendous sacrifices. They have poured their hard-earned money, energies and talents into keeping these places going.”
In the mid-1900s, Lewandowski said, there were more than 250,000 people worshipping at Baltimore’s Catholic churches. Today, about 5,000 to 8,000 attend Sunday Mass in the city, and many of them come from the suburbs.
Lewandowski said the proposal is not related to the archdiocese’s decision to file for bankruptcy in September, before a state law went into effect allowing more survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits. Last year, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General released a 456-page report outlining decades of heinous sexual, physical and emotional abuse by more than 100 members of the clergy.
Lewandowski said a final decision on the proposal would be released in June. The process of closing churches, moving programs and ultimately deconsecrating and selling church buildings, would likely take several years.
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/commu...4Y2O6UACU/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
