Posted on 08/31/2007 4:05:17 PM PDT by Coleus
She spent her life praising God at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church - but Carmen Gonzalez's funeral will be held on the sidewalk outside the East Harlem building today because the Archdiocese of New York shuttered it last winter. Gonzalez, 72, a nearly life-long Our Lady parishioner who died Monday after a bout with cancer, fought the closure until the end, leading loved ones to say that the unusual memorial would be most fitting.
"I have mixed feelings about this, but on the other hand, I think my mom would be very happy and would approve," her son Alfred Gonzalez told the Daily News. The archdiocese had planned to close the E. 113th St. church - one of a number to be closed as parishes merged because of dwindling congregations and demographic shifts - on March 1. But officials locked it up after parishioners staged a February sit-in, with six arrested.
"When they closed the church, she was part of the vigil. I didn't allow her to be arrested because she was sick. We didn't know what would happen to us," said protest organizer Carmen Villegas, who has continued to worship, with others, outside the church on Sundays.Gonzalez opened her apartment to meetings about reopening the church. "She cried a lot. It was a very difficult and traumatic experience," Gonzalez's son said. She was in and out of the hospital, dealing with her sickness, but attended the sidewalk services when she could.
Our Lady Queen of Angels was a touchstone for Gonzalez, who came here from Puerto Rico as a girl, and for the large family she raised. Her sons attended the church school through eighth grade, celebrated their Communions and Confirmations there, and were altar boys. "She's a die-hard Catholic, more than just go-on-Sundays," said Alfred Gonzalez, 44. "I dare to say that she loved the church as much as she loved her sons."
Villegas said Gonzalez's supporters asked the archdiocese for permission to reopen Our Lady just for her funeral, but they were turned down. "We think that the appropriate place to have a funeral to show proper respect for the deceased would be to have a Mass of Christian Burial in a church," archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said. In the wake of the closure, "the vast majority of the parishioners have gone to other nearby parishes and have been warmly welcomed there, and we would hope that Mrs. Gonzalez's family would see that she had a proper Mass of Christian Burial at a local parish," he said.
As for the church's fate, "we're in the discussion stages," Zwilling said. "We are hoping to be able to use the facility for other church-related, archdiocesan-related purposes, religious purposes." Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, a longtime Our Lady parishioner and professor of ethics and theology at Drew University who will speak at the memorial, called remembering Gonzalez outside the church she loved "a special moment of grace."
"Church is not a building. Church is the community. ... We take very literally the teaching that the church is a community of the believers," she said. Alfred Gonzalez doesn't want to politicize his mom's funeral, but in the end, he said, her beloved Our Lady Queen of Angels is the right choice for her farewell. "[She] wouldn't want it any other way," he said. "She just says, 'This is my church.'"
If it’s been shut for almost 6 months over the summer, it would probably have taken more than a couple of dollars to get it back into shape for a service. In addition, you have to wonder if the bishop was worried about another sit - in if he opened the facility.
It’s sad.
Reading the other links, it appears that my comment about it having been closed for almost 6 months wasn’t well founded. It appears that they opened it at least once over the summer for a graduation.
.
A shame.
Indeed, quite sad.
The reason churches are closing around here (being merged and consolidated) is because of the priest shortage -- not a shortage of money.
Ok.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.