And the conversation goes like this:
Parish official: "But, Bishop, our families need this church, this school. It's been the center of our lives for over 100 years!"
Bishop: "Here's a map to the new church and school. Oh, by the way, tuition will have to go up 25% to pay for all the new buildings. Good day!"
When they did the reorganization here they grabbed a bunch of rich donors from the "burbs" and Diocesan yes men (and women of course) to do the job. Some didn't even live in the Diocese, including one Cabinet Secretary who saw it as "get even" time with some of the Priests who weren't cooperative about raising money.
In other cases you had the Vicar Forane unilaterally switch the Parish which had been recommended for closing without telling anyone before forwarding the report to the Diocese.
For proof of the major league probems just look at the number of reversals...I think initially there were supposed to be something like 20-30 more.
Let's hope that they do a better job in New York.
Funny...the Catholic schools here in San Antonio are expanding rapidly, have waiting lists and are bursting at the seams despite our quick expansion.
The media is searching for a crisis in the world's favorite target...the Catholic Church.
In Louisville, many churches and schools have closed in the last 20 years. Usually if a school had less than 75 famlies and or the parsish less than 150 active families it was on the block.
Demographics changed and left many of our African American families with fewer churches and haveing to drive further to go to schools due to smaller numbers.
Always a shame, but if people move around, ya gotta follow them.