Photo by Joanne Beck
Tempers flared Thursday at a southside fellowship hall during an emotional and lengthy meeting about the impending closure of Ascension Parish.
Father Scottston Brentwood, aka Father Scott, fielded questions and assertions from a room full of about 150 unhappy congregants, including parish member Ed Kosiorek, who said he had gone through this before. He joined Ascension after St. Mary’s closed.
“Why are we not a part of this?” Kosiorek said. “There's a cover-up. We're not getting the information, okay? We just went through a major cover-up with the sexual abuse situation, and we didn't get the information we needed. Now we're going through the parish. I think nobody's being transparent. No one is putting the facts out there. Everyone in this room is a thinking adult, and if they are given the facts, they'll comprehend it, and they will sort it.”
Like it or not, he got the facts eventually during a slide presentation of financial and statistical considerations that put Ascension in the red, at about a 10% operating deficit, with decreasing numbers of youth and sacrament participation. Distance to the various church locations was also a factor, with the end result sounding like a simple math equation.
“You get two parishes, four worship sites and three priests, that is it,” Father Scott said.
After taking it on the chin for two and a half hours, he empathized and said that “no priest wants to close any churches, and I’m closing five.”
“It is not easy to say to people that a place that matters so much to them, you have to be the name that's attached to that final act. As I said in the very beginning, it's not something I would have wanted any priest to go through. It wasn't something that I have even chosen,” he said. “It’s one of those where we have to remember that this process has been up and down and all these other things. And even, I mean, I'm trying to be as honest as I can, I have been frustrated with the Diocese in the way that they've done things. I myself have said openly in the churches, in meetings and everything else, that I think things should have been done in a different way. But I did not have the decision in any of that, how they did it, how they rolled it out, how they expressed it.”
A few congregants stepped forward to commend him for his willingness to represent the powers that be.
“You truly had nothing to do with this decision to close our parish, and you're taking a lot of the brunt of the heat for it. So I just want to say thank you for at least hearing our concerns and letting us come to you when we're upset. I think what I can speak on behalf of all of us for is, at no point did Bishop, or anyone who was front facing at the Diocese say, we're prayerfully considering all counter proposals. If your parish wasn't on the initial list, be prepared, because that might happen,” Christina Bucciferro said. “And I think when we weren't on the initial list, we as a parish family were not prepared for us to close. And then on a random Tuesday, while I'm at work, all of a sudden see that my livelihood, my family's livelihood, in generation, it's just gone.
"And then I have to, like, snap out of it and be at the bank and be okay. And that's not okay. There was no communication from the Diocese that we were going to close, and that's not fair.”
Bucciferro likely represented many people there: she was baptized at Ascension, was a cantor, and sang in the choir for 20 years. It isn’t just a church, but part of her life and soul. In a letter she penned to the Diocese, she says that angry, disappointed and heartbroken don’t even sum up how she’s feeling.
While no one liked the idea of closing, they were most disgruntled about how it all happened, she and others said.
Fran Mruczek, a lifelong member who was baptized at Ascension, said that things seemed to work out fairly well for Father Scott, who she thought was to be in rotation yet she hasn’t seen much of him except for one Christmas Eve service.
“However, you you were able to stay just in Le Roy and in Bergen, and I understand that it worked out good because, you know, you get to know your parishioners better,” she said. “But how did that get by the sidelines?
“And as far as priests, I know there’s a shortage of priests. I know you’re overworked and everything … there are a lot of retired priests who would be happy to help out, and I know that’s the bishop, the Diocese; they just don’t want you to have anybody to make things easier for all the parishes, not just this parish, for all the parishes.”
She gave an example of a retired priest who has returned to work in Oakfield. Father Scott said not everyone who retires is physically able to return.
Another member suggested that if priests were allowed to marry, there wouldn’t be a shortage because there would be more priests taking the job. And there wouldn’t be sex scandals. The closures are so that money can be used to pay off pedophile priests, another said.
Father Scott wanted to address those points, he said.
If that was the case, then why are there shortages in Anglian churches? he asked. Why are there shortages of priests who are married and openly gay?
Why do Anglians have a shortage? The Methodists have women ministers and married ministers, and they have a shortage, he said, listing other denominations with similar issues. Why do they all have a shortage if the fix is to get married?
“These are Bandaids that aren’t going to work. It isn’t about being married or unmarried. It isn’t about women or men or all the other things. The answer comes down to commitment, because you don’t see people committing to marry Jesus,” he said. They’re living together and having kids together, but they won’t say yes. You have people interested in religion, interested in God, but they don’t say yes. You have to convince people that we need people who are committed to the gospel, and those are the ones who are going to be the good priests.”
Important points emphasized during the presentation were that every parish had an opportunity to present counter-proposals at the gatherings of the family leadership, and everyone had an opportunity to present as many proposals as they desired. St. Brigid presented two, not one proposals, whereas Ascension presented only one, he said.
Consideration was given to Max. Kolbe in East Pembroke primarily because of the distance to other parishes and faith formation. Finances were and are not the primary focus of the Diocese on the “Road to Renewal,” but the continuation of the faith for the future is, he said.
As for any kind of timeline of what may happen when, Father Scott had no definitive answer about that.
“When it comes to timelines, at the moment, we do not know. When we do know more that will be communicated immediately to everybody when we have an idea of what's going on, because when it comes to the next steps, the bishop has to issue a decree that actually closes a parish. Once that decree happens, there's a difference between when a parish is being merged and when a parish is closing canonically, which is different than the civil organization, which is the parish according to the state and others,” he said. “When we are merging a canonical parish into another, all of the assets are frozen from the parish, meaning they are not to be used for anything that do not directly relate to this parish. For example, if it merged today, you've still got to pay for electricity, you've still have to pay for water, you still have to heat the building at least minimally to keep the pipes from freezing, all of that stuff so the money that is frozen would only be used for paying the bills ... it would not be used to pay anything outside of this parish complex. When the merge happens, all records go to the parish that you are merged into. And we take very good care that that happens very safely, and we do it in a way in which nothing will be lost."
All records, including baptisms, confirmation, marriage, will be preserved in fireproof and waterproof bound books, he said, and may be obtained upon request.
And what if parishioners don’t want to close? They can fight it, he said. Parishioners can appeal the Vatican, but they need to know two important factors: it’s a costly endeavor, to the tune of potentially $10,000, according to another similar case; and there’s no guarantee that they will win.
One parishioner who did not want to disclose his name said that he is ready to pony up his share to save the parish. It would be worth the $10,000, he said. There was already a plan in place to gather signatures for an appeal.
“We do have a core group working to save the parish,” Pat Becker said, directing attendees to go into the parking lot after the meeting to sign a petition if they wanted to participate. “This group is willing to do whatever it takes to save our church, but we can’t do it without all of you.”
“So after this meeting, if everybody would head that way, we have a mandate that gives that core group the power to make necessary decisions, to do whatever they need to do, to fight, to save Ascension Parish. So we are asking you to please do that,” she said.
After all was said and done, Father Scott shared a somber thought about the deeper effects that the mergings and closings could have on people.
“The thing that bothers me the most is the number of people that will use this as an excuse not to go anywhere. I'm not saying that they're going to go to another church, or they're going to go to the Protestants, or they're going to go here. The ones that will use this as an excuse not to go anywhere. I don't think you guys know the charism of my particular community. It's the redemption of those captives in danger of losing their faith. Well, how many people are going to be losing their faith as a result of this process? And it's the charism of us to try to help them and save them and all that other stuff,” he said. “And I have in the back of my own mind all of these people that are going to, for whatever reason, be choosing to abandon their faith. And I have to try to, in my own conscience, understand how that works. And that is something I said from the beginning, is how many people are going to use this as the excuse not to continue on. And that bothers me a lot.
“And I can say, as hard as this may be to believe, that bishop Fisher is the same way, I know that you may not believe me, but I've had many conversations with him. And as I said before, I've known a lot of bishops in my time, believe it or not, and I don't like a lot of them. I do like him. He genuinely has the concern for what's going on, and he's trying to do what he can with whatever information is available, and all these other things, and it's hard to make those big decisions, and I know it bothers him to do that,” he said. “It's one of those where a decision has to be made, and he happens to be the person who has to do it. Ultimately, it's hard, and I know that it's hard for you guys. I know that it is. I'm there with you. I don't want anything to happen either, but I can't change that.”
Photo by Joanne Beck
