Holy Cross Pastor Fr. Tom Wheeland received a letter from Bishop Clark telling him and the parish that all their efforts to save their school - and ultimately their parish - have been for nothing.I'll be dealing with the inconsistencies and outright lies in a subsequent post.
10 comments:
An "I told you so" letter shows how little compassion the bishop has for all of us. No comfort. No concern for the 1,000 children who attended Catholic Schools this year who will not next year simply because of his chosen plan (they still have room for 300 more, not everyone)! How about the Holy Trinity kids who couldn't even get through their last concert without breaking down? One would think that a senior citizen who has had all of his health problems would be concerned about being judged for all the needless suffering he is heaping on these children, and for all the people who have left the Church as a direct result of his actions.
Lord knows, I'm certainly going to have enough to account for when I stand before Jesus at his Second Coming.
I just hope I am allowed to stand off to the side and listen while our Bishop renders his accounting.
Leaving aside how Bishop Clark has handled the Catholic Schools, I still think he is a good Bishop and I can list a dozen wonderful things that the Bishop has accomplished in Rochester. But I do enjoy reading Mike's blog entries on this website as they are full of facts and not just ramblings of how I hate Bishop Clark. I have a web site of my own and I've placed a link to DOR on my own blog page.
Why would we "leave aside" how he's handled the schools? He has systematically dismantled them. That and the cathedral are the only legacy he's going to leave. The diocese is in a shambles and there aren't any vocations. He can't blame the previous administration because he's been here too long.
There are going to be approx. 1,000 children who are currently receiving a Catholic School education this year who won't next year simply because of this "plan". Of course it worked out the way they said it would, they did everything they could to make it so.
Dr. Knowledge...You made valid complaints about Bishop Clark. But the points you raised can accurately describe many other U.S. Bishops and the Diocese they lead today. I still say that the crux of the problem with the Catholic School saga and other problems within the Church today is the lack of authentic dialogue between the clergy and the laity. The fact that Mike has received nothing but "spin" responses from the Diocesan Vicar General regarding the census debacle and the response from Bishop Clark to the pastor of Holy Cross Parish is proof that no such dialogue actually exists in the Church. This is an old cultural structure system that must change in order for the Church to remain a vibrant faith-filled community. The clergy to laity relationship has always been like a parent to child relationship in the Church. This must change. We are considered "Partners in Faith" when the clergy want money from us, but when it comes to making decisions, it's the parent child relationship all over again. In my opinion, the lay advisers Bishop Clark appointed for the Catholic School closing decision where his "token laity" - except for maybe the former Superintendent of Catholic Schools who resigned for "personal reasons" after the decision was made to close the schools.
Holy Cross strikes me as the parish most likely to reopen a school with a new bishop. I sincerely hope they can keep going for a few more years and come back stronger in the future.
CathParent,
From your lips to God's ear.
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