Talk of more church closings provokes ire in Philadelphia

National Catholic Reporter, July 3, 1998

The Philadelphia archdiocese is circulating a proposal to close more inner city churches and schools, arousing opposition and prompting a parish leader to resign.

The proposed closings are in Grays Ferry and other neighborhoods in South Philadelphia. According to news reports in Philadelphia, a preliminary plan to close three parishes and three schools has been sent to all affected parishes for reaction. Church officials said Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua will have the final word in any closings.

The proposal represents the next stage in a controversial effort to reduce the number of parishes and schools in Philadelphia's city neighborhoods where the Catholic population has declined. After learning about the proposal, Eileen DiFran co, parish council member at St. Vincent de Paul in Germantown, resigned in protest against a process she regards as stacked against urban churches.

In a June 24 letter to Msgr. Francis Beach, vicar for her region, DiFranco took issue with the whole concept of "cluster planning," a method of regional planning instituted by Bevilacqua. "I continue to believe that cluster planning is a thinly disguised plan of the archdiocese to place the burden of inevitable parish closings squarely on the shoulders of their own parishioners," she wrote. DiFranco proposed instead the "twinning" or merging of poor urban parishes with wealthy suburban parishes "so that scarce resources could be more equitably shared."

Archdiocesan officials said that the proposal is being circulated in an effort to get input from parishioners before final decisions are made.

Bevilacqua drew intense criticism from some groups five years ago when he closed several inner city parishes and schools and merged some others following a $100 million fundraising campaign that, according to campaign publicity, would "assist struggling parishes" and "guarantee the future viability of our elementary and secondary schools." A brochure for the campaign assured potential donors, "Every parish will share in the success of Catholic Life 2000."

DiFranco is not the only Philadelphia Catholic objecting to the recent proposal, although Msgr. John Conway, an archdiocesan vicar, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that reaction so far had been "much more positive than we expected."

"Most people are saying in so many words we know what the realities are, and we're going to have to bite the bullet and do what we have to do," Conway said.

However, Fr. John Bradley, pastor of St. Aloysius, one of the parishes slated to be closed, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he considered the plan to be "unfair and unjust." Sr. Janet Roddy, principal of King of Peace School, one of the schools proposed for closing, told the newspaper that people in Grays Ferry don't believe the plan would serve the area well. "This has been a shocker for people," she said.

Under the proposal, three schools -- King of Peace, St. Aloysius and St. Gabriel -- would be merged in 1999 into a Grays Ferry Catholic Elementary School in the St. Gabriel building. A fourth school, St. Edmond, would be closed. The parishes of King of Peace and St. Aloysius would be closed, probably in 2000, as would St. Anthony of Padua.

Two other parish schools, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Charles Borromeo, would be merged into a Point Breeze Catholic Elementary School.