Passions strong as Baltimore Catholics debate city realignment plan at final town hall
It has been two weeks since the Archdiocese of Baltimore released its proposal for realigning its operations in the city, but it was clear at the fourth and final public meeting on the subject that the passions of Baltimore’s Catholic faithful toward it have not cooled.
The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore was filled nearly to capacity for the meeting Tuesday night, with dozens crowding the aisles. Many sat in large sections shoulder-to-shoulder with members of their own parish, sporting custom T-shirts, waving flags or holding up banners.
As more than three dozen people took their turns sharing their thoughts and emotions through a microphone at the front of the 65-year-old Catholic landmark, applause, jeers and chants intermittently filled the sanctuary, all punctuating a sometimes emotional gathering that lasted three hours.
“We realize that none of these decisions are easy, and we respect what you are trying to accomplish to grow the Catholic faith in Baltimore,” said David Bender, the pastoral council president of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Washington, with a nod toward the leaders of the archdiocesan reform effort, known as Seek the City to Come. “But respectfully, we do not agree with the proposal. This proposal may make fiscal sense, but it does not make spiritual sense.”
The remark sparked uproarious cheering.
The plan, whose contents were released at city Masses on the weekend of April 13, calls for a radical reshaping of Catholic Baltimore, both in the configuration of its footprint and the way it does business.
The changes it suggests would be historic. It would reduce the number of parishes in Baltimore and a few nearby suburbs from 61 to 21, and the number of worship sites from 59 to 23.
It would incorporate three new models for operations in a parish — the “mosaic” model, which essentially calls for a single central worship site that provides most services, including Mass; the “radiating” model, in which a worship site serves as a parish hub and several related ministry sites as its spokes, and a walk-in style “Catholic commons” model that would be located at street level, typically in a commercial center.
Black Catholics perceive echoes of neglect in church’s realignment proposal
As many speakers pointed out, the proposal would call for 40 Catholic churches — many of whose histories date back generations — to be absorbed into others as part of new, larger parishes, an excruciating prospect for many longtime congregants.
Others said they feared the proposed mergers would compromise the ethnic or national identities their parishes have taken years to develop or that Catholics asked to switch to another church, sometimes one farther away or that features an unfamiliar culture, might quit attending church altogether.
Jim Councill, a member of St. William of York Church in West Baltimore, shared how challenging it has been to develop a unified pastorate with nearby St. Agnes Church over the past 14 years.
“As loud as are the calls to close parishes within the city that are unsustainable, there is a vital need to maintain parishes that are presently able to sustain themselves. If the sheep who have served faithfully to sustain their parishes in good stead are forced to close their church and told to go elsewhere, they will go elsewhere. They will go everywhere except where they are directed to go,” Councill said, to thunderous applause.
The public session came one day after the archdiocese held a town hall for Spanish-speaking city Catholics. About 180 people attended a gathering at Our Lady of Fatima that was conducted entirely in Spanish. Parishioners raised similar issues, some arguing that having their church join another might interrupt evangelization efforts or adult ministries they’ve developed or cause traffic, space or transportation problems.
“The way most Latinos practice their faith — to them it’s more than just going to Mass on a Sunday,” said Lia Garcia, the director of Hispanic ministries for the archdiocese, who attended the Monday meeting. “They find community in their prayer groups. For them to now have to move to another parish, they’re wondering, ‘What’s going to happen to my group? What’s going to happen to my own little community that I was building up here?'”
The co-directors of Seek the City, Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski and the archdiocese’s community outreach directors, Geri Royale Byrd, spent the first portion of the meeting reviewing the details of the proposal, explaining why the archdiocese believes change is necessary, and reminding the faithful that the plan is not final. They’re already incorporating feedback into updated versions, they said, and church leaders will be asking for public comment via email, letters or phone calls through May.
Seek the City’s more than 200 team members will continue refining the plan until they pass it on to archdiocesan consultors, then ultimately to Archbishop William E. Lori, who is to sign off on a final version in mid-June. Lewandowski said any changes would be implemented over time, with the timing determined by the needs of individual dioceses.
He added that proceeds from the sale of any church property would flow to whatever new parish that church joins, not to the archdiocese itself.
For Lewandowski, the size of the crowd and the strength of parishioners’ emotions were signs of hope at a moment he concedes is difficult for everyone.
“We’re with our backs against the wall, in a certain sense,” he said. “We don’t have enough people to support what we have. The way I see it, this is a family coming together around the table to figure it out. When families are in crisis or have problems, everybody comes to the table. Sometimes you might hit the table with your fist. Sometimes you might pray. Sometimes you might have a great idea or you might just sit and take it all in. Tonight, I’m taking it all in.”