Making All Things New, a Call for Catholic Church Preservation
A guest essay by Brody Hale
When one thinks of New York, the first images which come to mind may be those of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. These gigantic structures certainly stand as iconic symbols of this cosmopolitan metropolis. When I think of New York, however, my mind immediately turns to a less secular, but no less important set of structures, the multitude of Roman Catholic churches which are such an integral part of the city’s Catholic patrimony. These glorious religious buildings, different in design but singularly representative of the devotion of New York’s early Catholics are irreplaceable religious and cultural treasures, and are without question collectively a constituent component of the city’s majesty. These churches serve for Catholics as a tangible manifestation of so much of what New York is; America’s gateway city, an ethnic and geographic melting pot which has collected people from all corners of the globe, and retained them, to create a dynamic society like no other. The Catholic churches of New York make up a brilliant tapestry, resplendent with the threads of so many different ethnicities, each of whom felt it important to contribute a house of God particular to its cultural sensibilities to the city’s religious landscape. In so doing, the progenitors of New York’s Catholic population have passed down to us a collection of religious edifices, different in construction yet assembled within one city, the existence of which should bring a cheer to the lips of every Catholic New Yorker, including the shepherds of the local church.
Unfortunately, several circumstances have now brought the leadership of the Archdiocese of New York to engage in an exercise entitled, “Making All Things New,” a process designed to realign the boundaries of many of the Archdiocese’s parishes. The specifics of this plan were released last November by the Archdiocese, and it seems another round of decisions will be made early this year. The issues surrounding Making All Things New are currently receiving considerable coverage by the media, the Catholic and secular press alike. I think it is exceedingly important at this time, when parishioners are experiencing so many emotions on account of the content of Making All Things New, to carefully break it down, and discuss what Cardinal Dolan has done and what he has not done. In doing so, a better understanding of the full and true meaning of this plan can emerge and hopefully guide parishioners in their responses to it.
Analysis
I seriously question the archdiocese’s decision to extinguish multiple financially solvent parishes, as these vibrant faith communities are the hallmark of a healthy local church. That being said, when the results of this process are compared to those which were carried out in Boston and other locations in decades past, the decisions arrived at under Making All Things New are on their face less draconian. If in the coming months these decisions are implemented sensibly the years long battles which have been seen in many other American dioceses might be avoided. This essay will focus on implementation at a later point, for the moment, let us look at what Making All Things New has actually done.
While surely no parishioners are happy about having regular mass end at some churches (having experienced this myself, I understand the pain this change brings) it must be understood that Making All Things New DOES NOT in and of itself order the “closure” of any churches within the New York Archdiocese. It is still very possible for any parishioners who are committed to the continued existence of their church as a Catholic sacred space and continued place of at least occasional worship to insure that it will remain so, long into the future. The downgrading of a church to a place of only “occasional” worship is not merely the final step before it goes over the cliff of permanent closure. In many American dioceses in years past, the reduction of a church to the site of occasional masses almost certainly tolled the death knell for that particular place of worship, an act likely to be soon followed by its sale and/or demolition. Things have changed however since the last round of parish consolidation that took place within the Archdiocese of New York in 2007.
Since early 2011, Rome has been more closely monitoring the decisions of bishops to permanently close church buildings at the same time parishes are merged. The Vatican, having noticed that many bishops in the United States and other parts of the world were improperly closing church buildings and subsequently selling them off, made clear its preparedness to enforce the specific rules under Canon Law (the code of laws that govern the administration of the Catholic church,) related to the closure of churches, and reverse such closures when they are inappropriate. Since 2011, the Vatican has reversed the closure of twenty-three church buildings in six dioceses in the United States. In addition, the decision of a bishop in the United Kingdom to close a church has also been overturned. The additional scrutiny being applied to the closure of church buildings gives parishioners of “occasional use” churches in the New York Archdiocese a chance many in other locations would have jumped at in years past to ensure that their beloved spiritual homes may remain available as places of religious devotion to generations as of yet unborn. In order for these churches to survive though, actions must be taken now, to insure that churches will remain standing later. Before I explain what those actions are however, it is essential that anyone reading this essay first step back, and familiarize themselves with the key concepts which underpin all that is being discussed here.
Parish vs. Church
In the documents related to Making All Things New, there are many references to “parishes” and “churches.” It is thus important that we understand what the definitions of “parish” and “church” are in Canon Law, as these definitions are key to understanding the different rights under Canon Law each of these entities possesses. While we often interchange the words “parish” and “church” when referring to a Catholic place of worship, these two terms have entirely different and very specific definitions. The definitions of each of these terms are found within the Code of Canon Law, conveniently posted on the website of the Vatican. When one examines the canons, one finds the definition of a parish in canon 515 §1. “A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.” In layman’s terms, a parish is a community of Catholics who happen to worship at a particular church, and who are cared for by the pastor of that church. The “parish” is not however the church building itself. There are several different types of parishes. Canon 518 states, “As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.” This separates parishes into two distinct types, territorial parishes and personal parishes. A territorial parish has boundaries that are drawn on a map, just as the boundaries of a town, city or state are drawn on a map. All of the Catholic faithful living within the lines drawn on the map to constitute the parish boundaries are within the borders of the territorial parish. A “personal parish,” is a different kind of parish. As Canon 518 states, this type of parish is not based on territorial lines drawn on a map, but is instead based on some common characteristic that a particular subset of the Catholic population shares. It could be that a parish is established for all of the Catholic faithful in a community or part of a community who speak Polish or French, or for all of the faithful who have an affinity for the celebration of the Tridentine (Latin) mass. Regardless of the reason for a parish’s foundation, all parishes are established in the same way under canon law.
While it is true that all parishes have at their center the parish church, it is an entirely different canon which defines the church building, and yet another which governs the circumstances in which it can be closed. A standard response to the question “what is the church” is the body of believers which constitute the people of God. While this might be an accurate description of the church universal, such an answer does not accurately define a church building itself. In order to understand what a church building truly is, and the importance of its sacred character, we must turn to Canon 1214, which states “By the term church is understood a sacred building designated for divine worship to which the faithful have the right of entry for the exercise, especially the public exercise, of divine worship.” In this short definition, one finds an enormous amount to dissect and understand. We see first that a church isn’t just any building, but a “sacred building.” The sacred character of a church thus tangibly separates it from the other buildings which might be frequently visited by Catholics, i.e. one’s personal residence, place of work, and centers of recreation regardless of type. While mass can be and has been celebrated in such places as Yankee Stadium, it is the church building in which the holy sacrifice of the mass and other sacramental actions of the church are to be ordinarily celebrated, owing to the sacred character of the space. This point is further illustrated by Canon 1214’s admonition that a church is “designated for divine worship.” We also learn from Canon 1214, that the faithful have “the right of entry” to a church. The importance of this piece of the canon will be discussed later, but this fact, combined with the canon’s statement that this right of entry exists for the exercise of divine worship, are key points to understanding what a church building is and how it is to be used.
Closing Parishes vs. Closing Churches
Just as a careful reading of the applicable canons clearly shows the difference between a parish (regardless of the type of parish,) and a church building, so too is it the case that different canons must be applied to close a church building than must be applied to eliminate a parish. It is for these reasons that when it is said that a parish is being “merged,” or “closed,” (parishes should almost never be “closed,” as “suppression” of a parish is almost never appropriate,) it must be understood that the automatic closure of the church building(s) associated with that parish are NOT necessarily to follow. This is on account of the fact that the reasons which justify the permanent closure of a church building differ in type and level of required seriousness from those which would allow for the combination of parishes. In years past, it was the case that in some dioceses, “ordinaries” (the official title for the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or archdiocese,) simply closed and sold church buildings at the same time the parishes associated with those church buildings were eliminated, seemingly ignoring the particular parts of Canon Law that applied to the closure of church buildings. The canonical problems associated with the taking of such actions led the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, the Vatican department responsible for handling matters associated with the closure of parishes and churches, to issue a set of guidelines to the bishops of the world with regard to the closure of parishes and churches, in order that any confusion associated with these undertakings as to what can be closed and when might be eliminated. It is good to see that the Making All Things New process follows the guidelines that the Congregation for the Clergy promulgated.
This document, entitled “Procedural Guidelines for the Modification of Parishes, the Closure or Relegation of Churches to Profane but not Sordid Use, and the Alienation of the Same,” was issued by the Congregation for the Clergy on April 30, 2013, and signed by the Congregation’s prefect at the time, Mauro Cardinal Piacenza. While this document addressed several points, its main purpose was to explain in careful detail the difference between the closure of a parish and the closure of a church, and the circumstances under which each action can be taken by a diocesan bishop. The guidelines show that while it is Canon 515, Section 2 that governs under what circumstances a parish can be extinguished; it is Canon 1222, Sections 1 and 2 that controls in situations when the question of permanently closing a church building arises. Just as different canons apply to these different questions, different reasons, and gradations of reasoning are required to effect either course of action. A bishop can only close a parish, (i.e. combine its territory with that of another parish, or in the case of an ethnic parish, cause it no longer to exist,) when a “just cause” is present. The term “just cause” here is key. A just cause for the purposes of combining parishes could embody a range of meanings, and the conditions that precipitate the combination of parishes do not have to exist solely within those parishes being combined. Examples of just causes would be a shortage of priests, the inability of the parish to financially sustain itself, or any number of other circumstances which could logically lead a bishop to determine that it would be in the best interest of the faithful in his diocese to combine certain parishes. Such reasoning might not be shared by those whose parishes are being combined, but it has historically been the case that Rome has allowed bishops a wide latitude in determining under what circumstances parishes in their dioceses should be combined.
Rome has however in recent years treated the closure of church buildings themselves in a far different manner than it has dealt with the extinguishing of parishes. In its guidelines of 2013, the Congregation for the Clergy restates that “in law and tradition,” there is a “clear disposition” that a sacred edifice should retain its “sacred character, if at all possible,” and that only a “grave reason” can justify the relegation of a church building to “profane but not sordid use.” To put this in layman’s terms, without the presence of a “grave reason” justifying its closure, a church building is not supposed to ever be closed, regardless of whether or not the parish with which it was originally associated has been or will be closed, or how frequently mass is celebrated within it. A “grave reason” is not merely any reason that a diocesan ordinary might wish to employ to justify the permanent closure of a church building. Based upon the text of Canon 1222 and the guidelines the Congregation for the Clergy issued in 2013, there are generally two causes of sufficient gravity which justify outright the permanent closure of a church building. These are that the church itself has been damaged to such an extent that it is completely beyond the point of repair, and that no sources of financial support of any kind are present that would allow the church building to continue to be maintained. A bishop who wishes to use a claim of insufficient financial support to justify the closure of a church building must show that no other “reasonable sources of funding or assistance,” including “private” funds, are present that could maintain the church building. Thus, even if a parish itself is unable to support the continued existence of a church building, another source of financing which could insure the church would be maintained and preserved as a Catholic sacred space has the right to step in and do so.
While it is true that other reasons which in and of themselves are not of sufficient gravity that they would justify the permanent closure of a church building on their own can in combination serve as justification for the taking of such an action, it seems likely that a group of persons dedicated to a church’s preservation as a sacred space, available for at least occasional religious use could overcome attempts to employ such reasoning. In attempting to convey the point that a church building, regardless of how occasionally mass may be celebrated within it, should not simply be automatically closed at the time parishes are combined, the Congregation for the Clergy lists a number of reasons which in and of themselves DO NOT constitute reasons of sufficient gravity to justify the permanent closure of a church building, including “I, a general plan of the diocese to reduce the number of churches, II, the church is no longer needed, III, the parish has been suppressed, IV, the number of parishioners has decreased, V, closure will not harm the good of souls, VI, a desire to promote the unity of the parish,” and “ VII, some potential future cause which has not happened yet.” The fact that the Congregation for the Clergy takes such pains to set forth in its guidelines that these reasons should not be sited by themselves as justification for permanently closing a church building reinforces the point that the closure of a church building is supposed to be avoided whenever possible, making it an altogether different action than the mere combination of parishes. The inherently sacred nature of a church building means that it enjoys a far greater degree of protection under canon law than does a parish, and Rome is making it clear that this sacred character of churches should be preserved if at all possible, and that it is willing to intervene if necessary to protect the sacred character of church buildings.
Examining “Making All Things New” Through a Canonical Lens
At this point, many readers may be asking how all of this relates to the current effort of the Archdiocese of New York, through its Making All Things New process, to reshape itself? While I am not a canon lawyer, I would say the following, based on 10 years of observations of the processes dioceses and archdioceses have employed to combine parishes and close churches, and my analysis of the decisions handed down over the past 10 years by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy and Apostolic Signatura in cases of parish and church closures. Given the Vatican’s recent pronouncements on how it is interpreting Canon Law with regard to the closure of parishes and churches, Cardinal Dolan will likely prevail in any action brought to challenge his decisions to combine several parishes into one new parish. In some situations, where individual parishes have shown they are unable over the long term to pay their expenses, this may make sense. While I would personally question the wisdom of merging parishes which are financially solvent, it is likely that in either case the Cardinal’s decisions will be upheld on appeal. The same is not automatically true however for decisions which might be made in the future to permanently close church buildings themselves.
If one looks at the decisions released in November, one will find that churches whose parishes were being eliminated were grouped into two categories. There are those churches which will serve as fully functioning worship sites, with regularly scheduled masses. The second category contains churches at which “masses and the sacraments” will no longer “be celebrated on a weekly basis,” but which remain churches and can still be used for “special occasions.” It is thus spelled out clearly, in the Archdiocese of New York’s own announcement of the results of the Making All Things New Process that no church buildings are being ordered to close at this time. This is a major point, and it is essential that parishioners of churches affected by the Making All Things New process understand it. If anyone who wishes for their church building to remain a Catholic church in the long term takes the steps necessary to make that a reality, the Archdiocese of New York is, at least on paper, giving them the opportunity to do so.
While the results of the Making All Things New process, on paper at least, look to be an improvement over some past diocesan reorganization projects, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Having followed the evolution of the Making All Things New process since its inception, I remain concerned by a few points. In past pronouncements related to Making All Things New, Cardinal Dolan has appeared to employ the word “parish” in its nontechnical sense, or at the very least not to have clarified the context in which he is using the word. In his address to the clergy and religious of the Archdiocese of New York, delivered on June 6, 2013 at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, Cardinal Dolan stated, among other things, that there are “too many parishes!” (Emphasis original,) that “we no longer need 385 parishes!” (Emphasis original,) and that a “lopsided amount of money” is dedicated to maintaining “parishes and buildings we no longer need.” Is his eminence referring to their being too many “parishes,” or does his eminence object to the number of church buildings which exist within his archdiocese? While it is accurate that the Archdiocese of New York cannot be forced to spend money to maintain occasionally used churches in the long run, is His Eminence prepared to follow the Congregation for the Clergy’s guidelines and allow parishioners to organize groups dedicated to caring for these churches, as is their right, should they wish to do so? Time will tell.
Another point of concern to me regarding Cardinal Dolan’s willingness to cooperate with any parishioners who desire to preserve their occasionally used churches as sacred spaces in the long term stems from a statement he made in his pastoral letter “Pastoral Letter on Making All Things New,” issued on October 3, 2013. In this letter, Cardinal Dolan states that it is “likely” that the “pastoral planning process” will produce “unused properties, that could eventually be sold.” While Canon 1222 does not prevent a bishop from selling parish buildings that are not churches, does Cardinal Dolan intend to try and prevent church preservation efforts, should they arise, in order to justify selling church buildings themselves? I don’t know, and I will not predict the future here by speculating on what Cardinal Dolan will do. The way the Making All Things New process is implemented in the coming weeks and months, and the actions the Archdiocese of New York takes in the years to come will answer many of these questions.
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