GIVING VOICE TO MY DISPLEASURE
Monday evening, I joined
approximately one hundred and fifty other members of St. Brigid and Sacred
Heart parishes to participate in a ‘visioning session’ to determine the future
of the Lexington Catholic Community. I had
hoped this meeting would provide us with a forum to express what it is that we want
to see in our future. Unfortunately, the
meeting was conducted in a way that demonstrated that the BIG QUESTIONS had
already been resolved. These big
questions, of course, pertain to whether or not the community of Catholics who
worship in Lexington need two parishes or just one; whether we want two
parishes or just one; whether we deserve
two parishes or just one.
I arrived at the meeting with a
determination to argue strenuously that we not only deserved to have two
parishes, but that we were abundantly supplied with the resources necessary to sustain two parishes. Sadly, though, the meeting had been carefully
planned in such a way that the question would not be whether we were to be reduced to one parish but how.
We have, for all intents and purposes, been invited to dig our own
graves. I was astounded to see how many
people were eager to step up and grab a shovel.
As the meeting began, we were
invited to view – for the first time – a letter that Archbishop Sean sent to
Fr. Colletti back on April Fourth. The
letter directed him to assume control of both parishes at the beginning of June
and to spend a year taking the steps required to create one parish out of
two. When he spoke to us, Fr. Colletti
made it clear that “Sacred Heart will never be the same again, and St. Brigid
will never be the same again – both parishes will lose things that they
liked.” This prophesy will be realized,
much to the grief of all of us, only if
we allow it to happen.
At one point during the meeting, I
raised my hand just as the moderator announced that “we can’t take any more
questions from the floor because we need to be moving along.” Even though I had a lot to say, I wasn’t really
that disappointed that I wasn’t called on.
It really wasn’t possible for
everyone to have their say and, besides, I was so disturbed by the proceedings
that I wasn’t sure I was ready to give an effective voice to the depth of my
concern. I’ve been thinking about the
matter for two days, now, and I’ll use this forum to express myself. Hopefully, the things I’ve written here will
strike a chord with the people who are reading it.
What I want to know – and I’m being
very blunt – is why we’re so willing to cooperate with plans that are so obviously
destructive. How many times do we have
to recall the story of the Emperor’s clothes before we come to understand that
our ‘leaders’ on Lake Street are tragically deficient in both competence and
credibility? They’ve been authoring far
more heartache than joy – and joy should be the hallmark of the Christian
life. These days, a lot of Boston-area
Catholics are coming up short in the joy department.
Jesus said, “My sheep will follow
me, because they recognize my voice. But
they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do
not recognize the voice of strangers.” (Jn 10; 4, 5) A bishop cannot be perfect, nor should anyone
expect him to be. A bishop can only make
an earnest attempt to echo the voice of the Good Shepherd. When he succeeds, the sheep follow him
gladly. When he fails, it’s up to the
sheep to “run away”. The sheep will know
when to follow, and when to run, if they are attuned to the voice of the
master.
On May 25, 2004, when Archbishop
Sean issued a decree of suppression to Sacred Heart (and to sixty-four other
parishes) many of us “ran away” from that decree. To his credit, the archbishop recognized his
mistake and the decree was suspended.
Now, we’re faced with a directive that will not only put an end to
Sacred Heart, but to St. Brigid as well.
Why are we getting ready to follow that directive? Do we hear the master’s voice in this order? It’s a question worth considering; but on
Monday night that question was buried under the weight of a plan designed to
come up with a vision for a single, unified parish. The ‘one parish model’ was presented to us as
a “done deal”. Why are we accepting it?
Another blunt question I have is,
“Why are we all such dopes?” We’re being
presented this model of a unified community of Catholics as if it were a good
thing, and many of us are actually buying into it. If it’s such a good thing, why aren’t
Catholics in
Catholics in other towns are glad to
have a choice, and so should we.
Catholics in other towns want to make their presence felt in a diverse,
authentic, catholic manner, and so
should we. When it comes to viable
parishes, less is definitely not
more, and we’re fools if we believe that it is.
Leadership in the archdiocese in
If we give in to the inertia of
stubbornness, we’re only making things worse for ourselves – and for our
children.
Paul
Bradford
June 29,
2005