This week marks the third anniversary of the occupation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church by local parishioners in defiance of Sean O'Malley's order to shut it down. Mount Carmel served since 1905 as a focal point for the Italian-American community in East Boston, and was built with the money and hard work of immigrant families.The question raised here is this: Is a church the people who worship there or is it the hierarchy issuing orders from elsewhere?
Today, in honor of those occupying the church in which I was baptized, I wrote a Wikipedia entry on Mount Carmel.
3 comments:
How well people know and "understand" the Catholic Chuch?
Mount Carmel was all the time a Franciscan Church, do the people there know and understand what St. Francis teached us?
I know how painfull can be to let it go, but, people have to let go to that church. I know there are a lot of personal "egos". There are some Franciscan priests who were or new that church long ago, and now they are in other countries, and they wish that people let go.
I personally remember about 10 years ago or more, there were some masses in Spanish, Latino people started to fill the church in those masses, BUT, the old timers did not like that, there were some serious comments made to the Cardenal against it at that time, and the church transfered the priest to other state.
I also remember the regular masses, there were not too many people at every regular mass, and that was or is the problem: the old East Boston Community does not fill the Churches, and now the churches are filled with the new immigrant groups. The latino families come to church with children, parents, neighbors, they bring everyone to the church, and that is someting that the Old East Boston community or did not do or did not new how to get the young involve in their church, and that is how many catholic american churches are now closed and many are with a low american attendance, while the new immigrant communities always fill the church.
One thing I don't like is the way the cases were handle. The church should have done things different way, and listened to the people first, and work with the people first.
But, let's not forget, Obedience is one of the Church virtues.
Its over, get over it! God is everywhere just not that church. If the parishioners are all about the church and God then they would be going to another church that is recognized.
People are just mad that some pockets are being filled anymore and everyone knows who that person was. Its not so much that they are mad that the church is closed but rather they can't make money
Real estate seems to be a particularly important factor in relations to Catholic Church. It has been argued that celibacy was enforced upon priests in order to prevent "church land" from being inherited by the heirs of clergy. I'm not sure how much evidence there is to support this, but it would be consistent with the Church's modern position that it and only it controls the property associated with the faith.
Post a Comment