Thursday evening at the corner of Rocky River Dr. and Puritas Ave. in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood, hundreds of parishioners and supporters came out to attend a prayer service and town hall meeting at St. Patrick's Church. The church, which has been an integral part of the community for 161 years, was informed by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese's Bishop Richard Lennon in late May that they would close and merge with nearby Ascension of Our Lord. With over 1,400 parish families as members, this decision was simply unacceptable to parishioners who have have filed appeals and vow to take the case all the way to the Vatican.

The July 16th meeting began shortly after 8pm, and was led by Pat Singleton, one of the Save St. Pat's committee members dedicated to blocking Bishop Lennon's directive to close and merge the parish. Those in attendance joined in singing, prayer, a candlelight vigil, and reflections on the church during the prayer service portion of the gathering. Following the prayer service, the town hall meeting began. Pat Singleton and other committee members led the discussion, updating the crowd on their continued efforts.

For those who have been perhaps confused about St. Patrick's plight, or what is and has been going on, the Save St. Pat's committee gave an excellent overview of what has happened and been done to date.

St. Patrick's Plight

For two years prior to Bishop Lennon's March 2009 announcements regarding which Cleveland parishes would close and/or merge under the diocese's reorganization plan, cluster committees met and worked on recommendations. Grouped with St. Patrick's in the cluster were Our Lady of Angles, Ascension, and Annunciation. The committee's recommendation was to merge Annunciation and Ascencion, and keep Our Lady of Angels and St. Patrick's as stand-alone parishes. This plan conformed with the Bishop's guidelines to consolidate to three parishes and two schools.

The Bishop, for reasons unknown, decided that St. Patrick's would be merged with Ascension and Annuciation. However, the decree was incomplete and at the time it was not known which parishes would close and which would be the site of the new combined parish.

With no direction from Fr. Thomas J. Hagedorn, St. Pat's pastor, the Diocese, or the Vatican, parishioners were left to figure things out on their own. Many wrote letters of appeal to the Bishop, voicing their displeasure with his decision, and a few even sent off a note to Rome.

It was not until May 27th that Bishop Lennon revealed his plans for the cluster, calling for the merger of Ascension, Annunciation, and St. Patrick's at the site of Ascension. At this time, within 15 days on June 9, St. Patrick's filed a formal appeal with the diocese.

The next month was spent showing why St. Pat's should remain open as a stand-alone parish, and on July 2 the Save St. Pat's committee was granted the opportunity to meet with Bishop Lennon and explain their case. On July 7, St. Patrick's received a letter from the Bishop indicating that their appeal had been denied on the grounds that it had not been filed within the permitted time period.

Lennon made the arguement that because it was announced in March that St. Patrick's would merge with Ascension and Annunciation, the appeal filed in June asking to remain a stand-alone parish should have been filed within the appeal time beginning in March. He insinuated that if an appeal were to be accepted at this time, it would have had to have been appealing the site of the merged parish, not the merger itself.

Save St. Pat's Committee Update

One of the big questions that the Save St. Pat's committee and parishioners have, which was discussed during the town hall meeting, is why it took Bishop Lennon 30 days to come to the decision of rejecting the appeal filed in June if the reason was that it was submitted outside of the timeline permitted. Had that been the actual case, it should have been rejected almost immediately. Many also wonder why he even bothered to meet with the committee members. The way things went down just doesn't sit right with many parishioners.

Another major question that has thus far been unanswered by Bishop Lennon is why the cluster committee's recommendations were ignored. Many years and hours were spent working on the recommendations, and not following the suggestions presented was a slap in the face to those who had worked so hard on creating them.

Taking the Fight to Rome

Although St. Patrick's appeal was denied by Bishop Lennon, parishioners are not willing to give up their church that easily. Opening the Thursday night gathering, Pat Singleton said, "Hope is not lost because of Bishop Lennon's rejection to our appeal."

Unfortunately their pastor, Fr. Hagedorn, has already resigned to the merger and is unwilling to appeal the decision further. Parishioners have thus been forced to take matters into their own hands.

To date, the Save St. Pat's committee has received over $100,000 in pledges to donate money when the Bishop's decision is repealed. Further donations and pledges are being collected, and a "Fighting Irish" raffle for tickets to the Notre Dame v. Washington State game (and $250) in expenses is also being conducted. If you're headed out to the Irish Fest at the fairgrounds in Berea next weekend, look out for the people in the bright green "Save St. Pat's" t-shirts to purchase a raffle ticket and support their cause.

Monies collected will be used to help support St. Pat's fight to stay open. As revealed at the town hall meeting, the committee has retained a Canon lawyer - Sister Kate from Canon Law Professionals in New York State. She has been paid a retainer of $1750 for her services, and after reviewing St. Pat's case, recently indicated that they have a very strong appeal case to take to Rome. Taking an appeal to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself, who is the supreme ecclesiastical judge, generally will cost at least $10,000.

Sister Kate explained that according to Canon law, Bishop Lennon's decree on May 27th was an "updated, adjusted decree" and the decree made in March was incomplete. Therefore, the rejection of St. Pat's appeal is NOT invalid as Lennon stated in his July 7th letter to the parish.

Sister Kate has suggested to appeal three things in the appeal to Rome, including:

• Procedure
• Due Diligence
• Salvation of Souls

St. Patrick's legal representation also indicated that once the appeal is sent and filed, Bishop Lennon will receive a copy. Canon Law states that once an appeal is in Rome, all activities surrounding the closure of a parish are supposed to stop and be put on hold. Sister Kate noted that while Bishop Lennon was in Boston overseeing the diocese's reorganization there, he did not follow Canon Law and proceeded with closures. In Boston, two churches were saved in the appeals process, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that St. Patrick's could be saved by the Vatican as well.

How You Can Help

While Sister Kate and the Save St. Pat's committee will be working hard on the appeal to the Signatura, there are plenty of other things that can be done by those willing and wanting to help out. The committee suggests:

• Coming to the Thursday night prayer services and town hall meetings.
• Continuing to fund the "Funds for the future of St. Patrick."
• Turning in a pledge (it won't be collected until the church is save).
• Partipating in fundraisers, rallies, and get-togethers.

Singleton also warned that they should prepare for the possibility that Fr. Hagedorn might one day tell them that they can no longer meet at St. Patrick's for the prayer services and town hall meetings. She said, "If it has to be held at the Public House, we will all squeeze in there," referring to the fact that even if they cannot meet at St. Pat's, they will meet somewhere, even if it is a bar. Singleton added, jokingly, "It might be nice to have some refreshments."

We Will Not Give Up

It is very clear that the parishioners of St. Patrick's church in West Park are committed to saving the parish and preserving its long 161-year history for future generations. While they are fighting in the appeal all the way up to the highest judicial body in the church, there were also murmurs in the crowd of following the lead of some Boston churches and staging round-the-clock vigils at the church, if it came to that.

After the meeting, we spoke with Pat Singleton. Here is a video of what she had to say about St. Patrick's and the Bishop's decision: