"Seeking Sanctuary"

Several New Orleans Catholic churches celebrate their last mass before being closed by the Archdiocese on Sunday. Dina Zelden weeps as she holds her son William during the final Mass at St. Henry's Church.

From Bruce Nolan Times-Picayune:

A month after parishioners in two Uptown Catholic parishes seized their churches to forestall their closure, their occupations have settled into steady, volunteer-organized rhythms of care and vigilance that appear to have kept both buildings occupied without a break.

After four weeks, parishioners and sympathizers still sit quietly in around-the-clock shifts at St. Henry Catholic Church, and less than a mile away, at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

It is a stalemate of sorts: Parishioners have vowed to occupy both churches until they can appeal their fate to whomever succeeds Archbishop Alfred Hughes. He closed both parishes Oct. 26 as part of a major reorganization of Catholic worship after Hurricane Katrina.
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At both churches, up to 100 parishioners still gather each Sunday to say the rosary together without benefit of a priest. At St. Henry's last week most, but not all, said they attended Mass somewhere else in addition to coming to church there.

Together again, parishioners gather around the Sunday comforts of coffee and doughnuts. They greet and encourage each other. Their lay leaders brief them on organizational details.
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At St. Henry, a 152-year-old parish of about 325 families, a core group of church-sitters numbers 80 or more, including some who volunteer several times a week to sit overnight, or through four-hour daytime shifts, said Ann Farmer, one of two volunteer coordinators.

At Good Counsel, parishioner Mary Alice Sirkis, whose grandparents were parishioners, and whose grandfather helped build either the church or the accompanying school, said that parish, with about 400 families, has 70 volunteers so far.

Those numbers would certainly make for a viable parish in the Episcopal Church, but with their priest shortage, I presume that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has trouble staffing the churches, so they decided to combine three parishes into one.

I have a great love for old churches, perhaps too much love for them, for they are just buildings, and I like to see them used for their original purpose. However, I realize that's not always possible.

In the solitude, some say history, legacy and memory bear down on them. "I find when I'm in church, I don't feel I'm alone," Sirkis said. "I'm with my grandmother again."
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At St. Henry, Cynthia Robidoux lays her air mattress in front of a side altar honoring the mother of Christ.

"The Mary Suite, she calls it," said Hagardorn, her husband.
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The archdiocese's position is that the parishes are closed; priests of the archdiocese are not permitted to minister in those churches. Instead, parishioners of both communities are encouraged to join and help establish a new Catholic community called Good Shepherd Parish at nearby St. Stephen's Church.

I offer my prayers and support that the parishioners and the archdiocese may come to a peaceful agreement on the future of the two parishes.

The Times-Picayune is fortunate to have Bruce Nolan, an excellent religion reporter, who is diligent in his background research and, unlike many in the media, still does nuance, which has mostly gone out of favor.