St. Patrick’s likely to stay open
Johnstown pastor says building best suited to handle parish’s needsBy MICHAEL ANICH, The Leader-Herald
JOHNSTOWN - The pastor of Holy Trinity Parish said today it appears St. Patrick's Church will be the one of the city's three Roman Catholic churches to remain open.
Although no final decision has been made locally or by the Albany Catholic Diocese, the Rev. Kenneth Swain, parish pastor, said that may end up being the final recommendation to come out of his parish.
If St. Patrick's Church at Clinton and Glebe streets stays open, Immaculate Conception Church and St. Anthony's Church eventually would close.
The diocese announced in January that two of Johnstown's three Roman Catholic churches would close.
Immaculate Conception Church already has been holding a limited morning Mass schedule, with no Masses on the weekends.
Diocese Communications Department Director Ken Goldfarb said last week the diocese and Bishop Howard Hubbard were waiting on the local parish's final recommendation on which church to keep open. No timeframe has been set by the diocese for actual closings, but the diocese did say previously it hoped to at least make a decision by Wednesday.
Swain said a parishwide meeting was conducted Monday night at Immaculate Conception Hall and an architect gave a final report on each of the three churches. He declined to name the architectural firm that did the analysis.
"The architectural firm felt St. Patrick's was the best place to stay open," Swain said. "I don't anticipate a change to that recommendation."
Swain said keeping St. Patrick's Church open "makes sense to me" for several reasons. He said it is the best comprehensive site for future worship services, administration of the parish, religious education and the pastor's residence.
The way the process now works, Swain said, is that the architect's recommendation now goes to the Holy Trinity Parish Facilities Committee, which will meet Wednesday night at the parish office. He said there could be a recommendation from that panel, which may be placed on the parish's Pastoral Council agenda for a meeting next week.
Swain said the council eventually will make a final recommendation to the bishop.
Goldfarb said last week that Hubbard will have the final say on which two Johnstown churches are closed and which one stays open.
"Any closing of the parish site is the responsibility of the bishop," the diocese spokesman said.
He also said it was Hubbard's "call" as to when the churches will be shut down.
In Gloversville, the diocese already has decided to close Sacred Heart Church on Kingsboro Avenue and keep St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church on South Main Street open. Sacred Heart may officially close by October, church officials announced earlier this month.
In the city of Amsterdam, St. John the Baptist and St. Michael's closed in February, and St. Casimir's closed May 3.
The diocese in January said that after two years, more than 600 meetings and input from more than 10,000 Catholics across the Albany diocese, the final decisions of the diocese's planning process have been reached.
The grassroots planning process involved thousands of Catholics across the diocese in shaping the future of the church - specifically, aligning its physical, financial and personnel resources in a way that would serve the greatest number of Catholics now and in the future, while preserving the church's commitment to inner cities, the poor, elderly and infirm, and other vulnerable populations. Thirty-eight local planning groups - made up of parish leaders and lay parishioners - studied issues on a neighborhood and regional level across the 14 counties of the diocese.
Diocese officials said the changes in parish alignment are driven by the fact most cities across the Albany Diocese have lost between 25 percent and 39 percent of their populations since 1960, with the notable exception of Saratoga Springs.
Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com
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Hilltopper
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07-01-09 9:46 PM
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I also have vivid memories of Parocial school. Kissing the priest's hand when he handed out report cards, getting wacked with a ruler across the knuckles by the psycho nun, having to kneel on the floor in silence during lunch break, not being able to use the bathroom, and being told that a fate worst then death awaited those who married a non-Catholic. What a system. However, I do have alot better memories of Sherman's Amusement Park, excluding the beach. My father would never let us swim up there because he said there was sewage floating around the beach. So, let's not bring back that part when we bring back the good old days.
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FireKatt
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07-01-09 9:26 PM
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I went through St. Pats School as a kid...went to mass at the church through those years. I have a sentimental desire to see this one stay open. It's a shame it came to have to choose. All of these churches...in every town...were once filled to capacity... Now look around us. No one attends church any longer. Our society is morally decaying. Shootings in schools, abortions, homosexuality, child molesting is all becoming "the norm" and we are becoming desensitized to it all.
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cubsfan
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07-01-09 9:35 AM
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I grew up in Johnstown and was a member of St Patrick's Church although like most residents of Johnstown attended all three churches through the years. Although it is hard to think about the beautiful St Anthony's being closed, it sounds like the decision to keep St Patrick's open would be overall best for the Catholic community in Johnstown. It's time for a rebirth of faith in Fulton County and specifically Johnstown! Parents, take your kids to church! Teach them the tenets and traditions of the faith before all the churches are gone!
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Hilltopper
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07-01-09 8:56 AM
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Way back when, the local parishes played a key role in providing all types of support and services for the parishiners. If you were down and out, you could count on church members lending a hand. When you got back on your feet, you would be the first one to lend a helping hand to the next person down on his luck.This was a good system and it helped build a strong parish. As soon as the government began "welfare programs", the need for church based social programs began to diminish. Now we are at the point where it seems that we, the government, are helping more of the greedy, and fewer of the needy. The people who built these parishes 100 years ago by the sweat of their brows would be shocked if they saw how little pride and shame people have today. Legally right has overpowered morally right, and it is a shame that now, when needed the most, churches can't sustain membership.
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Lewinstein
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06-30-09 9:58 PM
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A good choice keeping St Patrick's open - the writer is correct though......... no parking. How about putting the school to some good use since consolidating the churches will save money - come on diocese give something back to the community.
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annieoakley
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06-30-09 8:48 PM
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(cont'd) loss of population. Each church has played a special part in our lives-Baptisms, Weddings, Funeral masses, First Holy Communion, Confirmations of family and friends. Those are memories that will not be erased by the closing of those buildings. As for the choice of which one to close, we put our trust in the hands of a parish commitee to do what was best for all of us. Now we have to accept that decision and "Be One Body, One Union". After the sorrow and grieving, we will come together and be a stronger parish-a place to park our cars will not be our biggest problem in our future!
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annieoakley
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06-30-09 8:37 PM
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I have belonged to St. Patrick's my whole life. I grew up with very close friends who belonged to St. Anthony's as well as Immaculate. I've always felt at home and welcomed in those other churches even though I belonged to St. Pat's parish. It's not like this whole thing happened over night. The diocese has been talking of consolidation for the past 10 years. Come on, we all knew it was coming. Yes, I felt bad at first to think my church could be the one to be shut down. But, you have to remember that we've been very fortunate all these years to have 3 churches in our city. There are people in other countries (even some remote areas in our own country) that are not so fortunate. They are lucky if they get to go to mass once a week let alone have a choice of 3 churches and masses to pick from. And "FormerResidentThankGod", you don't even live here anymore and you think church politics caused the closings!? You're out of touch with the economics of this area and loss of popula
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FormerResidentThankGod
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06-30-09 5:13 PM
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Is this a political decision or one based on common sense and logic? It's a shame that any of the churches must be forced to close their doors. But when you consider parking, access to the area of worship, comfort of seating/kneeling and availability of multi-use facilities, only one church complex fulfills those needs best, St Anthony's! The pastor's residence may be a concern, but that seems to be the only negative for selecting the St. Anthony's option. Is St. Anthony's the long term answer? Probably not. As the future of catholic churches in the area progresses, decisions can be made as more data is collected. I cannot imagine what the criteria was for the evaluators to come up with their current decision, unless church politics rather than true evaluation of data, facts and common sense.
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ImmAnt1230
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06-30-09 12:27 PM
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They could have skipped the meeting with the architects because it only angered the people who were in attendance. JUST MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND BE DONE WITH IT.
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IKnooow
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06-30-09 12:00 PM
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There is a parking alot across the street, although it is a small one. There seems to be ample parking on the street. It might be a good idea to explore valet service for the elderly and infirm, so they can pull up at the curb and have a church volunteer park their car for them.
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heavengolfer
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06-30-09 11:22 AM
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Even though I have received all my Sacrements at St. Patrick's Church I feel there is a big flaw to keeping it open_PARKING!!!Forgive me if there is now parking as I have not been back in Johnstown since 2005.At that time St. Anthony's and Immaculate Conception had parking lots.
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heavengolfer
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06-30-09 11:21 AM
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Even though I have received all my Sacrements at St. Patrick's Church I feel there is a big flaw to keeping it open_PARKING!!!Forgive me if there is now parking as I have not been back in Johnstown since 2005.At that time St. Anthony's and Immaculate Conception had parking lots.
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