Parishioners say goodbye to churches
By MICHAEL ANICH, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
JOHNSTOWN - Two-thirds of the city's Catholic parishioners are finding it hard this weekend to say goodbye to their neighborhood churches.
"It's really sad for the people who grew up in the other churches," Georgia Gay said Saturday afternoon, as she entered Mass at the newly-named Holy Trinity Church at the corner of Glebe and East Clinton Streets.
After this weekend, Holy Trinity Church, which used to be known as St. Patrick's Church, will stay open and the city's other two other longtime Catholic churches - Immaculate Conception Church on Warren Street and St. Anthony's Church on Nicholas Street - will close.
The two Roman Catholic church closures in the city are part of a larger initiative that was launched early this year by the Albany Catholic Diocese.
Albany Diocese Communications Department Director Ken Goldfarb said last week that all of Johnstown's Catholic weekend and daily Masses will be celebrated at Holy Trinity starting next weekend. He said there will be ceremonial closing ceremonies sometime in January at Immaculate Conception and St. Anthony's churches.
Goldfarb has said the diocese probably will sell the two church buildings that are closing.
Gay, who walked into Holy Trinity Saturday with her mother, Eleanor Adebahr, explained that both are longtime attendees of that church. But Gay said it will probably "take awhile" for members of the other two churches to get used to not attending services at their own churches.
Adebahr seemed to be taking the church streamlining process in stride.
"As long as they keep it here, it's okay with me," she said.
Others walking into Saturday's Mass at Holy Trinity, such as Earl Fosmire, feel the diocese is doing what it needs to do. He said he has attended all three churches in what has long been known as Holy Trinity Parish.
"You have to go along with the times," Fosmire said.
He said attendance is down at many Catholic churches and there is a lack of priests everywhere.
Rev. Kenneth Swain, parish pastor, said Saturday that there is a mix of feelings this weekend as many Catholics in the city say goodbye to their neighborhood places of worship.
"Some are doing it good and some are hurting a lot," Swain said, who equated the sense of loss to losing a family member or friend.
But he said the parish has been a triad of places to worship since 1993 when it became Holy Trinity Parish.
"Holy Trinity is just catching up with that," Swain said.
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.
"To me, it's a big error," said St. Anthony's member John Pavlus. "Its divided the community."
Florence Izzo said she was married at Holy Trinity many years ago and just returned from Florida and had lived in Gloversville a number of years.
"I was not in favor of it," she said of the church closings. "Why not keep them open? They expand the malls and the shopping centers."
One woman, who identified herself as an Immaculate Conception member but didn't want to give her name, was shaking her head walking into Holy Trinity - her new permanent church.
"It's very sad," she said. "It's happening all over the diocese."
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OxyMoron
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11-25-09 8:33 PM
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LPN, please let me echo the sentiment earlier... please do not go on to the level of "RN". If you continue to post as you did here earlier, please change your nickname as some of us in the medical field do not want to be associated with someone who has no compassional or tolerance of others. Thanks!
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Shamus1
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11-23-09 5:16 PM
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As a parishioner of a church that closed, I can tell you nasty politics played a part in the closings of the "Call to Church". It was NOT based on the financial soundness of the parish. Why did the church need to close so many parishes? To pay of the mountain of dept accrued from lawsuits. Covering up the pedophile priest for so many years came full circle. While the Vatican still enjoys it's wealth,the rest of us suffer the closing of our churches and are told to merge with one in the next town or village. Sorry it ain't going to happen here. Signed.. Reformed Catholic.
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JohnSteady
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11-23-09 4:16 PM
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Times are a changing, when churches used to have 2 to 3 priests and now down to one to cover different churches. Men are not jumping into the priesthood like they used do. Rome would be better off to allow married men to be priests or even women. That won't happen in my lifetime so you will see even more churches close up due to lack of priests. So how's the new Methodist church going on Kingsboro Ave?
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uzreason
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11-23-09 8:47 AM
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Common sense left with Fr. Jim. The "new guy" is driving people away on droves!!! One has to wonder if he was sent in as "the closer".
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Hilltopper
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11-22-09 10:10 PM
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I know you didn't read that in the Catholic Digest. I guess it boils down to values, and how we individually define success in our own life.
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Discobulous
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11-22-09 8:36 PM
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Whoever said I was anti-reproduction? Popular religions only continue to prolifigate when the so-called middle class religious ethic as described accurately by Hilltopper below continues to serve as the self-sacrificing excuse for remaining middle class. That's not racism or anti-catholicism. It's simple reality.
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Hoodie
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11-22-09 6:57 PM
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Religion was killed by technology and materialism. Technology and materialism is being killed by overcapacity and limited resources. What's next? The tidal wave of cultural revolution that is going to come from Communist China. It will be about living with much less.
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Devilsdoor
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11-22-09 2:18 PM
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St.Anthony's was a better choice. The offices are networked and clean,easy to get to. Parking is better. With work the hall could do more for the parish than the old St.Pats School.could have even built an addition connecting the church and the hall. But common sense did not prevail. Never does with this diocese! Even some die hard St. Pats folks were a bit taken back by this.The diocese keeps this up they will need to downsize to rented spot in a strip mall! Catholics are getting disgusted with the churches vision or lack there of.
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drugsrus
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11-22-09 12:02 PM
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OxyMoron hit the nail on the head. But Common sense has been dead for too many years. The location of the "saved" parish should tell you that the Catholic Church is only following the $$$$$$. St. Pat's parishoners were always somewhat elitist.
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JeffreyR
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11-22-09 11:35 AM
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Disco is realling showing his ignorance and racist side on most of his posts today. From now on perhaps we should not humor him to continue.
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Hilltopper
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11-22-09 11:32 AM
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Disco : Back in the day, all the Catholics I knew never got tired of feeding eight kids, working two full time jobs to do it, and considered children a blessing. No welfare in those days, and they would have been too proud to take it anyway. If a family feel down on its luck, the entire parish community helped them until they could get back on their feet. Worldwide, there are over i.i billion practicing Catholics.
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ChiefDJ
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11-22-09 11:05 AM
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I still miss St. Francis de Sales Church in Gloversville. What a lovely church. So many memories of my life there.
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mistyblue0909
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11-22-09 11:02 AM
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To lpn4now you should never be a rn it sounds like you would have no compation for the people you care for. Ever hear of freedom of choice?
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Discobulous
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11-22-09 10:32 AM
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Catholics used to be tops in reproducing and having lots of big families they could hardly afford. When they got tired of feeding 8 kids at near poverty level and wised up, they more or less told the Pope to go squat and started the birth control thing, and so here we are with a lot fewer Catholics.
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JeffreyR
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11-22-09 10:29 AM
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If ignorance is indeed truly blissful then LPN4NOW must be a very happy person. Please stay at the LPN level as people really do not deserve you at the RN level.
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LPN4NOW
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11-22-09 9:07 AM
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Yay!!! Nice to see the catholics get what they deserve.
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OxyMoron
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11-22-09 1:17 AM
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Though we were told much time, effort, and money went into a study to see which church should remain open, I feel the choice that was made was a poor one. St. Anthony's may need work, but it has the best property, buildings, and parking availibility. The location is better and would better serve the merging of all three parishes. The loss of St. Anthony's is basically... sinful.
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