Mother of Sorrows To Lose Middle School

A nod of the miter to a dedicated reader for informing us about the latest travesty to befall education in the Diocese of Rochester.It was announced this evening that the 7th and 8th grades at Mother of Sorrows will be closed after this academic year. This means that MoS will still have K-6, but losing the middle-school is a blow which is painful to many. I quote this friend-of-the blog below:

I just got a call from a family member who attended mass at Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Greece tonight - it was announced that this is the last year for the 7th and 8th grades. Beginning in September of this year, the school will be K-6 only. None of us are surprised by this, the parents are already heating up the phone lines tonight. When it was annouced they were "looking into whether to keep them open or not", we knew that the decision had already been made, and it would be announced in the coming few months, and sure enough we were correct.

My husband and I have done our best and stuck out paying tuition and keeping our children in catholic grammar schools (despite our school, st charles borromeo closing which just devastated my children). I am thankful my daugher, now a 5th grader at MOS has just one more year, 6th grade in september, and she is done and we are done with diocesan schools, as she is our youngest.) I HAVE HAD IT WITH THIS BISHOP AND HIS DISDAIN FOR OUR CHILDREN AND OUR SCHOOLS.

When will the officials of the diocese learn anything about keeping schools and parishes open? As we pointed out a while back, the diocese devotes more money from the CMA to the actual CMA program than it does Catholic Schools. What kind of backwards plan is this?

It's simple, friends. Cut the liberal garbage, fund the schools, get vocations, save the parishes. Pray that Our Lady of Wisdom may soften the hearts of the administration of the Diocese of Rochester.

What We Can Learn From St. Bridget's Parish

I have been thinking a lot about this closing, today. I know the pain of losing a parish, but I have never seen photos encapsulate the pain as have those at the D&C's website. There is something more noble than words which can be seen in the eyes of those parishioners who have lost their home.

There is an amazing amount that we can learn from this parish, and its unfortunate death. Primarily, it was a parish of diversity, but whose focus was on the African American community of Rochester. Usually we lament liturgical dancers and multi-cultural displays in our parishes, but this is different. It was a parish genuinely rooted in African-American traditions, which, in their natural form, compliment their form of worship. Their cultural celebrations were not forced, as are those at Sacred Heart - these are genuine and wholly natural.

The people of this parish truly celebrated diversity. There is nothing quite so racist and closed-minded as falsely embracing a culture. If I were an African-American and saw non-African-Americans putting on a Mass with clear African-American cultural references and actions, I would be wholly offended. By embracing other cultures whose celebrations are not our own, we lose our grounding and take the chance of offending those whose culture we borrow.

I hold St. Bridget's up as a representation of what true cultural diversity is. Yes, they have liturgical dance, hand-holding, and boisterous singing, but that is what their cultural experience of Mass has been. It is thoroughly traditional, in the sense that those at the parish hold onto their values and particular liturgical celebrations. I wouldn't expect them to start singing English renaissance polyphony - it's not their culture. I also wouldn't expect Bishop Clark to have an Afro-Mass, but we've been proven wrong on that end.

To the people of St. Bridget's - you have our most sincere sympathies, and our most fervent, loving prayers. Our thoughts rest with you in this time of sorrow.

Rotten Fruit and the Ladies of Rochester

The following ran this morning in the Democrat and Chronicle's editorial section.

I'm writing on behalf of three "Ladies of Nazareth" — my mother (Class of '35), my sister (Class of '57) and myself (Class of '60). It is a tragedy that an institution that was able to survive the Great Depression cannot survive the current educational climate of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester. The education received at Nazareth Academy prepared the three of us to face the complexities and demands of the world as strong, confident women. The seeds of our accomplishments were planted and nurtured at the academy.

Oddly enough, when people really want Catholic schools, when bishops really want vocations, when priests really want to say Masses reverently, it gets done. The closing of Nazareth isn't a sign of Bishop Clark's design to eliminate Catholic schools. It's not a sign of the diocese's so-called "war on Orthodoxy." Indeed, it's not the result of any organized plan or conspiracy. This, dear readers, is the spoiled fruit, fallen from the tree of Apathy, a tree from which most in this country have eaten.

Nazareth Academy to Close

It's true, folks. One more Catholic school will shut its doors. I quote from an email sent to me by a devoted reader:

I am very sad to report it was announced at my alma mater, Nazareth Academy, that after this year they will cease to exist.  There is a press conf being held at 10:30 this morning, Nazareth will be merged with Aquinas, which means that is the end of Nazareth the way it was with St. Agnes back in the late 70's.  Indeed, another sad day.  A facebook group has already been formed titled "save naz academy from extinction".  Here is part of the facebook page from someone at naz who was there this morning:



February 3rd - 9:00am- Just under an hour ago the Nazareth students were moved into the auditorium and informed that Nazareth would be merging with Aquinas. This is Nazareth's last year. Right now the students are refusing to attend class even though they are being told to do so. The building will no longer be used by the Academy, but will house K-6 and be run by Aquinas although some are saying that Naz will still have "their own traditions." The teachers may not have jobs unless enough of the Naz students attend Aquinas and the need for teachers exist; more info on the teachers will be released by March. Most people were aware of the decreasing attendance; only 25 freshmen were registered for the 2010-11 school year.

Another sad day in the Diocese of Rochester.

Business as usual.

Think of the Children . . .

. . . unless the girls are wearing plaid and the boys are helping them hand out information on Catholic schools.

The following is from a devoted reader:

I too was at the 11:00 mass where Fr. Tanck made the "drive-by announcement." Many of us knew about the decision and announcement in advance. I didn't see anyone that was surprised. What irritated me was that this is Catholic Schools Week, and some parents had arranged activities for it. There were children in their school uniforms, waiting to hand out literature and talk to prospective students and their parents about the gift of a Catholic education. At the offertory, the gifts were brought up by Catholic school children in uniform. Was there a mention about that from the pulpit? Absolutely not! (How pathetic is that, dear readers?) So whoever decided on the timing of this announcement managed to strike us in two ways -- discouraging Catholic education and sticking it to the good people of STA.

Many STA parishioners are filled with joy that we are being persecuted. ( ⁷ The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.) It's a perfect suffering that I believe will help the people of the Rochester diocese receive the graces we need to be ready for rebuilding the Church some 894 days from now.

It is a noble statement of the faith for St. Thomas, a church whose own school was needlessly shut down, to still take such enjoyment of organizing things for Catholic Schools Week. It is exponentially less noble, dare I say evil, to compound the evil of their losing their school with their losing of their parish? It's as if the administration said, "Okay, we'll announce it on the weekend when people will be sad thinking about the closing of their parish school - two birds, one stone." I certainly hope that it wasn't this overt, but it makes one wonder.

This reader brings up a valuable point, one from which we can all profit: "Many STA parishioners are filled with joy that we are being persecuted." Everything happens for a reason - this is no exception. I have often thought of this, seeing the vast numbers of refugees from St. Anne, Our Lady of Lourdes, and other similar parishes, suddenly showing up at Our Lady of Victory. If we were to be discouraged from the faith (as many doubtless are) because of the ineptitude of our diocesan programs and administraitors (TM), we would be falling into the wiles of the devil. He uses things such as this to divide His Creator's Church, and to swallow whole its children.

If you are a parishioner at St. Salome or St. Thomas the Apostle, you must do two things - first off, put up a defense. Don't roll over. If you put up a strong front of anger (just as Our Lord did in the Temple) the pharisees of our diocese will take ear. They may still force you to go through indescribable woe, but they will know of the magnitude of their wrong-doings. Secondly - when you decide to leave St. Thomas, possibly at the doing of the IPPG and His Excellency, you must find a worthy home. If your goals are to stay in that area of the diocese, the two most immediate choices (outside the cluster) would be Holy Spirit and St. Stanislaus. If your goals are to find like-minded exiles, go to Our Lady of Victory. If your goals are to keep the other solid parishes in the cluster from closing (i.e. St. Cecilia's) go there. Do not support heterodoxy and dissent.

And remember that the pain you feel is felt by many in the Diocese of Rochester. Perhaps you gave your heart to your parish. It worthily received it. However, its leaders, being less-than-perfect (as we all are) became ill-suited to be guardians of your joy. Now they are the begetters of your pain and suffering. As the reader noted, take your joy, your heart, and couple it with your suffering and persecution that you may know Christ and learn to lovingly embrace the Cross. There will be splinters from the implement of death, but to revel in the pain is to revel in the glorious mysteries of our faith. For He who was dead is now risen. He was was pierced and beaten is now whole and absolute in his majesty. Take up your cross and follow Christ, if you would His disciple be.

New YouTube Video

Here is the new video for Cleansing Fire's YouTube channel. However, I'd also like to announce that a previous video, "Closed Parishes of the Diocese of Rochester," has had its original audio returned! You can now hear it as it was intended to be heard.

Anyways, enjoy.