The Apostles Creed in Irish-Gaelic

Creidim i nDia, an tAthair Uilechumhachtach,
Cruthaitheoir Nimhe agus Talún,
agus i nÍosa Criost a Aonmhac san ár dTiarna,
do gabhadh ón Spriod Naomh,
do rugadh ó Mhuire ógh,
d'fhulaig páis fé Phointeas Píolóid,
do céasadh ar an gcrois,
fuair bás agus d'adhlacadh,
chuaigh síos go hifreann,
d'aiséirigh an treas lá ó mhairbhe,
chuaigh suas ar neamh,
tá ina shuí ar dheasláimh Dé en tAthair Uilechumhachtach,
as san tiocfaidh ag tabhairt bhreithiúntais ar bheo is ar mhairbh.
Creidim sa Spriod Naomh,
sa naomh-Eaglais Chaitliceach,
i gComaoine na Naomh,
i Maithiúnachas na bPeacaí,
i nAiséirí na Colla,
is sa Bheatha Shíoraí.
Amen.

Above is the Apostles Creed in Irish. We said this prayer at the St. Patrick's Day mass at St. Colman's in Cleveland. The version published in the St. Colman's mass brochure used some older Irish spelling, but the version above looks more standard. Irish spelling is, believe it or not, fairly phonetic and predictable--much more so than English. But the rules are somewhat complicated. I may try to put a rough English pronunciation here soon.

Should We Feel Grateful to Bishop Richard Lennon?

Bishop Richard Lennon of the Diocese of Cleveland recently issued a stay of execution to two parishes that he commanded be closed: St. Colman's, the beautiful and historic Irish-American church, and St. Ignatius of Antioch, another beautiful landmark church on the Cleveland's West Side.

I am very glad that these churches will not be closed--but I am not grateful to Bishop Lennon. That would grant him too much credit. Bishop Lennon did what was right and just in these two instances. But he did not overturn his decisions in 50+ other cases, including the outrageous order to close down St. Peter's, Cleveland's oldest Catholic church and its most dynamic and progressive community.

As I have said before, these churches were built by us and our ancestors, not by Bishop Lennon. We paid for them; we sometimes built them with our own hands. Our thumb prints, blood and sweat are in the bricks and mortar. These churches are not Bishop Lennon's to close. It is clear that hundreds, indeed thousands of Clevelanders are angry with the bishop's arbitrariness. And I'll bet that includes many priests and religious of our diocese. It may include our retired bishop, Anthony Pilla.

Who is to judge the bishop's motives? Let's assume the best of intentions. But he has damaged the Diocese of Cleveland and the City of Cleveland (and the Greater Cleveland area). And he probably has permanently damaged his relationship with the Catholics of Greater Cleveland.

We want our Church back.

Bishop Richard Lennon Damages the Cleveland Catholic Diocese

Last week, Bishop Richard Lennon announced the closing of some 52 parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland. Many historic parishes will be closed and then consolidated with other parishes. The consolidated parishes will have to change pastors and change their names. For instance, St. Robert's in Euclid will close their church and consolidate with St. William's (the parish I grew up in). Then a new pastor will be appointed at St. William's, and the name of this 60-year-old parish will be changed (the joke is that it will be changed to St. Billy-Bob's). The City of Euclid, with some 50,000 residents, will close 3 parishes. Historic St. Paul's will close and merge with St. Felicitas; St. Christine's will close and merge with Holy Cross; and as mentioned, St. Robert's will close and merge with St.William's. No Roman Catholic parish in Euclid will have the same name (this name change doesn't affect the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Byzantine Catholic Church of St. Stephen, institutions outside the authority of Bishop Lennon). I am sorry to hear about St. Paul's, because it's the Mother Church of Euclid. But it no longer has a neighborhood around it, and the church building itself is extremely modest. What does bother me is that the cemetery behind St. Paul's will no longer be guarded by the school and church. My grandmother, Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick, is buried there, as are many, many other relatives (Broughan's, Fitzpatrick's, Sweeney's, and so on).


I am much more concerned with the closure of historic churches and architectural treasures within the City of Cleveland and in inner-ring suburbs, in particular the closing of St. Colman's, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. James (in Lakewood), and St. Peter's. St. Colman's is being closed despite the overwhelming recommendation of committees which worked on these issues. It is an important historical treasure as well as an inner-city parish that reaches out to so many different constituencies: Latinos, poor, elderly, the hungry. It is pastored by Fr. Bob Begin, a prophetic presence in the city for many decades. St. Ignatius of Antioch is a West Side landmark and architectural treasure. And the closing of St. Peter's, the oldest Catholic church in the diocese, breaks my heart. St. Pete's is one of the most progressive communities in the region, with no debt, and a dynamic community (http://www.historicstpeters.org/index.html). The pastor is Fr. Bob Marrone, a gifted leader, and the church is a monument to the German Catholic pioneers of Cleveland. My great grandparents, Cornelius Coughlin, born in Ireland, and Lizzie Ierg, born in Germany, were married there in the early 1880's. The parish serves both the middle class and the poor of the area. It was put in a "cluster" with St. John's Cathedral in a process that can only be described as rigged--the fix was in! Let's hope the appeal process is not also fixed!

Catholic bishops have tremendous power, and Bishop Richard Lennon is an outsider, who doesn't adequately understand the history or culture of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese the way retired Bishop Anthony Pilla did. What kills me is that we Clevelanders built and paid for these parishes, and yet we have almost no say in whether these parishes survive. Tearing down these temples of prayer, community, and history will greatly damage our community as well as individual lives. And it will ultimately do no good for our diocese or the Catholic Church in general. What it has done is to sow anger, discouragement, and even hatred. Whose Church is this? Is it just the church of bishops?