All posts tagged: Parish

Baltimore Catholic parish closures a ‘punch in the stomach’ with long-term impact

Baltimore Catholic parish closures a ‘punch in the stomach’ with long-term impact

Published by Sam

BALTIMORE (RNS) — Patrice Ellerbe, a 65-year-old parishioner at St. Veronica, had come to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on April 30 for a public forum on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s proposed plan for closing about two-thirds of parishes in the city. She knew the bad news already: Two weeks before, the archdiocese had announced that her 79-year-old Black Catholic parish was among those proposed to close. “It felt like a punch in the stomach,” she said, a feeling the more than 1,000 Catholics gathered at the cathedral to give their feedback seemingly shared. As the plan was read out, the high arched ceilings of the nave began to echo with boos. The closures, in the nation’s oldest Catholic diocese, are part of a nationwide trend of restructuring in response to falling Mass attendance and priest shortages. In explaining the need to close Baltimore parishes, the archdiocese has focused on the first reason, pointing to weekend Mass attendance that has fallen below 8,000 in a city that used to have 250,000 active Catholics. At …

‘Bully’ airport owner assaults parish council chairman in row over bird nests

‘Bully’ airport owner assaults parish council chairman in row over bird nests

Published by Sam

A parish council chairman was poked in the face and pulled to the ground by an “out of control” businessman during a dispute about bird nests in a quiet village, a court has heard. Magistrates were shown mobile phone footage of an incident in the North Yorkshire village of Church Fenton in which Andrew Mason, 63, a resident and parish council chairman, can be seen in front of a tree-cutting cherry picker as Chris Makin, 65, tries to drag him by his clothes and hair. Prosecutors at Harrogate magistrates’ court on Thursday described how, before the footage begins, Makin had poked Mr Mason in the face, knocking off his glasses, and then “thrown him to the floor in a kind of headlock”. Michael Smith, prosecuting, said: “The defendant scooped Mr Mason’s hair into his hands and tried to pull him across the road by his hair.” Andrew Mason says he thought his life was ‘in peril’ during the incident last year – David Higgens/PA In the video, Mr Mason lies on the ground and can …

Gaza’s Last Catholic Parish – The Atlantic

Gaza’s Last Catholic Parish – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

It’s just past 1 a.m. on October 12, the fourth day of Israel’s assault on Gaza, and my friend Rami is awake, texting me from a pew in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, where he and his family are sheltering from air strikes. He tells me their apartment building was hit last night, their home completely demolished. Now he, his wife, and their two kids are sleeping on mattresses in the church hall, alongside almost 200 other Gazans evacuated or displaced from their homes. Because Rami fears for his safety, I’m using only his first name here. There are about 40 kids in the church, Rami says, and the adults are trying to keep them busy and distracted even as the sounds of rockets rattle the building. They’ve been playing soccer in the hall, because going outside is not an option. The adults have been praying, he says, and checking their phones for more news. He wants to come up with an activity for tomorrow that would entertain the kids without using power, …