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Suppression of the
In the Bishop’s
letter to us, a number of terms are used that we believe were not taken
into proper consideration as part of the decision made by Bishop Lennon
for deciding to close St. Emeric Parish. He calls our parishioners
Hungarian people and says the three parishes serve the Hungarian
community. He states that he thinks we should come together into one
parish in the spirit of unity as one Hungarian people to create a more
vibrant parish with more vitality in worship, religious education,
community outreach and other parish activities. He concludes that he is
not asking the Hungarian people to do anything different from parishes
of similar size across the diocese.
Yet, the "Hungarian
Cluster" that the Diocese of Cleveland put together is radically
different than any of the other clusters. It is not territorially based,
with the parishes in close physical proximity, as are the other
clusters, and it is singled out as the cluster for the Hungarian
community, the “Hungarian People,” whereas all the other clusters are
for Americans. We find that the end result of this special grouping is
discriminatory, because rather than recognizing the unique needs and
mission the grouping implies, it creates a situation no other
parishioner in the diocese is faced with. There is a segregation implied
by putting us into a unique category of a Hungarian cluster, calling us
the “Hungarian People" and treating us differently as a Hungarian
community than others. This was not done with any other ethnic or racial
group. The Diocese is implying that we do not belong and we are not the
same kind of Americans, or Catholics, with the same rights as others.
And as a consequence
of this grouping, the decision to leave a “centrally” located parish,
has the effect of segregating us further, and in fact bringing about an
untenable situation for the majority of the widely dispersed Hungarian
Americans who have supported a Hungarian parish much more local to them
than the remaining parish. In effect, the diocese is conducting a
campaign of decimating a specific ethnic group’s ability to maintain its
cultural and language identity by creating a situation where it cannot
survive realistically with the one church left remaining, in an area
that parishioners from the other two closed parishes will not go to.
Just as racial
discrimination is now recognized as much broader than just the outward
appearances of denying access or participation to certain individuals,
extending now to implied or negative characterizations or imputed
attributes, so too this action on the part of the Diocese is much worse
than just shutting down churches. Consciously, or unconsciously, on the
part of the Diocese, but none the less in actuality, there is an
anti-ethnic effect of the actions. We are experiencing a type of
ethnic-cleansing, not the murderous type but the more insidious
melting-pot, longer term forced conformance type. (According to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, “Ethnic cleansing sometimes involves the
removal of all physical vestiges of the targeted group through the
destruction of monuments, cemeteries, and houses of worship.”) In other
countries, ethnic cleansing has been recognized for what it is, whether
done by the military, the government, or a fundamentalist or orthodox
religious group, or individuals and their organizations. Sadly, here, it
is conveniently couched in other terms, often financially oriented or
free-market justified, but with the same or worse eventual societal
results.
And if this is not
the case, is Bishop Lennon truly sensitive to the needs of the Hungarian
community and does he recognize the uniqueness of the Hungarian culture
in the diocese? If it is his intention to allow it to continue its work
in the Catholic church to serve both the youth and elderly, those who
have the greatest need for the work of the Church, then why did he
decree to close down the two parishes that are closer to physical
community of believers on the east and west side of the city and only
leave the parish located in the most difficult to reach intercity area
of the city, that is located in the most dangerous area?
Did he not realize
that young families (who are not committed to St. Elizabeth by long
family histories) will not send take their children into dangerous
neighborhoods, through areas of the city that are as crime ridden as
where St. Elizabeth is located, and that the elderly (many of who were
forced to leave the Buckeye Hungarian area many decades ago during a
horrible time of social unrest) are mentally scarred and fearful, and
physically unable to make the much more challenging trip to a location
that is both difficult to reach and not inviting for those acclimated to
more suburban and urban circumstances?
Members of
St. Margaret and St. Emeric will not become active, attending members of
St. Elizabeth. They will be driven away and may not even continue their
affiliation with Catholic churches in their own home neighborhoods due
to the bitterness engendered by the closing decisions.
Did Bishop
Lennon fail to observe then, also, that St. Emeric is at the center of
Hungarian community in terms of its support for the Hungarian School (of
100+ or so students every Monday evening) and for Hungarian Boy and Girl
Scouts (of 150+ every Friday evening, and many dozens on other evenings
like Wednesday and during the day on Saturday)? Did he not note that by
closing St. Emeric you rob the city, and more specifically, the
Hungarian community (Catholic and non-Catholic) of its cultural center?
We strongly
believe that all three parishes have the vibrancy, financial strength
and stability, and spiritual vitality to remain open, working as a group
to serve the diverse population of Hungarian Americans that are
separately by significant distances. That is why we very carefully
considered our response to Bishop Lennon, and recommended that all three
parishes remain open.
For if we do have a
special ranking as the Hungarian people of the Hungarian cluster
representing the Hungarian community, which implies a cultural bond and
values beyond the purely religious, then closing 2 out of 3 Cleveland
area based Hungarian community supported Catholic parishes (or more
precisely, 5 out of 6 in the region), is horribly destructive of the
life and soul of the community of the Hungarian people in this region.
We also
strongly believe that closing St. Emeric is not a logical decision on
the part of Bishop Lennon because of the great harm it does the work of
outreach to the community (in this case, primarily Hungarian speaking
and Hungarian culture oriented) of youth and elderly, and the
irreparable harm it does to the future sustainability of the Hungarian
community, not just Catholic, but all of it as an integral part of the
greater American community of diversity. |