Dear Father Colletti, January 23, 2006
Last
evning I sat silently through that 2 1/2 hours of anguished wrangling
between you and perhaps 40 of your parishioners over what the archdiocese is
trying to do to us. Now, I am following
Jack Shanley's example, which I very much admire, by
addressing this open letter to you, expressing to you and my fellow
parishioners my view of what the archdiocese is trying to do to us, and what we
must do about it. Like you, I am very
much saddened by this whole process, not the least because of the way it places
you in the middle of a conflict between your arbitrary and uncommunicative
superiors in the archdiocese and parishioners who love you, and I believe that
you love in return.
In
short, the Archbishop's mandate that there is to be but one parish in
The
mandate is unjust because it would confiscate parish assets to help relieve
diocesan financial problems we had nothing to do with creating, but which,
willy-nilly, we will have to do our share in relieving. But to close a small number of viable and unwilling
parishes, such as Sacred Heart, is to place an unjust and unfair share of the
diocese's financial problem on these parishes, leaving the much larger number
of untouched parishes completely or substantially free of this burden. That is manifestly unjust.
The
Archbishop says that not only poor parishes must suffer; rather, that the
suffering must be shared by the more fortunate.
I agree, but why just a few of the more fortunate? That is unjust. We should all share in this burden, in
proportion to our capacity, through voluntary contributions.
The
Archbishop says that there are not enough priests to staff all the
parishes. As he marginalizes priests
who oppose his unjust and unwise actions, that prophecy is self-fulfilling and
accelerated, to say nothing of its injustice to those priests. Clearly, in the longer term, we will have to
live with fewer priests until the Church recognizes the obvious, that
intelligence, holiness, and a pastoral call should be the only pre-requisites
for the priesthood. In the vast majority
of dioceses in the
That
the Archbishop's mandate is unwise is manifest in the anger and dissension that
it has created at Sacred Heart and St. Brigid, the
damage that it has already done to the community, the people it has driven away
from the Church, and the psychological barriers it has created among those who
would otherwise evangelize. All of these
emotions were on display last evening.
It
is all unjust, unwise, and unnecessary.
We must persuade the Archbishop to change his mind.
That
you are not persuaded of these points puzzles me. You have told me that your vow of obedience is not the whole story, that you visualize an
ideal of one parish in
The
Archbishop must be persuaded to change his mind. It pains me that the forthcoming survey,
which purports to ask parishioners what their desires are for the Catholic
Community in Lexington, does not ask whether they want one parish, or rather,
whether they want the two existing parishes to continue, but in a relationship
which would foster mutual benefit.
Inasmuch as the results of this survey will inevitably come to the
attention of the Archbishop, I intend to urge all parishioners who are so
inclined to write in their preference for this result.
The
Archbishop must be persuaded to change his mind.
Sincerely,
Ted
Heuchling
cc.
The Master Planning Committee, c/o St. Brigid
Rectory