WKSU News: Extra special Easter for many Northeast Ohio Catholics

Monday, April 9, 2012 Extra special Easter for many Northeast Ohio Catholics Holy Week 2012 was extra special – and extra busy – for former parishioners of shuttered Cleveland churches by WKSU's KABIR BHATIA	Reporter Kabir Bhatia

Courtesy of K. Bhatia

In The Region:

Easter Sunday 2012 took on special meaning for thousands of Catholics in Northeast Ohio. Thirteen of the churches closed by the Cleveland Diocese were ordered re-opened last month. Though the buildings remain shuttered as the bishop decides whether to appeal, WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports, Holy Week was extra special – and extra busy – for at least one former parish.

Extra special Easter for many Northeast Ohio Catholics

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It's Easter Sunday outside of St. Mary's Church in Bedford. Inside? Silence.

Carol Szczepanik wishes the church she'd attended her whole life was filled with song.

Instead, for the third Easter in a row, she joined the pastel crowd at St. Rita's in Solon.

"Well hopefully, it is our last Easter not in the old building. And we just have to hope and pray to that Spirit that's been guiding us to complete this process. Today is a rebirth in a lot of ways, and there have been two white bows outside of St. Mary's of Bedford church since the day of the announcement because in our minds, we've been resurrected."

The announcement she's referring to came from the Vatican last month, ordering Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon to re-open St. Mary's and a dozen other churches he closed over the past few years. The Vatican says Lennon failed to follow Canon law in the closings, and he has until May 14th to either file an appeal or proceed with re-opening.

Carol Szczepanik, an IRS attorney, had wasted no time challenging the closing of St. Mary’s in 2009. And though they knew the church would not reopen in time for Easter services, she helped organize a meeting for former St. Mary's parishioners during Holy Week.

"We weren't sure how many people we were going to have in attendance. We had over 220 people there. And my old head of parish council told me, as she looked out on the crowd, she had tears in her eyes. They were so happy to be there, and so excited about the fact that we're getting our church back if the bishop does the right thing."

Szczepanik knows there will be challenges in re-habbing a building that's been closed for three years, and in reconnecting with the Church's 800-plus families, who've scattered to other parishes.

"We've organized a number of committees that are available to help the bishop in opening the church. There's a finance committee, there's a cleaning committee, there's an interim parish council, there's a music committee, there's a ministry committee, there's a number of committees to basically do everything that would need to be done to get the parish going again."
"How annoying is it waiting?"
"Well, I told the 220 people at the meeting the other night that I always felt there was something guiding me through this, and I'm just relying on that spirit to continue to guide me."

Many of the closed churches have held vigils and other events over the past three years, and now St. Mary's will be holding its own event on April 22 as parishioners await a decision. Bishop Lennon has been mum on how he's leaning, saying in an open letter that he is studying the decrees which are "deep in underlying meaning."

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