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Here, as well as I remember
them, are some of
the words Bishop McShea spoke to me as he handed me my assignment.
“Now, Father Connolly, I’m sending you to Sacred
Heart Parish in Allentown. Monsignor Leichner is the pastor there
and he is a fine priest and I’m sure you’ll do very
well there. Just do whatever your pastor tells you. Sacred Heart
Parish used to be mostly German-speaking people from the Burgenland,
but in recent years more and more Puerto Ricans have been moving
into Allentown, so I’ve set up a Hispanic ministry there.
Father Biszek is in charge of that ministry. You’ll get
to know him and he is a fine young priest. Now your main duties
will be with the English-speaking parishioners, but I understand
you speak some Spanish, so maybe you can help Father Biszek from
time to time, but you check with Monsignor Leichner on that first
and just do whatever he tells you.”
My contribution to the conversation was simply to nod
my head and, when it seemed opportune, to say “Yes, Your
Excellency” and “Thank you, Your Excellency” and
“Yes, I understand, Your Excellency”. Then the Bishop
got to what I think is the important part — and that is
the reason, just in case you’re wondering, that I am writing
this dissertation for our parish bulletin. In fact, to emphasize
the importance of it, I think I’ll type it all in bold.
The Bishop continued:
“You know, Father Connolly, a group of Puerto Ricans came
to me some time ago and told me that they wanted to have their
own Spanish-speaking parish. But I said to them, ‘No, no,
no! I’m not going to repeat the mistakes of the bishops
of the nineteenth century! You just fit in with the other parishioners
there. They all speak English and your children and grandchildren
are all going to be speaking English. We’ll see to it that
there will be a Spanish-speaking priest there for as long as
the Puerto Rican people need one to be there. I understand that
you have special needs and we’re not going to neglect you,
but there is no need for me to set up a separate parish for you.’”
(The Bishop was not soliciting my opinion on this matter,
so my reply to him was very prudent: “Yes, Your Excellency,
I see what you mean.” (No one can accuse me of not
being a dedicated “yes man”. I knew then and still
know where my bread is buttered!)
Moral of the story: I ask everyone who is bent out of
shape at the closing of ethnic parishes to realize that the very
establishment of ethnic parishes was probably a mistake. (I mean
no disrespect to their collective Excellencies of the Catholic
Church in the USA in the 19th century, but I take my cue from
Bishop McShea’s observation cited above.) In retrospect,
the bishops probably should have insisted that the immigrants
“blend into” the English-speaking parishes, with the
guarantee that their language needs would be met, for as long
as necessary, by priests who spoke the language. If they
had been more foresighted, perhaps we who live in the
21st century would not be going through our current agony of
parish consolidations.
There will, perhaps, be some persons (maybe in a town
east of Girardville?) who read this who will get mad at me, but
that’s okay. I can take it! They won’t be the first
to get mad at me, and they won’t be the last. But, before
they get mad at me, I ask them to think once and — who knows?
— maybe even think twice or thrice. We must think beyond
ethnicity. In fact, come to think of it, more than anything,
we must think! And pray! |
Saturday,
07 November