St. Joseph’s Church Bethlehem Pa. – Parking Lot – 1905 Law

(The future St. Joseph's Bethlehem Pa.?)

As predicted, St. Joseph’s Church in Bethlehem Pennsylvania's journey into a parking lot to be used by Lehigh University students is on a slow but steady path to becoming reality.

St. Joseph’s Bethlehem Pa – New LU Parking Lot?

I get a bit of a silly out of watching my cousin’s gerrymandered diocese being carved up into quarterly spreadsheet dividends and bonuses for the guys in charge up there in Allentown.

Speaking of which, I can remember when I predicted that the new temporary bishop John Barres was only there to bring his specialized child abuse settlement MBA into play in Pennsy after being the heavy hitter in wiping up the Delaware sex abuse mess.

New Temporary Bishop - Allentown - John Barres

I called John Barres temporary, I never thought he was also going to be a part-time bishop as well of Bishop McShea’s consolation prize, the Allentown diocese, a gift from his cronies in the Vatican back in ‘61 for favors rendered.

I say part-time in that I have read that retired Bishop Cullen is still performing confirmations up there?   Bishop Cullen is chained to his dining room table reviewing every line of his secret clergy sex abuse files from his role as caretaker of such files when he was Cardinal Bevilacqua’s pointman on that when he worked in Philly, in the same job they have indicted Monsignor William Lynn doing after Cullen’s promotion to Bishop of Allentown?

Bishop John MBA Barres is too busy to do confirmations?  Too busy with the flowcharts,  pay out settlement possibilities and overall economic health of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, as an unofficial clergy abuse settlement consultant to Philly, preparing paperwork, in lieu of these attacks on “Religious Liberty” by the sheer audacity of civil courts indicting “innocent” priests and their keeper, handler, enabler – the innocent until proven guilty Monsignor Lynn???

Whatever.

It takes money to build spreadsheets and pay lawyers for depositions and Bishop Cullen’s timely review and refiling of his Philly files? – I guess if you can’t tear down St. Joseph’s in Bethlehem, I guess you can sell part of the property.  Rectory and unattached parking lot for sale $220,000.

Diocese of Allentown selling rectory, parking lot of Bethlehem church in legal battle

The handful of parishioners at St. Joseph’s  have got some sort of ruling from some cubbyhole in the Vatican that they are entitled to worship in a sacred place.  The Church is sacred.  The rectory and auxiliary parking lot are not.  Splitting hairs and definitely not the spirit of the matter.

I have never been to St. Joseph’s but I am willing to bet that it has a chapel.  No doubt when the spreadsheet guys need more cash, the sacred space at St. Joseph’s will likely be reduced to the chapel.  It is probably possible to tear the old church down and leave the Chapel in place in the middle of the new LU parking lot?

 

One has to wonder if public access to the chapel will be provided or that parishioners in order to gain access to their sacred place of worship will have to pay a parking fee and park near the chapel etc.

Whatever again.

I see that there is a laity based concept floating around the liberal Catholic think-osphere.  I believe the concept is based on the French "1905 Law" that separates church from state.

That some catholics and legislators in Connecticut, in reaction to the abusive draconian treatment, and attitude of the Bishop/Inquisitor of Bridgeport, is pushing for state law and I would imagine state chartering of businesses to separate the clergy from the money end of the operation of the catholic church/businesses in Connecticut.

"...Bishop Lori has opposed legislation by Rep. Michael P. Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald that would remove control of the diocese from the bishop and place it into the hands of laymen. The legislation had been written with the help of liberal Catholics, including Connecticut attorney Thomas Gallagher, a contributor to the group Voice of the Faithful.

Similar Separation of church and state legislation was adopted in France in the early 20th century, which is called the 1905 law..."—William E. Lori, Wikipedia

This is something I think the people in Bethlehem and Pennsylvania should look into.

Have a nice day. 

St. Joseph’s Bethlehem Pa – New LU Parking Lot?

It doesn’t take much brains, especially in real estate, to know when a piece of condemned property is about to be turned into a parking lot or a student parking lot as in the case of St. Joseph’s Church in Bethlehem, Pa..

Property got closed because of a “shortage of priests” in the Allentown diocese. Whats a matta? You can’t insource more foreign born priests to staff St. Joseph’s? Duh!!!

About six churches ended up in some appeal to the Vatican and the Vatican agreed that previous real estate tycoon Bishop Cullen’s reasons for closing these six churches were invalid.


Pa. diocese nixes appeal over 6 church closures
 
The current Bishop, John O. Barres, has now pulled the plug on any further interference from the Vatican. How convenient.

The parishioners at St. Joseph’s stay boarded up and out on the street and screwed because of some possible sweetheart, real estate “done deal” between the Diocese and Lehigh University?

To extend parking for the Zoellner Arts Center (?) across a street or two from the about to be permanently decommissioned church property? Whatever.

Valuable real estate plum for the Allentown Diocese – any secret commissions in white envelopes to be handed out – with like say a holy card??? Or did outgoing Bishop Cullen already seal that deal and let’s not blame John? That this long term planning scheme of a nearby secular institution has been in the works for well over a decade?

New Temporary Bishop - Allentown - John Barres
 
I am so cynical.  But the problem is for me, that previous bishop Cullen’s two million dollars (estimated) of personally owned real estate, and the 1.2 million dollar estate of the late founding Joe the Bishop of Allentown, Joe McShea, makes you wonder what kind of bonuses get paid out in Allentown, without accountability to parishioners, to these RC CEOs (and how they get funded) etc.

Cullen’s Assets leave the Flock Aflutter

But don’t take my word for it. Do an internet aerial search map – 416 E. 5th Street, Bethlehem Pa, - St. Joseph’s address, to see that its immediate proximity to Lehigh University makes it a very valuable chunk of real estate.

Hell !

I do rant and rave a lot. And ask a lot of questions.

If there is a secular need to extend this urban university, then eminent domain for a private institution’s needs such as Lehigh University, (and I don’t know the local laws in Pa. regarding eminent domain by private industry), then LU doesn’t have to play the bad urban gobbling entity in this secularization of what looks to me should be a landmarked church property?

It is a pity that the Christian architectural and cultural history of an area like Bethlehem is likely to be destroyed and go the way of a bulldozer in the name of progress.

So it goes in Bethlehem/Allentown Pa..