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| Ascension RC Church - Harrowgate Philadelphia - Out of Business |
One of the strangest footings along a
pathway of historical research, looking for a historical geographical reference,
yesterday, landed me back where I had written a piece about a dying decaying parish
adjacent to the parish I grew up in, in Harrowgate Philly, of that of Ascension
Church and Parish.
Trying to disseminate the closing story
which apparently came very quickly and in a press release, so typical of
Charles Chaput, like a thief in the night mentioned somewhere in the Gospels
was an overlay story of BTW, the pastor of Ascension already on one admin leave
and cleared by one of Charles Chaput’s Blue Ribbon Citizen’s Committees of
Justice had to be put back on admin leave because the Blue Ribbon Commission
missed something when they gave him a clean bill of health to be around
children etc.
Citizen Robespierre Chaput offers no
explanations, just a press release. "Off with Ascension's head!"
And
since I was trying to disseminate two stories I missed the timeline which was
that Pastor Michael Chapman had been re-relieved from his duties(?) among the ruins
of a once great city upon a hill church and Parish in old white working class
Philly and ten days later the Archdiocese padlocked the place with less than a
week’s notice for the sole office worker to pack her box and a few other
miserable boxes of church records and become unemployed after 25 years of
service etc.
Want a mass? God is that way. Go 1.7 miles that way or another
mile or so that way.
I should say that the racism in Philly has
always been there. The neighborhood where I grew up was quite white, catholic and
lower working class Irish. That the new
mix of 50% Hispanic and Black probably changes nothing in terms of the human
condition there. Those conditions always
were poor to none for the inhabitants.
That I could blame the Hunky Cardinal Krol
for ignoring race relations in favor of his politics to become the first Polish
pope. I could also blame the traditionally
bigoted Italians, the Guinea Cardinals “Small Tony” Belivacqua or Justin “Big
Frank” Rigali as his Swiss Vatican Guard male friends used to refer to him when
he was their chaplain, but I won’t blame anybody. It is what it is.
It is the modern disease of the American
middle class that once you manage to blow, with sex or drugs or frat house
connections, a foot over the threshold of the front office, get your toe into
that front office cocoon, the back office, the little people, the rest of
humanity can just go to hell as you party and count your crony Bonuses etc.
Just the same way Jesus played the
establishment game in his day. Right?
Whatever.
Anyway, I do not think that many people
read my piece about Ascension in which I actually quoted Pastor Mike – geezus
mary and joseph.
The Rev. Michael Chapman,
56, was originally placed on administrative leave following allegations of
sexual abuse of minors last spring . Chapman, who is pastor of Ascension
of Our Lord Parish in Philadelphia, was placed on leave in March 2011 for an
alleged violation of archdiocese standards of ministerial behavior and
boundaries.
After an investigation, Archbishop Charles
Chaput found Chapman suitable for ministry in May 2012. But
before Chapman's return, the Archdiocese received new allegations of sexual
abuse of minors against Father Chapman in May. The alleged abuse reportedly
occurred approximately 30 years ago. The Archdiocese immediately reported the
new allegations to law enforcement and delayed Father Chapman's return to the
parish.
(Sept 26) Archbishop Charles Chaput has approved plans to close
the Ascension of Our Lord Parish in Philadelphia's Harrowgate section, the Archdiocese
announced today.
Parishioners can now go to either Holy Innocents Church, about 1.7
miles away, Visitation, B.V.M. Parish, less than a mile away, the Archdiocese
said in a statement.
It said the church will not be maintained as a worship site since
the 98-year-old building requires at least $3 million in physical improvements.
The closure, effective Oct. 1, is the latest in
a series by the Archdiocese as it deals with declining enrollments and rising
maintenance costs for aging church buildings.
