South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Reader says the Catholic Church has forgotten who it once represented

Letters to the Editor
Letters+to+the+editor

To the editor:

I was born, raised and educated Catholic from kindergarten through college. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of those glorious days of school picnics and fish fries where friends and family would come together in both service and camaraderie.

Many of us were only a couple of generations from our immigrant forbearers and lived in solid blue collar households. We weren’t rich by any means and my parents struggled to pay my tuition but it was a choice they gladly and thankfully made. Unfortunately, that is not what the Catholic Church has come to represent anymore and “All Things New” will forever cement that legacy into the past.

Today, the church is forced to seek out members who are in a higher socio economic strata and capable of funding multimillion dollar edifices in the suburbs. Those who live in the urban core, rural communities, or are unable to afford the cost of entry will be given only token support as any comprehensive version of Catholic education or evangelization in those areas will die with consolidation and closure.

The result of parishes and services being placed outside of the reach of those least able to make the journey because of distance or lack of transportation.

“Listening Sessions” meant to give the populace a sense of input will be traded for carefully crafted plans by an outside consulting firm brought in as a direct result of the Catholic Church’s epic and horrendous history of dealing with its own short comings.

When this is over the Archdiocese will seek cover behind its new grand plan and will issue its decrees forcing dozens of unlucky parishes and their members to sort out this disaster leaving nothing but ill will, heart ache and empty buildings in its wake. Only those deemed worthy through the lens of good public relations or with sufficient means will be granted clemency.

What will be left, will be a church that is predominantly wealthy and white, whose members will be able to assuage their consciences by writing large checks to whatever remnants remain in the undeserved communities without the discomfort of having to share a pew with them just like Jesus wanted. Oh wait …

Brian Volansky
Oakville

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