As the president of the New York 56' Committee [New York's Coordinating Committee for the Commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution] Laszlo Papp informed the media, the Catholic Church in Cleveland has been selling the churches that Hungarian-Americans have built, one after the other, because they lack money. At the moment, they are shutting down Saint Emeric Church, which has the largest number of Hungarian-American members in Cleveland. Protesters are being threatened with jail and the empty churches are guarded by dogs.
It's entirely possible that the money is needed to pay off families who have become victims of the recent pedophilia-related scandals. The bishop selling the churches in Cleveland is the same one who was assigned to correct the Catholic Church's financial problems after the Boston scandals, where the sale of churches provided compensation for debts incurred in cases of child molestation by priests. It's not just the windows and doors of the churches that are being sold on the Internet, but also Hungarian national monuments – treasures such as "Istvan vegso akarata" ( The last wish of Istvan), a stained-glass window depicting the enthronement of Szent Istvan.
Between the 1960s to the 1990s, more than 100 children have been sexually molested in Cleveland. Ohio's most prominent newspaper [The Plain Dealer] reported that a total of $40 million had been awarded to victims up until 2002. The bishopric of Cleveland has paid out more than $23 million, according to data from January 2008.
One of the most salient cases involved an eight-year-old girl who was raped, in her own bed, by a priest who was supposed to listen to her night prayer. This priest is allegedly involved in 14 other rape cases of children in Cleveland. Several other priests in the archdioceses are presently in jail.
The sale of churches is directed by Richard Lennon, Bishop of the Cleveland archdiocese, who was sanctified as Bishop in Boston, because of the increasing scandals. After Archbishop Bernard Francis Law had to leave because of his sexual abuses, Bishop Lennon became the Pope's emissary and has had to remedy the archdiocese's financial problems.
In Boston, the Catholic Church has paid $65 million to 542 victims. The Boston Globe got a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering these instances of pedophilia.
As is mentioned in the documentary, "Hand of God," Bishop Lennon came up with the money for the payouts by selling and closing up churches in Boston. Lennon also closed up a church in Salem, Massachusetts, which had no deficit. When the director of the documentary was trying to film the bishopric, where his younger sibling was molested, Bishop Lennon ran out, pushed the cameras away, and refused to talk, repeatedly proclaiming the Church's legal right to private property.
In the Catholic system, churches built with believers' money belong to the Catholic Church – these would include churches built with Hungarian-American money. On April 5, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Lennon to replace Bishop Anthony Pilla, who had been practicing in Cleveland while the sexual abuse scandals were occurring. Lennon has already closed 24 churches in Cleveland's archdiocese, including the Szent Laszlo Church of Lorain and the Szent Margit Church in Orange Village, where the last mass was held on November 1st.
During Bishop Lennon's time in Boston, protesters kept vigil in five churches, day and night, and the Vatican delayed the decision on the sale of their churches. However, Lennon is resolved that no such thing will happen in Cleveland. So, the current routine in the event that protesters surround the churches is to call the police and have the closed churches guarded by police dogs. The churches in Cleveland's beautiful communities are being sold and former-members directed to Szent Margit Church, which sits in a bad part of town.
Meanwhile, the fight for Szent Imre Church continues, but with little chance of success. The 105 year-old Szent Imre Church has more than 600 believers, the largest Hungarian-American congregation in the United States.
Laszlo Papp told this paper last week that the church has no financial problems at all, they support themselves, and they have $700,000 in the bank. Transylvanian-Hungarian priest Sandor Siklodi is on their side. They have written letters to the Vatican, to Congress, to the city of Cleveland and to Cardinal Peter Erdo. They have requested at least seven to 10 years of reprieve, but have been denied by Richard Lennon. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) suggested that the city purchase the church and give it back to the Hungarian community for cultural events. If the Vatican denies the request, and that seems quite possible, then the church with the famous national treasure will be closed down by July 1, 2010, the church will be emptied, and the believers will be chased out with dogs from the temple, which they built with their own money.
Assemblies, called Endangered Catholics, hold meetings in Cleveland every Wednesday, because the treasures of the temples are now being sold on the Internet by Bishop Lennon. If anyone would like to see the painted windows, and other treasures, they can be found at: http://www.church-inventory.com. For those interested in purchasing the stained-glass windows depicting Szent Isvan or Szent Laszlo, they can be had for $7,500; Szent Erzsebet is on sale for $2,500.
Another treasure that is being sold online for $4,000 is a painting called "Angels with Crest and Crown," which depicts angels holding a Hungarian crowned coat of arms inscribed with Isten aldd meg a magyart! (God bless the Hungarians!) Since it is a priceless item for Hungarians, the Szent Laszlo bishopric asked that this treasure be given back to the Hungarian community. The short answer was: request denied.
Money talks and dogs bark at the temple door.
