St. Patrick’s Church decision could bring tears and sadness

By Letter to the Editor on March 26, 2021.

Editor:
read the news about the Apostolic Signatura’s decision in relation to St. Patrick’s in Lethbridge, and the letter from Josephine Aristone, with interest.
With Catholic churches closing across the country for financial and pastoral reasons, and likely to be moreso at an even quicker rate in a post-Covid world, I agree with Josephine’s comment, although perhaps not her sentiment: “it will be interesting to see what ensues from this edict.”
I suspect the results of this decision, in the long term, will bring more tears and sadness in the future, unfortunately. I suspect that not all of these tears will flow from Church administration who made the initial decisions about St. Patrick’s.
This decision may have disastrous consequences for the dioceses of Western Canada who are already under the financial squeeze (especially some of the northern ones). I would just urge caution with the “wheels of justice,” as the previous author celebrated. Sometimes they keep turning in ways not expected.
I do hope the best for all involved. However, the church’s administration has not exactly been “top shelf” in their performance in dealing with its internal issues (including this one), and many of the church’s grassroots movements have not exactly been the healthiest for the broader Catholic community (also including this one).
All of this to say, having previously been seminarian for the Catholic church, and a Canadian Armed Forces Catholic chaplain, these increasingly acrimonious internal bruhahas within the church confirm my decision to convert to Zen Buddhism.
Aaron Roth
Edmonton