HERO
FATHER BOB BEGIN AND THE PEOPLE OF ST. COLMAN PARISH

We Catholic Clevelanders knew that Richard Lennon, the new bishop of Cleveland, would need to merge or close some parishes in the inner city because their congregants had moved to the suburbs and because of the growing shortage of priests to serve these parishes. Rather than close these parishes arbitrarily, Lennon and diocesan officials set up a process by which the laity could give some input into determining which parishes would remain open, which would have to merge with another parish to remain open, and which would have to close.

Needless to say, the process would not be perfect and would be sure to cause anger, tension, and division. There were those who accused Lennon of involving people in a charade to cover the fact that he and chancery officials had already decided which parishes would remain open, which ones would merge, and which ones would close.

In March of 2009, Catholics generally were shocked and angered to read that Saint James parish in Lakewood and Saint Ignatius of Antioch would close and Saint Colman on W. 65 and Madison would merge with Saint Stephen’s, an old German parish a couple of miles away

Under the leadership of the pastor Father Bob Begin, the parishioners protested the closing of Saint Colman through a series of letters to Bishop Lennon. The letter-writing campaign spread rapidly and included hundreds of former parishioners and friends of St. Colman who were aware of the effective ministries of the parish.

Thousands of people must have written to Bishop Lennon because recently he reversed the decision to close Saint Colman and Saint Ignatius of Antioch and gave both parishes four years to prove that they can become financially viable. Kudos to the people of Saint Colman and St. Ignatius. Both pastors and their congregations deserve our respect and praise for their enthusiastic efforts to save their parishes. I am more familiar with the St. Colman campaign under the charismatic leadership of Bob Begin, which is why Bob and the people of St. Colman are the heroes of this edition of the Eppley Files.

Although Anita and I belong to Saint Malachi parish, when I was active in the priesthood I was in residence at Saint Colman for five years. So I promised Bob Begin I would write a letter to Bishop Lennon urging him to keep Saint Colman open. I am sure that Bishop Lennon did not read the thousands of letters that came in, including mine. But this is what I wrote:

Dear Bishop Lennon:

In the spring of 1969, Bishop Issenmann appointed me director of continuing education for diocesan clergy. I invited John Tracey Ellis, the eminent church historian, to address the first clergy conference I sponsored, and he accepted. To show his appreciation he gave me an autographed copy of his book “A Commitment to Truth.” In his book he quotes William Stubbs, an Anglican bishop-historian of the 19th century, who often stated that “the height of courage is to say I dare not, and the height of love is to say I will not, so the height of wisdom is to have learned to say, I do not know.”

Ellis goes on to write: “There are men who seem to have no realization of the confidence that can be inspired by so simple a declaration as ‘I do not know,’ or the equally shattered confidence of discerning persons in one who gives the appearance of having an answer to every question. A candid admission of ignorance or error, on the other hand, can actually be wonderfully influential in winning the confidence and support of others.”

You must have experienced great anguish in the closing of parishes such as Saint Colman’s, which has great outreach to the poor, more so than Saint Stephen’s, which you have kept open. But you could reverse your decision and say “I did not know.” Your words would be wonderfully influential in winning the confidence and support of the Church in Cleveland.

Sincerely yours,

George Eppley

cc: Robert Begin

I have yet to write a letter of thanks to Bishop Lennon for reversing his decision and hope that many others will do the same.

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