By Michaela Ross

Tears and questions echoed from the pews of the historic Shrine Church of Saint Ann in Norwood as Rev. Francis Scanlon announced last weekend that the Catholic church will close for regular worship by next year. 

St. Ann’s parishioners will now have to celebrate Masses and sacraments alongside the congregation at St. Brendan Church on East 206th Street, according a letter from the Archdiocese of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. “I read this letter to you with great sadness and many, many questions,” a tearful Scanlon told his parish at weekend Masses. The merger is slated for August 2015.

The wording of the archdiocese’s letter is slippery–consolidation or merger is simply euphemisms for closure, intended to soften the blow. The lack of services forces congregants to worship elsewhere.

The announcement came after a five-year archdiocese initiative called Making All Things New, which evaluated parishes with dwindling attendance and financial woes. Last May, archdiocese officials slated St. Ann’s for possible closure or consolidation, but priests and parishioners at St. Ann’s and neighboring priests formally opposed the proposal.

Scanlon noted that Dolan’s letter offered no explanation for the consolidation. “We’d like him to state his reasons,” Scanlon said. “This parish is alive; this is not a dwindling parish.”

Waning Months of St. Ann’s
In May the archdiocese offered three reasons for possible consolidation: St. Ann’s declining attendance, low funding and proximity to St. Brendan’s. The closure is a symptom of further financial troubles for the archdiocese, which has funded financially dependent churches such as St. Ann’s over the years. Dolan said in a recent blog post that the monies for struggling parishes can be spent elsewhere.

St. Ann’s will be one of six Bronx Catholic churches to close its regular worship, according to the archdiocese. In total, 31 churches will close in eight counties. The archdiocese has stated more consolidations will be considered in the coming months.

But Scanlon said 100 percent of St. Ann’s neighboring priests, including the priest at St. Brendan’s, Rev. George Stewart, disagreed with the consolidation and called on the archdiocese to keep the church open.

St. Ann’s congregants and staff said they were shocked and saddened after the announcement.

“The archdiocese has left us in the dark. There are many questions and no answers,” said Clara Villanueva, secretary of St. Ann’s. She said the church will continue its regular Mass schedule until the archdiocese says otherwise.

Other members of St. Ann’s asked about the pre-K through 8 school that’s affiliated with the church. “The school will open in September of 2015, even if the parish isn’t here any longer,” said Scanlon. But, he added, it has been financially dependent on St. Ann’s church. “The school is vulnerable, but at this time, nothing has been said,” he said.

Scanlon said basic questions such as a new name for the merged parishes and a Mass schedule, remain unknown. “These are all things that will only be determined when a new pastor is announced,” he said, adding that it’s unclear whether he, Stewart or another priest will be appointed to lead the flock.

A Worried Parish
Churchgoers said they are also worried about Catholic patients and staff at the three medical centers and two nursing homes located within blocks of the church.  Those Catholics regularly use St. Ann’s facilities and services.

“How do you close a church that is in the middle of all these hospitals and nursing homes and expect everyone to get to another location?” said Felipa Reyes, who has attended St. Ann’s for eight years and used to work at nearby North Central Bronx Hospital, speaking in Spanish. “When the sick need church services, they are going to be out in the streets.”

Many parishioners said they worried the roughly half-mile walk between St. Ann’s and St. Brendan’s will be too difficult for elderly members.  “It will be a very long walk for people who attend regularly, who aren’t athletic,” said Kay Collins, who has worshipped at St. Ann’s for 55 years. “And on Sunday, buses are not as frequent as other days of the week.”

Archdiocese officials did not immediately respond to inquiries on parishioners’ concerns.

Scanlon said St. Ann’s lay officials plan to send a letter to Cardinal Dolan asking for a fuller explanation of the reasons behind the consolidation. But Dolan said in a Nov. 3 interview with radio station WNYC that he didn’t anticipate changing the decisions to close or merge parishes. “I wouldn’t see any appeals from the decisions that were made yesterday,” he said.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.