INTRODUCTION

The author, who was known to us and who is now finally Resting in Peace, was Baptized in St. Patrick's Cathedral parish and was one of few resident parishioners as a very young child. His professional life was intertwined with some of the components of the offering of Divine Liturgy, so he knows, first hand, he speaks about - from the 'inside' and the 'outside'.

We have known the author for years and have no reason whatsoever to doubt his words. Perhaps his unexpected and unexplainable death may add even more credence to what he wrote since he had been persecuted for some years. He seemed to have known 'too much'.


PURPOSE

There are actually two purposes for this document: (a) Share an inside view most Faithful never see; and (b) How the "glitteratti" manipulates the destitute according to their world agenda; an agenda which is at cross-purposes with that of Jesus Christ and which drives Christians away from Catholicism.


DETAILS

In the Roman Catholic Church, a parish is the lowest ecclesiastical geographical subdivision. A parish needs two things under common law to become a parish. First, a body of Catholics within a fixed boundary and a named priest with responsibility for that parish. (1) It is a territorial unit.

We find this citation in the present Code of Canon Law:


The definition given in the 2nd sentence above applies to either Eastern Rite or so-called "national parishes", which have no geographic boundaries. But those are exceptional cases.


Catholics are not now required to attend the parish church in which they reside (i.e. they may attend another); though in the past they were. The following distinctions are made for statistical purposes:


In many cases A usually far exceeds B. The total average Sunday mass attendance is usually a subset or percentage of B, e.g. 1000 registered parishioners, with 600 coming to mass on average Sundays. But if 200 of these do not reside in the parish boundaries, they are technically, i.e. canonically, not parishioners. For a non-resident to register as a parishioner is technically 'cheating'.

A Cathedral is the "seat" of the Ordinary of a Diocese (Bishop or Archbishop). While most Cathedrals in the US and Europe were originally established as parish churches, the present day reality is that many of them are either virtually empty on Sunday, or are tourist attractions. In either case, they tend to have few resident parishioners. While there are some exceptions to this, they are rare. Thus many Cathedrals today exist largely for ceremonial reasons; and/or as cultural, historical monuments.

The result is the inverse of the hypothetical figures given above: in many Cathedrals the actual numbers of resident parishioners is a tiny fraction of Sunday Mass attendance.


That is the case with the most famous Cathedral in the Western Hemisphere: St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. It's average Sunday mass attendance is some 14,000 +. Yet it has only around 100 +/- resident parishioners. (3) Its parish elementary school closed in 1942. For all practical intent, it ceased to function as a real parish church well over 50 years ago. It's Rectory has no parish hall, and no large group
meeting facilities.

It is a museum. A religious 'tourist trap'. Many if not most of those who attend mass there are either non-Catholic... or non Christians, who are there "for the show". Were the hotel/tourist trade to vanish from Manhattan, this Cathedral would be largely empty. The illusion of filled pews (or standing room only) masks this reality. (4)

With an estimated 5.5 million visitors annually - most of whom either put money in the collection plate, or 'poor box', or when lighting a candle, it annual income must be considerable. Yet a priest on its staff told this writer with a straight face: "...we have no money..."

But Lo!...

"St. Patrick's Cathedral (NYC ) to Undergo a three-year, $177 Million Renovation..." (5)(6)


"“I'm talking about survival”, (Cardinal Timothy Dolan) said in an interview last week. “If we don't do something substantive for St. Patrick's Cathedral, in four or five years we're going to have to close it, because it will be dangerous”..... Although he has raised $45 million for the impending renovation of the cathedral from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the cathedral trustees (7) and individual donors, he's still $132 million short of the total needed. (8)


In long professional dealings with clergy, this writer has noted much overt and intentional duplicity. Further, that in many cases a parish with "no money" will see its physical plant intentionally allowed to deteriorate (thus driving many parishioners away in disgust). But Lo! Upon the arrival of an OD friendly pastor (and a pre-arranged 'signal' from the Chancery), money will magically flow from the heavens.

Even assuming the legitimate need for all of this work at the cathedral (which may be dubious, except perhaps for exterior safety repairs) (9) - the unmitigated gall of Dolan is appalling. His Blindness to the spiritual reality of the End of these Times. And the very real physical needs of the poor in his Archdiocese.

But when a poor Black parish in the South Bronx (10)(11) desperately needed funds to repair their church, both Cardinals Dolan and Egan denied them funding. For them "there is no money". Leading to a similar self-fulfilling prophecy: that the church would become unsafe, and thus be closed. This has been done again and again - to poor, non-White parishes.

Dolan says:

"If we have a church that demographically is now — the people are gone — we have to make a decision. Are we going to utilize our money serving souls and serving people, and expanding the church in areas where the growth is? Or are we going to maintain buildings for — however laudably it might be — artistic and cultural and historic purposes?..."


Dolan says:

"The Catholic Church, capital C, needs renewal, restoration and repair, because we've been through a lot, O.K.? We've got a wheelbarrow full of problems and tensions and scandal. There's a lot of soot all over the Church, with a capital C. So St. Patrick's — as it was an icon for the grandeur and the permanence and the radiance of the Church, with John Hughes — now it could be an icon of a Church that needs revival, restoration and repair."

To which Jesus responds:




NOTES              

(1) "Parish". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

(2) Source (Accessed in 2012)

(3) From conversations with cathedral staff members, including one former rector. Within the parish boundaries there is very little residential housing. It is mostly office towers and commercial properties (stores). Any real residential base was lost prior to W.W. II; becoming the Madison Avenue advertising district in the 1920s, and Rockefeller Center (22 acres) in the 1930s.

(4) Thus a question is posed: how many of the crowds coming to daily/Sunday masses and receiving Holy Communion.... are Catholic? Or even cognizant of what they are doing?

(5) Source (Accessed in 2012)

(6) Source (Accessed in 2012)


(7)  If you want to find out the identity of the 'Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral', good luck! It is a mystery greater then that of the Sphinx. Yet the 'Trustees' operate both the present and the original Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (in Little Italy), Calvary and Allied Cemeteries, along with other obscure corporate entities. Such as the "NYC Orphan Asylum", and other assets.

(8)  Source (Accessed in 2012)

(9)  From personal observation, the 'approved diocesan contractors' are sometimes only one step above the Mafia. Shoddy workmanship, intentionally inflated contract prices (with the clergy getting a "cut") are the norm. In contrast, a similar project (e.g. painting) done for a Protestant church will usually cost a fraction of that charged to a Catholic church of comparable size. It is also standard practice to exaggerate, if not invent, 'problems' which require major capital projects. Hence, the 'minor repair' requiring vast sums to fix.

(10) Source (Accessed in 2012)

(11) Source (Accessed in 2012)


(12) Source (Accessed in 2012)

(13) Source (Accessed in 2012)


(14) Video of the most recent Sunday High Mass (Accessed in 2012) Note the obvious tourists wandering the aisles before and during mass, as if it were Disneyland. Sure, the pews fill up, but how many of these actually are Catholic? Or believe.... anything? Those able to view the entire video will find it quite 'educational'.



Published on April 15th, 2012 - Mercy Sunday and 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic

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