c
rchc
decisi
and the Implementation Co -
DETROIT - IilI'CCX)�d- mittee, created by the Church­
iDa that 43 churches in Detroi City Task Force, decided to
be cbed because they were DOD create a oily DeW diuiaction
- viable, the Archdiocese between parishes of "ques­
Urban Affairs Board and 1m- tiooable viability" and those they
p1ementatioa Team may have considered absolutely -nQnvi­
contradicted recommendations able."
made by the very church body The Implementation Com-
that created them. mittee and Urban Advisory
A copy of the final reeom- Board, therefore,
mendatioo of the City-Church I - Recommended that 43
T Force listed totally dif- churches they considered DOIl­
ferent procedures, where the viable be closed
congregations in parishe of - Will hold hearings for
"questionable viabilitt would parishes to appeal the decision
not be immediately closed but before a target date of Decem­
be giveb time to help determine ber 15 __ L less than three months
for themselves on a demoaatic after informing· parishes they
. how they wanted to deal were not viable and far less than
with their problems. the miainum of one year the
Section 2 under the item City-Cburcll Task Force COD­
"Viable Parishes," s tes that eesed,
parishes of "questionable - Have their recommenda-
viability: . tions ruled upon by Cardinal
- "Be advised of their sima- Edmund Skoka sometime in
tion. I January, just four to five months
- Be given a mininum of one after being notified they were
year to involve significant not "viable." From this decision,
groups in making the decision there would be no final appeal
. for their future. The Implementation Com-
- Be given "stable pastoral mittee was formed by the City­
leadership and pastoral funds" Church Task Force itself. Its
during "this critical time." responsibilities were listed as
Father Tom LUmpkin, 0 "recommendin� departmental
served on the City-Church Task objectives to the archbishop"
For�, stated under its plan, that and "oversight responsibilities
closing or merging churche was ' for assignment of objed.iYes to
oqly one option the oongrega- appropriate Archdiocesan
tion could take in improving staff. "
their situation. . The Urban Advisory Board,
Jay Berman of the was formed to \vork with the
Archdiocese Communication Implementation Committee to
Office admitted that Cardinal imprOYe the presence and min­
Edmund Szoka approved these istry of the Catholic Olurcb in
recommendations. the study area, "
Ho ver, Berman Claimed. Nowhere does-the task force
that the Urban Affairs Board specifically state that the either
orpnization bas the power to
recommend the closings of
churches or to contradict
recommeDdations of the City­
Church ask Force that were
approved by the cardinal. .
Berman states, howeYer, that­
as "created orking bodies",
they bad the right to do so, if this
involved the basic purpose for
. which they were formed -
-strengthening the church in the
city .•
Benban stated that the chur­
ches �t are being closed were
. not I "of questionable viability"
but were totally "nonviable" and,
therefore, should be shut down
or merged more quickly without
the same amoUnt of community
input those which were simp­
ly considered "questionable."
Berman admitted that the
task force report the cardinal
approved did not suggest the
idea that parishes could be con­
sidered "nonviable" or that its
procedures could be side­
stepped, but sugge ed this was
a "legalism".
From information they
gathered - which the Task
Force dMI t have at the time,
- the Implementation Com­
mittee and the Urban A�ry
Board e to the conclusion
that it was impossible for some
parishes to be viable and that
continuing the process for a
year "would be like torture." .
Sister Jolene Van Handel
and Father Robert Schram, co­
chairs of the Detroit Catholic
Pastoral Alliance, which is chal­
lenging the proposed church
closings, charged that some of
the churches considered "non­
viable", including F ther
co
there and the priests who feel it
G "part ofltis life's work."
He added that closing the
churches would not end the
Cathol c commitment to
Detroit. ·If all the recommenda­
tions of the Implementation
Committee and Urban Ad­
visory Board were acted upon,
he stated, Detroit would still
have more priests per
household than suburban areas.
He noted also that the clos­
ings resulted, "not because the
priest did something wrong or
the people did something
wrong, " but because of changes
and migrations which had al­
ways gone on since the time
Saint Paul addressed the
Church of Corinth nearly two
thousand years ago.
When parishes developed in
Detroit, because of immigration
to this country, other parishes in
Poland and Italy had to die from
loss of members, he noted.
He also added that keeping
churches alive which bad no
viability would deprive people
of a saaamentallife.
Some churches, he added.
would be placed under th
category of "questionable
viability" with the possibility of
being preserved according to
the Tas Force plan.
Under the tas force plan,
Coati.ued OD 11
Seminars teach
.housing rights.
td liome/ess, poor
By Rose Enlow The project is staffed with a
DETROIT - The Homeless part-lime attorney Sally Route
Family Rights Project (HFRP) and a para-legal, Tyrone Jones,
i a program that provides a who alternately present the
serie of educational seminars seminars in shelters like COTS,
onlegalmattersofinteresttothe Salvation Army and Interim
homeless. House. �
the effort and contacted The seminars are designed to TheIive topics are: Rights of
newspapers and other media to inform the homeles of their . the Hom e Ie s, W bat You
help spread the word. He says legal rights, to prevent evictions Should Know Before Renting,
many chruches and private and to increase their knowledge Repair Problems and What To
Citizens have been very generous of housing rights. Do About Them, Legal and 11-
and supportive in their dona- Director Candace Crowley legal Eviction, and Suing in
tions. says HFRP is an outreach Small Claims Court/Collecting
Dye says the building projeCt run by Wayne County Damages.
materials are being secured Neighborhood Legal Services. . Crowley. aid at the end of
from local firms in Detroit. He She says the program has special each eminar, the speakers are
says the firms have agreed to funding which is channeled asked 'a number of questions by
make available building supplies through the city of Detroit individuals in matter that relate
after the group returns from Neighbo hood Services Depart- to their particular situation. If an
Jamaica with their fact-finding ment. The federal money come attorney is presenting the semi­
report. through t e Stewart McKinney nar, he/she will provide, on a
The Project JAID group has Homele Act. one-to-one basis, counseling as-
gone to a city in Jamaica called Sbe ys HFRP i funded to si tance, .
Jerico. The purpose of the team conducta erie of seminars in Crowley says HFRP has a SIX
is to transport supplies and sur- each of Detroit's 14 shelters for month contract with the city of
vey the land in ordet to rebuild the homeless. The. seminar Detroit to put on 60 seminars in
the homes and educational topics range from rights of the shelters. and ten seminar in
centers that 'were destroyed . homele s to information on community center. ,
when the hurricane swept housing rights. C�owley .that any cof!l­
tbrough.· I Crowley says FRP's main mU�lty center interested I.n
For more information on purpose is to provide the home- h �Ing HF�P present th�1f
making contributions to Project Ie with information that will series �f se�s and wor� with
JAID or to send packages, con- help them to h�ld .00 to .housing them m gathering an audie�ce
tact: Project JAID-Operation once they obtain It. again, legal that co.uld benefit from the in­
Get-Down9980Gratio Detroit, knowledge that will hopefully. formation ho�d �nt ct �e
Michigan 48213. prevent individuals from getting Homele Family Rights Project
into a homeless situation again. at (313) 962-0466.
Schram's Mother of Our Savior,
were flDancially self-sutliciellt
and did not depend on outside
sources for funds.
Berman noted that there
were other criteria for viability
beyond financial stability,
notably "whether the parish was
an alive vibrant, community,
fully a part of the saaamental
life of the church." If, for in­
stance, if i was rare for a church
to have baptisms, weddings,
confirmations, or there was no
adult education or youth
programs, "then thesaaamental
life of faith cannot be fully lived
also, th re were two to four
parishes within a small area of
households, if there were plans
. for industrial development and
little housing, financial stability
alone would not make the parish
viable, he noted.
On the other hand, he added,
"No church with a strong
spiritual life would be closed,
just because it lacked money."
Critics of the closings have
noted that the life of the inner
city church community has
taken a less traditional path -
more service than sacrament,
Berman said, "It is unheard
of for any parish to say it should
close. Closing a I parish is like a
death in the family and we want
to hold on despite all odds,"
both the parisioners who live
Operation' Get-Down
takes aid to, Jamaica
BiR Enlow
DETROIT Operation
Get-Down is a community ser­
vices organization founded in
1971 by Bernard Parker and
Barry Hanker on. It began as a
self-help co-op that rapidly ex-
p nded to other service . .
I t provides ervices such as
food programs, youth programs,
enior citizen services, and a
teen pregnancy program. It ser­
ves to meet many of the major
needs of the Eastside and
Metro-Detroit areas.
Operation Get-Down con­
tinues to get down as it
demonstrated with Project
J .A.I.D. (J amaican Aid In
Detroit) to aid the devastated
victims of Hurricane Gilbert in
Jamaica.
Thi pr r m w initi ted by
an Operation Get-Down Board
Member Edna Miner who was
watching the news with a
Jamaican friend hen the report
of the disaster aired.
Miller and her friend con­
tacted Beverly P rker, Vice
Chairperson of Operation Get-
I
. I
Down, also Paul Hubbard of
'N ew Detroit', and Larry
"Coleman of The United Com­
munity Services. The group put
their heads together and
developed Project JAID.
On Tuesday October 18,
members of Project J AID,
Miller, Parker, Hubbard and
Coleman boarded an Eastern
Airlines jet to Jamaica to per­
sonally deliver the collected
food, clothing and other neces­
sities to the hurricane victims.
Get-Down's Public Rela­
tions Coodinator Keith Dye
says, "Our Organization has an
intern tional perspective.on
aiding Black communities, be it
Detroit, Jamaica Africa or
where ever,"
Dye related how Get -Down
cont cted the J maican Em
sy in W hington D.C. as well as
local Jamaicans and asked what
si lance could they be. The
Embas y's request was for
clothing, medical supplies and
building materials.
Dye ascertained that Get­
Down was willing to undertake
\