CHURCH CLOSINGS & ABUSE OF POWER
Documentary Looks at Spiritual Damage of Church Closings
Across
the United States, changing demographics and a growing priest shortage mean
many parishes have been losing members, and dioceses say this is forcing them
to close down churches.
This
is presented as a painful, but necessary, reality.
However,
a new documentary looking at the phenomena says the process of closing churches
is a “grave spiritual abuse.”
“Closing
a church is a tragic, heartbreaking and deeply sad phenomenon,” said Viktoria
Somogyi, the producer and director of Foreclosing on Faith.
First
released in Oct. 2017, the film has been making the rounds of the film festival
circuit. Last week, the film won Best Documentary, Best Producer, and Best
Educational Film at the Christian Film Festival in Virginia.
Somogyi is Hungarian, worked for a decade at the
Hungarian section of Vatican Radio. She followed the news about the closing of beautiful,
old, historical and hugely important churches for the Hungarian communities in
America She thought the explanations
were too simplistic: The old immigrant generations are slowly dying out
and there’s no replacement, there is no money to maintain their churches, no
priests from the home country to serve these communities.
She went deeper,
and discovered the reason was often about something else: Money. Dioceses often
needed funds to cover abuse settlements, and other budget issues. Often, the
churches being closed down were sitting on very valuable property.
“Consulting
companies like the Reid Group, Meitler and Partners Edge (a division of
TeamWorks International) have been brought in to ease the process of church
closings,” Somogyi said. “Many of the parishioners who have worked with them
find that the consulting companies bring their own agenda, and they are
involved to make the process of church closings seem more consultative and
collaborative but decisions about the closings seem to have been made already
before the consultation at the parish level even starts,” she said. “So
regardless of what parishioners send in as answers to the questionnaires the consultants
distribute, there is no chance to save their parish if it is targeted.”
“Destroying
a home - a spiritual one in the case of these faith communities - causes an
enormous shock, inflicting a huge and inestimable crisis on people at many
levels, which cannot be underestimated when such decisions are made by those
responsible,” Somogyi said.
“All of the stories are very tragic and
heartbreaking … because you cannot undo or erase the pain, the suffering and
the shock that had been caused to these communities.”
About Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
The Chagrin Documentary Film Festival is dedicated
to educating audiences and empowering talented filmmakers to tell their
stories. The Festival is a five day celebration of the art of documentary film,
at venues in and around the century village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. This
inspiring event draws audiences from all over Northeast Ohio, the US and the
world to experience documentary films and the compelling art and culture they
highlight.
Foreclosing on Faith will be shown Fri, Oct 05, 2018
7:30 pm at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre
Tickets are $10.00
11.30 a.m. 7 October 2018
East 65th & Forman
Mass Mobs have been a feature of Cleveland and
other others threatened by church closings: