Kicking Bishop Butt....
feels so good!
I wrote a letter to the editor last night and it will run in the Saturday paper along with a picture of Abigael and I at the church.
Here's how it goes:
I was pleased to see The Ottawa Citizen's coverage of Marcel Gervais's misguided intentions to close the doors of St Brigid's Church. I have been a parishioner of St Brigid's since my move to Ottawa, and I serve as a minister of the Word several times a month. I was married there in 2004, and my baby daughter was baptized there on Christmas Day 2005. It is my great hope to see her receive her first communion there, and perhaps to attend her wedding there someday.
The Most Reverend Marcel Gervais mentions in his letter to our congregation that the demographics of Lowertown are changing. Indeed they are, but not in the way it appears to him. Dalhousie street is becoming a hub of quirky shops, condos are rising up and bringing more people to the area, and the market is bustling. St Brigid's opens its doors to a growing number of new parishioners who year after year come to feel the Spirit which abides within its walls. Everyone is welcome there; the congregation is diverse, embracing, and effervescent.
The paint is peeling in our church. There are shingles on the ground. Father Arana's rectory is no palace. The parishioners were given hope by the Archbishop that their beloved church could stay open if they could only raise enough money. And they did. They met their targets, as stated by the Archbishop in June 2005. The people of St Brigid's are not rich. But they gave what they could to keep their place of worship in operation. They were misled. Some repairs were made, murals restored using the parishioner's money, and now the church, whose value has surely increased due to these recent improvements will be sold. Telling people that their money will keep their church open, and then selling that church is an abuse of the parishioners' generosity and goodwill. This is enough to cause a crisis in one's faith. We are asked to amalgamate with Notre-Dame Basilica. Marcel Gervais will not see me there. I would rather be among my strong, tight-knit community of faith in a place where the paint is peeling than in any of the gilded churches in our city.
Through this hardship, Father Arana, a small and unaffected man, has been a model of Grace and Wisdom. He has been a steadfast shepherd to our community, leading us in prayer with simplicity and faith. I pray that the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are so abundant in Father Arana and were bestowed upon the children of our congregation who shared the celebration of their Confirmation with the Archbishop's letter of intent to close our parish this past weekend (in a packed, vibrant church) will come to enlighten His Excellency and change his mind regarding our spiritual home.
Mélissa McCarthy
This is after Liam had me revise it not to include the words "fraudulent, highway robbery".
I wrote a letter to the editor last night and it will run in the Saturday paper along with a picture of Abigael and I at the church.
Here's how it goes:
I was pleased to see The Ottawa Citizen's coverage of Marcel Gervais's misguided intentions to close the doors of St Brigid's Church. I have been a parishioner of St Brigid's since my move to Ottawa, and I serve as a minister of the Word several times a month. I was married there in 2004, and my baby daughter was baptized there on Christmas Day 2005. It is my great hope to see her receive her first communion there, and perhaps to attend her wedding there someday.
The Most Reverend Marcel Gervais mentions in his letter to our congregation that the demographics of Lowertown are changing. Indeed they are, but not in the way it appears to him. Dalhousie street is becoming a hub of quirky shops, condos are rising up and bringing more people to the area, and the market is bustling. St Brigid's opens its doors to a growing number of new parishioners who year after year come to feel the Spirit which abides within its walls. Everyone is welcome there; the congregation is diverse, embracing, and effervescent.
The paint is peeling in our church. There are shingles on the ground. Father Arana's rectory is no palace. The parishioners were given hope by the Archbishop that their beloved church could stay open if they could only raise enough money. And they did. They met their targets, as stated by the Archbishop in June 2005. The people of St Brigid's are not rich. But they gave what they could to keep their place of worship in operation. They were misled. Some repairs were made, murals restored using the parishioner's money, and now the church, whose value has surely increased due to these recent improvements will be sold. Telling people that their money will keep their church open, and then selling that church is an abuse of the parishioners' generosity and goodwill. This is enough to cause a crisis in one's faith. We are asked to amalgamate with Notre-Dame Basilica. Marcel Gervais will not see me there. I would rather be among my strong, tight-knit community of faith in a place where the paint is peeling than in any of the gilded churches in our city.
Through this hardship, Father Arana, a small and unaffected man, has been a model of Grace and Wisdom. He has been a steadfast shepherd to our community, leading us in prayer with simplicity and faith. I pray that the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are so abundant in Father Arana and were bestowed upon the children of our congregation who shared the celebration of their Confirmation with the Archbishop's letter of intent to close our parish this past weekend (in a packed, vibrant church) will come to enlighten His Excellency and change his mind regarding our spiritual home.
Mélissa McCarthy
This is after Liam had me revise it not to include the words "fraudulent, highway robbery".