Between 400 and 500 people attended a Save Our Rural Catholic Churches rally last summer at Holy Family Catholic Church in Sebewaing expressing displeasure with restructuring of diocesan churches. (Photo from BishopAccountability.org)
APOSTOLIC VISITATION: Papal Representative Reported Investigating Bishop
June 4, 2014
By: Dave Rogers
The appeal of about 1,000 area Roman Catholics to Rome has borne fruit.
An apostolic review of Catholic church and school operations in the Saginaw Diocese by a representative of Pope Francis is reportedly underway.
A petition seeking an investigation into the management practices of Bishop Joseph Cistone was filed with the Vatican authorities about six months ago.
Not since the 1896 closing of St. Stanislaus Church by Pope Leo XIII has an emissary of the Vatican conducted a review of church activities in this area.
The following notice was posted on the United Parishes website (NATIONALCATHOLICNEWS.COM) on June 3, 2014:
"United Parishes has just received word from our consultants that, as a result of our Petition Drive back in December and delivered in January, an Apostolic Visitation for the Saginaw Diocese is, in fact, presently underway.
Details of the Visitation are currently being held under wraps, but we will keep you abreast of any new information as it becomes available to us. (Keep in mind that news from Rome is slow in coming.)
Please spread this good news throughout the land, and continue to pray for our cause--the Lord is listening. United Parishes"
Click Here To Visit United Parishes Web Site
Consultant working with local parishes is Peter Borre, of Boston, who was involved as a consultant in the Diocese of Cleveland that had a decision to close 11 parishes reversed by the Congregation for the Clergy. And he heads a Boston group that is involved in such litigation.
Mr. Borre has visited the Saginaw Diocese three times, speaking last year to about 140 interested persons from about 30 parishes at the Bay City Country Club and to dozens at the VFW Hall in Zilwaukee.
Local Catholics have questioned the upcoming closing of about half the churches in the diocese (termed suppression) and the closing of schools.
Catholics have rallied at churches in Pinconning and Sebewaing and have challenged Bishop Cistone's rationale for closing some churches that seem to be viable in finances, number of parishioners and record of successful operation.
Among the parishes where diocesan suppression is slated to take effect July 1, according to the Bishop's order, are St. Matthew, Zilwaukee, St. Hyacinth, St. Joseph and St. Boniface, Bay City, St. Mary's Nine Mile, Pinconning, and Holy Family, Sebewaing.
Parents also have questioned why donations of up to $1.7 million, reportedly offered by wealthy Saginaw business people, to keep schools in Saginaw open were rejected by the bishop.
Requests for financial statements and an audit of the diocesan books have reportedly gone unanswered. Cistone, according to WNEM TV coverage, was also reportedly to be named as a defendant in a 2012 lawsuit in Philadelphia where he formerly served as an assistant bishop. The lawsuit was expected to claim that Cistone covered up charges and shredded documents regarding pedophile priests charged with child abuse.
Link to: WNEM-TV 2012 Cistone Lawsuit Coverage
Events in Bay City in the 1896-1898 period resulted in beatings, stabbings, shootings, death of a "guard" apparently by heart attack, and violence reminiscent of European conflicts.
Riots often broke out during church services and parishioners were beaten with clubs, with women being among the most active attackers.
St. Stanislaus was closed for two years until turmoil subsided. Dissident parishioners living south of 26th Street were given refunds of more than $9,000 that had been donated to St. Stan's and allowed to build their own church, which became St. Hyacinth.