… the Catholic Church in Windsor, that is.
Yesterday, Bishop Fabbro closed two Catholic churches in Windsor. One of them was St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, where a men’s choir led by Art has been singing every other Sunday for a couple of years now. Since we arrived, Art has involved Bobby in the choir as keyboardist and occasional conductor.
Yesterday, the choir sang for the last time in St. Thomas the Apostle church. According to the Bishop’s decree, there was an “over-capacity of church facilities in Windsor” in relation to the number of practicing Catholics. Furthermore, it was no longer financially feasible to maintain St. Thomas and to continue doing so would take away resources from other activities of the diocese.
We attended the very last Mass that was ever to be celebrated in the church. The all-Filipino male choir and the folk choir took turns singing the mass songs. It was schizophrenic.
I learned that there’s a ritual for closing the church: the Bishop goes around praying in front of the important parts of the church, such as the baptistry, devotional and altar. After the Mass, after everybody has stepped out of the church, the Bishop locks the church doors.
I thought this last act was heart wrenching and the thought brought tears to my eyes, even though I have no emotional attachments to St. Thomas. Andy, a member of the choir, and his wife felt sentimental because two of their children were baptized in St. Thomas.
Afterwards, the church hosted a reception with what parish priest Fr. Tony says is “the best Italian food in town” catered by Koolini. The male choir sang a couple more songs. One thing about this choir: they always sing from the heart.
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Lec, it’s so sad that your parish church closed. This is the reality here in North America, though. There are fewer and fewer people who attend mass and participate in church activities. In Saint Gregory near my house, most of the attendees are Filipinos and really, really old people. The church needs to get the young generation back into the fold.