Cohoes parishes merge into one community

The closing of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's Church in Cohoes will be marked at a Feb. 22 ceremony during which parishioners of the 101-year-old church will join with the nearby St. Marie's community to celebrate the formation of a new parish family.

At 2 p.m., two simultaneous liturgies will begin at the parishes; Deacon Owen South will preside at St. Agnes/St. Patrick's, and Deacon Albert Schrempf will preside at St. Marie's. During the liturgies, the two congregations will leave their respective churches and meet in the gymnasium at Cohoes Catholic School, where they will process to St. Marie's as one group.

Rev. Arthur Becker, administrator of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's and pastor of St. Marie's, will conclude the joint liturgy.

Moment of faith

Father Becker believes the ceremony will help ease the pain caused by the closing of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's while promoting unity between its parishioners and those at St. Marie's.

"It's important to ritualize that and give people a sense of this being done in prayer and in community," Father Becker told The Evangelist. "We need that letting go and that coming together."

The closing of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's became official at the end of January; Father Becker broke the news to his parishioners Feb. 7. Although they seemed understanding and supportive of the decision, "there was obviously a sadness," he said. "A sadness coupled by a reality that it had to be. You know as much as you would like to keep things going the way they are, they cannot be."

Coming together

The joint pastoral council of the two parishes had been studying the possibility of closing St. Agnes/St. Patrick's for several years and evaluating "where we were as a Church, what was the mission we were trying to reflect, what could we do most effectively with the resources that we had," Father Becker said.

During this process, the parish conducted meetings to keep parishioners informed and hosted such speakers as Sister Kathleen Turley, RSM, diocesan chancellor of planning and pastoral services, to discuss options.

Finances and demographics appeared to be the biggest problem facing St. Agnes/St. Patrick's. The building needs approximately $750,000 in repair work, and the money simply isn't there, Father Becker said. As for demographics, the aging congregation of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's and the decreasing number of Baptisms at the parish during the 1990s -- there were 34 in 1990 and just five last year -- also indicated that it was time for a change.

Proposal accepted

The joint pastoral council submitted its final proposal for St. Agnes/St. Patrick's to Bishop Howard J. Hubbard last December. Among its recommendations were the closing of the St. Agnes/St. Patrick's church building, the official merger of the parish with St. Marie's, the renaming of the new parish community, and the continued involvement of Father Becker and Deacons South and Schrempf in the parish. Bishop Hubbard accepted the proposal.

"This was a parish decision that went to the Diocese, not the other way around," Father Becker emphasized. "We took the initiative."

Although the merged parish of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's and St. Marie's will begin to function officially with Ash Wednesday Mass on Feb. 25, the parishes have been collaborating in ministry for several years. Father Becker has served liturgically at both parishes since 1995, they have a joint pastoral council, and there have been joint Reconciliation services, adult education and religious education programs.

"We formalized what has been the reality here for some time," Father Becker noted.

Transition

In addition to the Feb. 22 ceremony, Father Becker hopes to offer programs or invite speakers to visit St. Marie's to help make the transition smooth and to help parishioners of St. Agnes/St. Patrick's deal with any feelings of loss or grief that they might be experiencing.

The parish also will be renamed, and parishioners will be asked to offer their suggestions.

Kathy Kawola, co-chairperson of the joint pastoral council, is disappointed to see St. Agnes/St. Patrick's close. Her children have been married at the church and attended the former St. Agnes School, so the parish means a lot to her personally. Nevertheless, she realizes that closing the church makes sense, and most parishioners seem to agree.

"They all understand that, financially, it was very difficult to keep things going," she said.

Promising future

She also pointed out how much time, prayer and effort were involved in the decision to close the church, and hopes "that what we've done might help other parishes to go through it."

Mrs. Kawola believes that the new parish community created by the merger will meet the spiritual needs of worshippers of all ages.

"I think we'll have a lot to offer the young, middle-aged and the elderly by combining resources and helping each other more," she said.

Paul Quinlan, co-chairperson of the joint pastoral council, also wishes St. Agnes/St. Patrick's didn't have to close, but he knows the future of the new parish community with St. Marie's is bright.

A parishioner of St. Marie's for 37 years, he said his fellow parishioners look forward to joining St. Agnes/St. Patrick's parishioners in worship and ministry.

"I don't think there's a distinction with the majority of people. It's become one community," he said.

(02-19-98) [[In-content Ad]]