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After almost nine years of uncertainty about its fate, parishioners learned last Sunday that Holy Family parish in Albany will close in the fall.

However, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard announced, the church building will stay open as a shrine church.

In its new incarnation, Holy Family will be renamed "Our Lady of the Americas" in honor of the building's decades-long service to immigrants.

The future of many Hispanic community events and social outreach projects formerly based in the parish hall remains uncertain.

"This is a sad day as we note the beginning of the process to close this venerable institution of Holy Family parish, whose existence was generated by the faith of the German, Irish and Polish immigrants who founded Our Lady of Angels, St. Patrick's and St. Casimir's churches," Bishop Hubbard wrote in a letter to parishioners.

Holy Family parish was formed in 2005 from the merger of those three Albany parishes, all founded in the mid- to late-1800s. St. Patrick's Church, the oldest of the three buildings, was used as the worship site for Holy Family parish.

Hispanic presence
In recent years, Hispanic parishioners became the largest demographic at Holy Family. Priests celebrate Sunday Mass at the parish in both English and Spanish - and, once a month, in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines.

At the start of the "Called to Be Church" pastoral planning process, a local planning group recommended that Holy Family close. After a year and a half of meetings, pastor, Rev. Anthony Kall, OFM Conv., and lay leaders concluded that the parish was not financially viable, according to the Bishop's letter.

Bishop Hubbard wrote that the change "is also a hopeful day as we look to the continuation of the celebration of Mass and the communities who currently worship here giving witness to the Gospel" through the shrine church.

Bishop Hubbard set the closing for October, after the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, in a nod to the Conventual Franciscan friars who have served the community for more than 100 years.

Ministries in flux
The soup kitchen and thrift store at the former St. Patrick's School, now known as Center City Parish Social Ministry, serve hundreds of clients each month.

A food pantry also operates out of the former St. Casimir's convent; a program that supported home-based child care recently closed.

Bishop Hubbard wrote that parish leaders are collaborating with diocesan and Catholic Charities staff on the transition of such ministries.

Holy Family's parish center was used as a place for members of the Hispanic community to gather, celebrate feast days and learn English.

The announcement of the parish closing comes a month after the parish's Hispanic Apostolate minister was reassigned to another region, and a week after the Diocese announced that diocesan Catholic Charities' Hispanic Outreach Services office would close.

The parish center was also home to the New Sanctuary Movement, a service for immigrants in a 12-county radius. New Sanctuary volunteers accompany immigrants to court, provide translation services and advocate for immigrant rights with state government.

Sanctuary
"We are praying and hoping that we will have a home," said Fred Boehrer of the Albany Catholic Worker community, director of New Sanctuary and a parishioner at Holy Family for 14 years.

New Sanctuary receives funding from individual Catholic and Protestant churches.

"With that building's closure comes a sense of loss," said Mr. Boehrer - but, after years of what he described as "limbo," he said "there's a tremendous sense of hope, too, that this is a new beginning for us."

Jose Rivera, a leader in the Catholic Hispanic community in Albany, said he and others will try to keep ministries going as much as lay leaders can.

"It gave me a family. We created a circle of friends," he said of Holy Family. Originally from Puerto Rico, he and his wife volunteered as parish catechists.

"Being a shrine doesn't help us at all," he asserted, since the community has already lost many parishioners in recent years because of the threat of closure.

Mr. Rivera believes his job is to keep the remaining members united.

"The hard work starts with us," he said. "It's truly a sad story, but we'll move on."

PARISH MISSION STATEMENT/DECLARACION DE OBJECTIVOS
We are a multicultural and diverse Catholic community of Center City Albany. As followers of Jesus, we choose to be instruments of peace, healing, and a visible sign of hope to each other and to all in our neighborhood.

Somos una comunidad multicultural católica y diversa del Centro de la Ciudad de Albany, como seguidores de Jesús, nosotros elegimos ser instrumentos de paz, de sanación, y ser signos visibles de esperanza entre nosotros y en todo el vecindario.

(07/29/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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