As an appeal of the merger of St. Stephen Parish into St. Joseph Parish in Oil City continues to play out in the Vatican court system, leaders in the Oil City Catholic Community say they will spruce up the fence around St. Stephen Church as Oil City 150 festivities continue this summer.
Mark Schroyer, Oil City’s city manager, said the city has asked that work around St. Stephen Church be done. St. Stephen continues to be the site of one weekend Mass every week for the Catholic community while officials wait for a decision from the Vatican.
A steel safety fence was installed around the front and part of two sides of St. Stephen Church in 2018.
In January 2020, Oil City Council directed the Rev. John Miller, pastor of the Oil City Catholic churches, to have the fencing around St. Stephen removed within 30 days.
The directive came after Bob Fry, who owns Short Street Motors across the street from the church, complained at a council meeting about the fencing.
A 45-day extension to remove the fence was granted by the city in February 2020. Then last June, after the removal deadline had passed during Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown of “non-essential ” businesses due to COVID-19, city council, in response to an engineering study, directed the parish to remove the fencing and install a covered walkway within 30 days.
Schroyer said last week that “as far as the city is concerned, safety requirements have been satisfied and the stabilizing on the church towers is working. We’ve seen very little debris come down in the last few months.”
The Rev. Ian McElrath, parochial vicar for the Oil City Catholic Community, said the area of the fence around St. Stephen Church will be cleaned up soon.
“I’m afraid there is only so much you can do to a fence,” he said.
Meanwhile, Schroyer said parish officials have told him things remain at a standstill at St. Stephen Church because of the ongoing appeals of the St. Stephen merger into St. Joseph.
Erie Diocese Bishop Lawrence Persico issued a decree in December 2019 merging St. Stephen into St. Joseph but maintaining mission status for St. Stephen, meaning weekend and holy day Masses could continue at St. Stephen.
Then a group of friends and supporters of St. Stephen Church, represented by Connie Schwabenbauer, appealed Persico’s decision to the Vatican. The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy issued a decree dated Nov. 20, 2020, that upheld Persico’s decree.
Schwabenbauer and her group have now taken their case to a higher Vatican court – the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. McElrath said the appeal to the higher Vatican court will take “a while” to play out.
In the meantime, mission status has continued at St. Stephen Church, and an 8 a.m. Sunday Mass is still celebrated weekly there. McElrath said there are no plans to change that schedule.
Schroyer said parish officials have told him the appeals process could last until the end of this year or into next year. He said the officials have been “receptive” to what the city has to say but “their hands are tied. They don’t know one way or another how things will work out at this point.”
“To bring the church into full compliance would be an expensive project,” Schroyer said.
At this point, Schroyer said, the city is satisfied with the safety measures in place at St. Stephen Church.
Meanwhile, both sides of the ongoing debate have corresponded with parishioners over the last couple of months.
Schwabenbauer sent a letter to the St. Stephen friends and supporters dated March 25. She said the appeal is “still alive in Rome” and the Save St. Stephen Church Committee is continuing to use the services of a canon law attorney.
In the letter, Schwabenbauer requested donations for legal fees associated with the appeal “to assist with the care of St. Stephen Church.”
The letter lists recent investments in Oil City as reasons for optimism about the opportunity for growth and expansion in Oil City, and she said “it’s a shame that our state, city, county and two major corporations are investing in Oil City but our priests and diocese have chosen to destroy a viable parish.”
The petition said the actions by the St. Stephen supporters have jeopardized the potential sale of Our Lady Help of Christians to Emmaus Haven for a homeless shelter for women and their families. And with St. Stephen funds being sequestered, the petition said plans to demolish t the rectory beside St. Stephen School, build a playground and establish an after school program at the school have been forced to halt.
McElrath said Schwabenbauer sent a letter to Miller in response to the petitioners, telling Miller in the letter she has the right to continue her appeals to the Vatican.
“The argument I often hear stated (from St. Stephen supporters) is an insistence we can keep two parishes and they just state it. Show me how,” McElrath said.
McElrath added that the merged parish was budgeted to be operating with a deficit of several hundred thousand dollars this year, and the deficit is currently projected to be more than $250,000, not counting the costs of repairs being made to St. Joseph Church.
The repairs to St. Joseph are being funded through a separate building fund, and recently a “hefty donation” was made by an anonymous donor for repairs on the church, McElrath said.
“We have not been offered a hefty amount for (repairs at) St. Stephen,” McElrath said.
McElrath said it has been hard to make final decisions that would cut costs.
He said the appeal to retain Our Lady Help of Christians Church, an unused church, has kept that building from being put to other uses.
“It is not clear what the intention is there,” McElrath said.
