KEEP TROY'S IRISH PARISHES OPEN

SULLIVAN FOR CONGRESS  21st District, New York   

 

June 14, 2008

Contact: JPS 438 5230

 

                SULLIVAN SAYS DON'T CLOSE TROY PARISHES

 

Joseph P Sullivan, of Albany, Democratic candidate for Congress said, today, that the Diocese of Albany should not close the 3 Irish parish churches in Troy.

 

It was reported in the media,  that St. Paul the Apostle and St Peter's would be closed this year, followed by St. Patrick's next year.

 

Sullivan said as oil becomes too expensive , rationed, and unavialable at any price , suburban Catholics  commuters  will   return to Troy, Albany, Schenectady, Watervliet, Cohoes, Rensselaer and Green Island.

 

Churches and neighborhood schools are essential to the maintenance and revitalization of urban neighborhoods, Sullivan said.

 

In addition, legal Latin American and Asian immigrants, many of whom are Catholic, are moving into these cities, Also, new condo housing is being built which is attracting new residents from downstate  New York , many of whom are also Catholic.

 

It is shortsighted to close and lose these solidly built churches, when an urban renaissance  is just around the corner, Sullivan said.

 

The Irish, Italian, German and Polish parishes of these cities, were home to generations of hard working immigrants who built this country. Their parish churches should remain open out of respect to their memory, said Sullivan.

 

In Europe churches remain open for centuries. For example, Sullivan said that St Catherine's Church in Eyeries Village on the Beara Peninsula,in West Cork Ireland is the same church that his father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather attended.

 

Most of the local population emigrated to the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and England, but the church remains open and a cornerstone of local life, even with a much smaller population today.

 

Sullivan urges the Bishop to reconsider and keep the Troy parishes open, as well as to review closings  that are planned, or that have already occurred, in Troy, Schenectady, Albany, Watervliet, Cohoes, Rensselaer, and Green Island.

 

                                                    ###