Sunday morning mass in Standish stops

By Zachery Lashway
The culture of today’s society and the elements of sacrifice have made the priesthood an unpopular career throughout recent years; thus affecting the Catholic religion worldwide.
The closing of churches is becoming a forgone for the Catholic religion in North America because the shortage of priests and the emphasis society places on money.
Father Ted Crosby says the shortage of priests is a worldwide issue and it is becoming a more current issue for America. “Here in the north-east of the United States the pinch is getting tighter,” he said.
Father Crosby is the pastor for St. Bernard’s Church in Lyon Mountain. In addition to being the pastor there, Father Crosby was the pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Standish; a mission (is a full but smaller parish linked with a bigger parish close by) of Lyon Mountain and Chaplain of the Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility.
St. Michael’s closed in late September due to the shift of population over the years and the ever-increasing shortage of priests. In addition to St. Michael’s closing, Father Crosby resigned as Chaplain of Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility on Wednesday, September 30th because St. Bernard’s was linked with St. Edmund’s in Ellenburg; thus making Father Crosby the pastor there as well.
Linking parishes can become very demanding on the priest, so in all efforts to keep the bigger churches open, the smaller churches that are missions will close and the bigger churches will be linked or merged.
Sister Jennifer Votraw, the Director of Planning and Chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg said it is never easy to close a church; there are many memories people have with the church. “There’s a special bond between the church and its parishioners and it’s very hard to cut off that bond.” Both Sister Votraw and Father Crosby said Bishops are often against closing churches and usually look at that as a last resort.
Sister Votraw said St. Micheal’s closed because it is a smaller church with a lower attendance and St. Bernard’s Church is a nearby option for the parishioner’s to attend mass. Money by no means was a factor in the decision to close the church. According to Father Crosby the little church has money in its account and had approximately 30 families in attendance. If there was an influx of population to the Standish area or an influx of priests, the church could have remained open or someday could possibly open again. But the likelihood is it will become an Oratory once the Vatican appoints our Diocese a Bishop.
Linkage and Merger’s are becoming more common within the Catholic religion. According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg linked parishes are usually two but sometimes three parishes that remain independent but share one pastor. A merged parish is when one or more parishes are merged to create one larger parish. A mission is a full operating church but is usually a smaller parish linked to a bigger parish. An oratory is a church that is no longer an operating parish. The oratory will remain the responsibility of the nearby church that it was a mission of. An oratory does not have regularly scheduled services but it can be used for funerals or in celebration of the oratory’s patronal feast that occurs once a year. The Bishop is the only authority that can deem a church an oratory.
According to A Century – Mining for Souls; Ecumenical Edition 1875 – 1975 St. Michael’s in Standish was built in 1888 with only $20.70 and in 1890 the bell weighing more than 525 pounds was blessed and given the name Michael-Marie-Joseph. St. Michael’s was a mission of St. Bernard’s in Lyon Mountain until 1902. In 1902 St. Michael’s built a rectory and a parish hall. In 1916 the parish hall was remodeled for a parochial school that housed classrooms, a stage and a kitchen. The school was blessed a month after it opened and was named the School of the Blessed Virgin. Sixty students attended the school before it closed in 1924 because of financial difficulties. In 1937 St. Michael’s again became a mission of St. Bernard’s Church where it has remained so today.
Lillian Rabideau, a trustee of St. Michael’s Church for more than 25 years, a board member and a Eucharistic Minister of St. Michael’s Church has been a loyal parishioner since 1951. In addition to her devotion to the church she has done domestic work for St. Michael’s and St. Bernard’s for the past 23 years and will continue to do so.
Lillian Rabideau says she will attend another church but she is trying to find another early mass to take place of the early Sunday morning mass she’s attended for the past 58 years in Standish. “I guess I have to find another church, I don’t have much choice.” She said her routine for Sunday was set around morning mass. “I looked forward for Sunday just to go to church.”
Lillian Rabideau’s daughter-in-law, Patti Rabideau, is a board member of St. Michael’s Church and a long-time parishioner. She said there’s been talk of St. Michael’s closing before she came to town. “Towns people always talked about it closing, it wasn’t till recently it became official talk.”
Both Patti and Lillian Rabideau said St. Michael’s closed because the shortage of priests in the North Country and around the world. Patti Rabideau said, “It’s a lonely life to be a priest, there’s no room for a family.”
Claire and Bernadette Kowalowski said they’ve been going to Sunday morning mass in Standish since 1966. “Almost every Sunday we have gone to 8:30 mass in Standish.” Bernadette said. “It is a nice, quaint little church. It’s a very personal mass.”
Both sisters said the closing of Catholic churches like St. Michael’s could have been avoided if younger Catholics were more involved in the Catholic faith and if there were more priests in the vocation. “I think they should let priests get married, it could attract many men and have prevented the ongoing sex scandal that has brought about a lot of negativity within the faith. We have to work on getting the younger generations back to church too,” explained Claire.
There are currently 105 parishes, 10 missions and 23 oratories in the Diocese of Ogdensburg. St. Michael’s is one of the 10 missions and soon could make oratory number 24.
Father Crosby said, “The linking and merging of churches is just a quick fix. Three priests died this year in the North Country. Over the next five years 15 priests are able to retire in the North Country and younger priests are going to retire at a younger age due to stress.” These numbers only cover the Catholic religion from the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Therefore, the closing of Catholic churches in the North Country is only a sliver of the crisis the Catholic religion faces with the international shortage of priests.