Near Albany, New York, as with so much of the country, they’re dealing with parish closings and consolidations. The members of one closed parish found that they missed one another so much, they decided to “gather us in” — and continue a decades-long tradition:

Emotions are still running high for many of the former parishioners of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, a church that became a casualty in June 2006 of a consolidation plan by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

Dozens of people came together Sunday at Hudson Shores Park for a barbecue on the day that was historically set aside for their church’s summer bizarre, said reunion coordinator Joann Mackey.
“We had the annual bizarre for more than 60 years. … In this past year, we’ve missed the fellowship we shared so decided to plan a get-together today,” she said.

The Diocese last year agreed to the formation of a single parish at Immaculate Heart of Mary with worship sites at St. Patrick’s and St. Brigid’s in Watervliet and St. Joseph’s in Green Island.

Mackey and many of the people at the reunion were quick to bemoan the diocese’s decision to close their church. In fact, they made an appeal to the Vatican in November to reverse the decision and expect to hear word soon about the outcome.

“We believe the bishop’s (Howard Hubbard) overall long-term plan is to close all of the diocese’s small churches and have only a few large churches. Then he’ll have more money for the cathedral,” Mackey said.

Read the whole thing. The folks are understandably pretty emotional about their old parish.

It makes you realize that the price of a closure like this isn’t measured in dollars saved — and that the true value of a parish isn’t in buildings or facilities.