From Cleveland, a “conservative” parish advertises itself as such….displeases many.
When Matt Minarik and his wife Sarah first walked into St. Stephen eight years ago, they found, to their delight, unpadded wooden kneelers on which to pray. To their left was a stained glass window so finely crafted, they could see the hairs on a Roman soldier’s arm.
The Minariks live in Fairview Park. They found a spiritual home on West 54th Street. “We were struck by the beauty of it,” Matt says. “It was as if the Lord was telling us, ‘This is where you belong.'”Minarik’s embrace of St. Stephen was sudden and sentimental. His attempt to recruit new members is less so. Minarik helped develop a billboard with the headline “Tired of Catholic Compromise?” It touted the church to southbound drivers on I-71 as “Reverent, Conservative, Uncompromising.” This month, St. Stephen will launch TV commercials urging people to “Come home to the church you remember as a child.”
….The ad campaign is certainly unbridled, at least by Catholic standards. The diocese received several complaints about the billboard, and Bishop Anthony Pilla wasn’t pleased. “There’s not a problem with Father Franz trying to recruit Catholics of a more conservative persuasion,” says Pilla’s spokesman, Robert Tayek, “but it’s not proper to belittle anyone else.”
Other priests were not so forthcoming. Father Mark DiNardo of St. Patrick Church in Ohio City offered a terse “No comment” when contacted by phone. Father Jerome Lajack of St. Wendelin simply hung up.
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