Vigil planned over concerns that Saint Thecla parish may be closing

by BRIAN NADIG

A vigil supporting the Saint Thecla parish will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in the church parking lot over concerns that the parish campus may be closed as part of a plan to merge several Northwest Side parishes.

The Archdiocese of Chicago is scheduled to formally announce details on the consolidation of the Saint Thecla, Saint Tarcissus and Saint Cornelius parishes at a meeting at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Saint Thecla Church, 6725 W. Devon Ave.

Saint Thecla parish finance committee chairman Bill O’Hara said that the final recommendation of the archdiocese’s Presbyteral Council to Cardinal Blase Cupich reportedly calls for the closing of Saint Thecla and Saint Cornelius parish campuses and for the 4.9-acre Saint Thecla site to be put up for sale.

In addition, the Saint Thecla School and Pope Francis Global Academy North Campus would be merged into one building and housed at Saint Tarcissus, 6040 W. Ardmore Ave.

Chicago Public Schools has been seeking a lease for the former Saint Cornelius School, 5252 N. Long Ave. for several years.

O’Hara said that the recommendation to Cupich was recently “leaked” and that Cupich was expected to be making the final decision this week. O’Hara said that it is his understanding that the council’s recommendation is usually followed.

The archdiocese could not be reached for a comment.

On social media some parishioners have said that the vigil will be conducted in a respectful manner and is intended to send a final message to the archdiocese that the community wants the parish campus to stay open.

O’Hara said that the Saint Thecla parish and school are both operating in the black and that the reported recommendation to close the campus came as a surprise to many parishioners.

Some parishioners have expressed concern that the decision to close Saint Thecla may have been influenced late in the process by a Sept. 30 inquiry which 41st Ward Alderman Anthony Napolitano’s office made to the archdiocese.

His office asked if a proposed pre-K center for CPS could be housed in the Saint Thecla School building if it were to be closed. Many residents have expressed opposition to the current proposal to build the center on the campus of Norwood Park School, 5900 N. Nina Ave.

“CPS has not even looked at Saint Thecla,” Napolitano said on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

Napolitano said that a representative of the archdiocese informed his staff that any discussion on the matter would have to be delayed until mid-November and that there may not be any options available, depending on the outcome of the consolidation plan.

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Napolitano said that the inquiry was not meant to influence the archdiocese’s decision-making process.

“I’m a Catholic school boy, and half of my friends went to that school. Why would I do that?” Napolitano said.

In late summer the archdiocese announced plans to merge the three parishes into one parish with a new name and that a decision would be made this fall on which of the three church sites would remain open. The archdiocese looked at one-, two- and three-church models.

Under its “Renew My Church” initiative, the archdiocese is looking at merging parishes and schools across the Chicago area.