Batesville Deanery Catholics reflect on decision to close parishes

Janet and Gene Stemmle, members of St. Joseph Parish in St. Leon, and Dave Berkemeier, a member of St. Maurice Parish in Decatur County who is seated behind them, listen to Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin speak during the press conference at St. Louis Church in Batesville on June 6. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

BATESVILLE—Paula Bohman came to St. Louis Church in Batesville on June 6 expecting to hear Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin announce that her parish, St. Anne in Hamburg, would be closed.

A lifelong member of the Batesville Deanery faith community, she had seen the church destroyed by a fire in 1954 and by a tornado 20 years later. In both instances, the families in the parish banded together to rebuild.

While Bohman, 68, still expected that her parish would be closed, she was nonetheless saddened to hear Archbishop Tobin actually make the announcement.
(See a summary of the changes as well as the official decrees)

“I was expecting this, I guess,” Bohman said in comments to The Criterion after the meeting. “I’m a dreamer. I’m always praying for miracles. There was just something about when you get the final word—it was devastating.”

She expressed her sadness in tears when she told the archbishop during a question-and-answer period that this was “the saddest day,” and how hard it was for her to hear that her parish would close. At the same time, she acknowledged the challenges set before Archbishop Tobin in making decisions about the future of so many parishes. (Related: See a statement from Archbishop Tobin)

Archbishop Tobin shared with Bohman and others in attendance how the parish that his mother was a member of in Canada was closed about a decade ago, and the hurt that it caused him and many in his family.

“Those tears, ma’am, were reproduced in my family and in others, too,” Archbishop Tobin said. “That’s what made me so gun-shy to do this, knowing what the pain was. And it’s only after prayer and trying to ask for the light of the Holy Spirit and to say, ‘Lord, I have some idea what this is going to do to your people. Do we have to do it this way?’

“ … But I think the people who made these recommendations knew what they were talking about. … And I think the archdiocese is going to ultimately be healthier. But that doesn’t take away your pain, ma’am. I just want to put it in a larger and maybe more hopeful context.”

Melvin and Sandra Meisberger, members of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in New Marion, are familiar with parish closings.

In 1941, when Melvin was a toddler, the parish was closed when the federal government took over the land on which it sat in order to create the Madison Proving Grounds.

The members of the parish then became members of St. Maurice Parish in Napoleon. But in 1946, the former parishioners asked then Archbishop Paul C. Schulte to re-open the parish in New Marion on the border of the Madison Proving Grounds—a step that he agreed to take.

When Archbishop Tobin announced that he would close their faith community, though, the couple wasn’t surprised or even saddened.

“Our church being closed only makes common sense because we have very few parishioners and they’re all older,” said Sandra. “There are no young people in it.”

For Melvin, 74, hearing the sadness of some people at the meeting regarding the closing of their parishes gave him a new perspective on what his family went through more than 70 years ago.

“I think I got a little feeling of what my parents and grandparents felt when the original [parish] was closed,” he said. “These people are going through what they went through. I realized now what my family went through.”

Father John Meyer, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Greensburg, also serves as the dean of the Batesville Deanery. The experience that he gained in leading Prince of Peace Parish in Madison will help him guide parish leaders and members in his deanery through the changes to occur in the coming months.

In 1990, he became pastor of four parishes in and around Madison in the Seymour Deanery that were in the process of being consolidated into one faith community.

“For the folks in the Seymour Deanery and in Prince of Peace Parish in Madison, there was healing over time,” Father Meyer said after the meeting. “But there was, of course, anger and pain and disappointment when folks had to move to another church that they weren’t comfortable with. And I see that coming in these circumstances.

“Knowing that, I hope I can be a help to the pastors, parish life coordinators, administrators and especially the people in the months ahead.”

Archbishop Tobin, too, recognized the challenges that lie ahead for the Catholics in southeastern Indiana.

“The coming months will bring changes that touch all the faithful of the Batesville Deanery, as well as a particular grief for the members of the parishes that will close,” Archbishop Tobin said. “I truly regret the pain these decisions will cause.

“While I personally know the anguish that comes when having your home parish closed, I am also certain that God is constantly working through us to advance the work of his Church, leading us through sorrow to new and abundant life.” †