FINAL BELL

Judge dismisses challenge to Monongahela church’s closure

A Washington County judge has dismissed a lawsuit by five former parishioners challenging the closure of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Monongahela.

Judge Katherine B. Emery ruled that she could not review the decision by Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh because it would involve an unconstitutional meddling in religious affairs.

Doing so would require the court to consider church law and “analyze whether Bishop Zubik properly considered the pastoral and financial needs of the parish in deciding to close St. Anthony,” Judge Emery wrote in her Nov. 3 decision. “The First Amendment and progeny of Pennsylvania cases that have examined this issue prevent this court from making that ecclesiastical inquiry.”

Bishop Zubik had merged St. Anthony with nearby Transfiguration Parish to create the new

St. Damien of Molokai Parish in 2011 due to decreasing finances and parishioners. The parish initially continued to use both buildings while studying whether to do so for the long term.

After that process, Bishop Zubik closed the St. Anthony building in 2014 and continued to use the Transfiguration building for parish activities.

Some parishioners unsuccessfully appealed the closure to the Vatican and even briefly occupied it after its final Mass in 2014.

They sued Bishop Zubik and the diocese in January 2017, alleging that the bishop defrauded them by encouraging donations of time and money toward St. Anthony even though they alleged he always planned to close it.

But Judge Emery, after recounting the steps the diocese took to study the case, said she could not second-guess a decision on whether one building or another had a better location or more parking to best serve the faithful.

Bishop Zubik said Wednesday he hopes that the resolution of the case would enable St. Damien to “finally come together” and move beyond the tensions.

“All the way along there were a small group of people who needed to be heard, and they exhausted every one of the avenues available to them,” he said.

The ruling shows “we do our homework,” he said, which he said continues as the diocese prepares to announce next year a widespread merger of parishes.

“When I make decisions after listening to consultative bodies, it is a solid decision,” he said. “It isn’t a matter of whim.”

A call to the plaintiff’s attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday.