ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Parishioners of Saint Boniface Parish,

For over one hundred years, the faithful parishioners of Saint Boniface parish have sacrificed to make this parish a place of reverent worship, to create excellent academic opportunities for both Catholics and non-Catholics through its elementary school, and to serve as a source of compassionate outreach for those who are poor and need food and other material necessities. Saint Boniface parish offered these services under the inspirational leadership of the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, together with the dedicated service of many religious women and committed lay teachers, workers and volunteers.

This parish community continues to offer a powerful witness to the faith and face of Catholic Christianity 2,000 years after Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the physical structures that form St. Boniface parish are not as resilient. Your most prominent symbol, the parishs beautiful church, is structurally deteriorating daily, as demonstrated by the protective scaffolding now encircling the building. Its primary construction material, brownstone, has a serviceable life of 100 years. The church, built in the late 1880s, is now over 120 years old.

The Redemptorists, who own the parish buildings and property, recently commissioned a physical assessment of all the parish structures. They would need to invest close to $7 million to make the buildings safe for parish and school use. This estimate does not include any renovations beyond the immediate and basic safety and maintenance repairs. A true renovation requires significantly greater funds and would only provide a short-term solution as the brownstone structure would continue to decline; this is not wise stewardship. It is impossible to ensure the safety of these buildings for Mass, parish events, or school activities in the future. While this communitys soul, its faith life, is vibrant and strong, the physical structures are dying.

During the past two decades, the population of St. Boniface parish decreased considerably. Although you are generous, the number of parishioners providing financial support is inadequate to maintain even the ordinary pastoral and academic programs.

Currently St. Boniface parish receives significant financial support from the Archdiocese and the Redemptorists. Even with this financial support, the parish cannot pay bills related to insurance, health care and pension for employees as well as other previous bills, which remain as a parish debt to the Archdiocese of almost $110,000.

Nevertheless, the Redemptorists are completely committed to serving the people of Saint Boniface parish and neighborhood. They have ministered to these people for over a century and wish to continue to serve and to share their lives with you, wonderful, faith-filled people, going forward.
The Archdiocese and the Redemptorists struggled to find a solution to these daunting challenges. Both parties wished for a resolution that would enable the Redemptorists to continue to meet your pastoral needs, offered within safe physical structures appropriate for worship, community gatherings, and education those buildings that serve the heart of parish life.

After long, serious and prayerful deliberation by the Archdiocese and the Redemptorists, it was mutually decided that Saint Boniface parish will unite with Visitation B.V.M. Parish (Lehigh Avenue), and that Visitation B.V.M. parish will be entrusted to the Redemptorists. This ensures that the people of St. Boniface have a faith community in which to offer their many gifts and talents, and that your parishs Redemptorist community will help this transition through its presence among the people at Visitation B.V.M.

This is, indeed, a very difficult and painful, but necessary decision. Your pastor, Father Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., and your parish priests struggled to find other alternatives, but the challenges were too great. St. Boniface can no longer sustain itself as a separate parish due to the declining population, the deteriorating buildings, and the enormous financial challenges. With Cardinal Rigalis approval, Saint Boniface parish, therefore, will be suppressed as a parish, effective June 30, 2006. All parishioners will immediately become members of Visitation B.V.M. parish and can attend Mass and all parish events at Visitation B.V.M. parish.

At the Redemptorists recommendation, Cardinal Rigali has appointed Father Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., as Pastor of Visitation B.V.M. parish, effective March 15, 2006. Father Lewandowski will serve as pastor of both parishes until July 1, 2006, at which time he will remain as Pastor of Visitation B.V.M. parish. Father James Cascione, C.Ss.R. will remain as Parochial Vicar. Father Augusto Concha will remain as Parochial Vicar of Visitation B.V.M. parish until June 30, 2006, at which time he will be reassigned. Father Gary Kramer, current Parochial Administrator of Visitation B.V.M. Parish will be reassigned at the time Father Lewandowski assumes his appointment as Pastor of Visitation B.V.M. parish.

We recognize that this is a challenge to the parishioners of St. Boniface parish and of Visitation B.V.M. parish. But with every challenge, God creates an opportunity. As you move through the grieving process for the loss of St. Boniface parish and enter into the life of Visitation B.V.M. parish, please consider how you can continue to honor St. Bonifaces century-old, faith-filled legacy of witnessing gospel values as the living body of Christ today. Structures and finances are transitory but helping to build the kingdom of God is our baptismal call as Catholic Christians. In this new community, you will enrich the Visitation B.V.M. parish through your presence and the dedicated service of the Redemptorists.

At the same time that the Redemptorists were assessing the structural stability of the St. Boniface buildings, the Archdiocese was also weighing how best to serve the students in its parish elementary schools and to maintain the enrollment levels necessary to keep Catholic education available across the Archdiocese. With its considerable financial challenges, St. Boniface School, like a number of other parish schools, could not meet the rising cost of salaries, benefits, utilities, insurance, repairs and other operational expenses through tuition and the limited parish contributions a reality we see all too often in parish schools across the United States.

In addition, to operate two separate parish elementary schools would divide, rather than leverage, resources at Visitation B.V.M. parish. We seek to have one parish community with a united, yet culturally diverse identity. Two separate schools could foster competitive comparisons, confusion about which school is the parish school and disenchantment. Tomorrows future Church, our children, deserve educational opportunities that can only be properly provided when there is a clear identity, adequate enrollment, and affordable resources.

Unfortunately, these facts, combined with St. Bonifaces deteriorating parish facilities, mean that Saint Boniface School will close at the end of this academic year, June, 2006. This is certainly sad news for the children, parents, teachers, and school administration who share a very special bond.
The Archdiocese and the parish will work closely with all St. Boniface School parents to identify available Catholic educational opportunities for their children in parish schools close to where the families live. At this time, Visitation B.V.M. School can accommodate a considerable number of students, as can Saint Peter the Apostle School at Fifth Street and Girard Avenue.

The Office for Catholic Education will help the current teachers at Saint Boniface School to find teaching positions in our Catholic elementary schools. Some of these teachers may have the opportunity to follow their students into the new schools in which they enroll.

These life passages always include pain and suffering: a small child misses the security of his school desk by the window; a mother changes her work schedule to add ten minutes to the time allotted to pick up her daughter after school; a highly qualified principal steps down from her familiar, hard-earned role to look for a new job; a man leaves the parish in which he married his wife, baptized his children and mourned his parents deaths. And it is later, only when the crisis passes, that we recognize the presence of the Spirit, calling forth the new growth in all of us.

Although saddened by these very difficult decisions, the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province are happy that they found a way to continue to minister to the St. Boniface parish family, while growing its community life through its inclusion with Visitation B.V.M. parish.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Redemptorists hope that you understand that these decisions were reached after a challenging and painful process. They seek your prayers and ask for your cooperation as this new vision of parish becomes a reality for St. Boniface and Visitation B.V.M. families.

With Gods grace and the support of all concerned, through this reorganization the parish will experience many blessings, will strengthen the presence of the Catholic Church in this part of the Archdiocese, and live the life of Easter people.