FRIARDOM

TIMES...THEY ARE A CHANGIN'

There are good times and bad times; times to cry and times to laugh. There are memories unbreakable from the events of the past which clutch at our very souls. Such is the current time in a long memorialized town in Western Pennsylvania where coal and steel shared the throne in the 20th century.

Now with bailouts and fallouts in our economic systems, faith is strained and loyal hearts tried as church after church fades from the religious scene. Lack of vocations with the Church and other forces are ever at work to effect the closure of churches in Cambria City when the banks of the Connemaugh flowed past our two Franciscan staffed Churches. Such is the case in this beloved Johnstown where I spent several years with the enthusiastic, hard working, faithfully worshiping people of St. Casimir Emerich and St. Columbas Sue Paonessa has kept me in touch with the ongoing saga and I am grateful to her for her loyalty and hard work in communicating to the public the church story. The current issue of the Casismir Emerich Newsletter depicts the last Christmas at these two churches. The activities could be thought of as dampened but the Spirit of the people of God struggles to comprehend the state of the Union.

Pictured here are some pics of the activities of the past few months. More at:

www.webparish.com/aj/casimirandemerich

and

www.friar555.net/newslet8.html