The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon is retiring, effective immediately, because he’s been diagnosed with vascular dementia.
“Given the progressive nature of this illness, Pope Francis has accepted my request for an early retirement,” the 69-year-old Lennon said Wednesday morning at a news conference at Cathedral Square Plaza in Cleveland.
As he stood at a podium and with a large crucifix on the wall behind his left shoulder, Lennon said it was a privilege to serve and asked for people to pray for him.
People with vascular dementia have less blood flowing to the brain, which can impact memory, thinking and behavior. It is one of the most common forms of dementia.
Lennon, who did not take questions at the news conference, had led the local church since he was named bishop in April 2006. He will now focus on his health and remain in Cleveland, where his medical team is.
The Rev. Daniel Edward Thomas, the bishop of the Diocese of Toledo, will oversee the Cleveland diocese until the pope makes a permanent appointment. There is no specific time frame for naming a new bishop, the diocese said.
Thomas, 57, called Lennon’s request for early retirement “both a humble and courageous act — one that speaks volumes to his love for the local church and his desire that the people of God receive the pastoral care they need.”
The Diocese of Cleveland is the 23rd largest diocese in the U.S., overseeing nearly 700,000 Catholics in Cuyahoga, Summit, Lorain, Lake, Geauga, Medina, Wayne and Ashland counties.
There are 185 parishes, 114 Catholic schools, a pastoral center and a mission office within the diocese.
Lennon was the 10th bishop of the Cleveland diocese, which was created in 1847. He replaced Cleveland-born Bishop Anthony Pilla, who retired after serving 25 years.
Pilla had been hesitant to shutter churches he had known for much of his life, closing only 12 during his tenure despite increasing financial pressures.
Lennon, whose Boston accent was a constant reminder of his outsider status, signaled from the start he would bring change to Northeast Ohio.
Lennon — who served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Boston and was apostolic administrator there from December 2002 to July 2003 — had already shuttered scores of churches in the region where he spent most of his life.
About three years after Lennon arrived in the Rust Belt, the diocese sent letters to 224 parishes, announcing 52 closures and mergers. Most of the churches impacted were in former factory cities Cleveland, Lorain and Akron.
Population shift
Lennon explained at the time that Catholics had left the cities for the suburbs. The Catholic population in Cleveland, for example, declined by more than 60 percent since 1950 and yet the parishes hadn’t changed. That led to 42 percent of diocese parishes operating in the red.
There also weren’t enough priests to go around, Lennon said. There were 257 active diocesan priests in 2009, compared with 427 in 1990 and 565 in 1970.
Under Lennon’s reconfiguration, Akron would lose five churches through mergers: Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, St. Hedwig and Christ the King. And SS Cyril & Methodius in Barberton would close.
Many parishioners understood the dollars and sense behind the restructuring. But critics — especially those hurt and angry that their parishes were among those closing — soon nicknamed Lennon “The Boston Strangler,” local media reported.
Threats and protests at several churches followed, along with an appeal to the Vatican.
In 2012, the Vatican ruled Lennon failed to follow proper procedures when closing or merging 13 of 52 parishes, including St. Mary and St. John the Baptist in Akron. Those two struggling Akron churches, which had been forced to merge with stronger parishes, reopened, along with several more.
Lennon, meanwhile, pushed forward with a plan to stabilize future finances. The diocese, through the Catholic Community Foundation, in 2010 launched Rooted in Faith — Forward in Hope, the diocese’s largest-ever fundraising drive to build an endowment fund that could help diocese schools, church upkeep and other needs.
In 2013, Lennon said the effort generated $171 million, about 37 percent more than anticipated.
Local school helped
Akron’s St. Mary School was among the first beneficiaries, landing an $80,000 grant from the fund in 2013 to update the restrooms in its nearly century-old building.
Some say Lennon’s legacy in Cleveland was helping suburban parishes at the expense of some city churches.
But the Rev. Jonathan Zingales, who leads Visitation of Mary Parish in Akron’s Goodyear Heights, disagrees.
Zingales is the only priest to lead the parish, which was formed in 2009 after Lennon had St. John the Baptist and Annunciation churches merge.
St. John the Baptist, because of the Vatican ruling, has since reopened. But about three years had passed since the merger and Visitation of Mary Parish remained open, retaining its merger name.
Zingales said Wednesday that Lennon’s lasting legacy is helping city churches survive through the Rooted in Faith — Forward in Hope fund that helped St. Mary School and other long-delayed needs across the diocese.
Until the fund was established, Zingales said, parishes were responsible for their own upkeep.
“Under Bishop Lennon, when churches have those needs and can’t afford them, there’s a vehicle to get those projects taken care of,” he said.
That solved some of the problems, but whoever the new bishop is will likely face some of the old problems both Lennon and Pilla had because some churches in the diocese, particularly those that reopened after the Vatican overruled Lennon, are not self-sustaining.
“The bishop had to do what he had to do,” Zingales said. “He acted in good stewardship.”
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ . Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.