Foreclosing on Faith: America's Church Closing Crisis (Documentary) NJ

You are invited to a documentary screening with talks by the director/producer, Viktoria Somogyi, and lawyer Brody Hale. Q&A.

Released in 2017, Foreclosing on Faith documents dramatic struggles that were then taking place in Cleveland, Boston, and New York which pitted faithful Catholics against bishops over church closures.

But the battles are still going on.

The Newark Archdiocese is presently undertaking a program of downsizing known as “We Are His Witnesses.” It will likely result in a considerable decrease in the number of Catholic parishes and churches in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. The archdiocese’s decision to shrink its footprint mirrors similar decisions taken by other dioceses around the country, including the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Camden. In nearly all of cases of parish mergers and church closure, Catholics whose parishes and churches were targeted have been caught offguard and unaware of their rights, leaving them unable to exercise those rights before the time they have to do so runs out. The aim of this presentation is to discuss the root causes of parish and church closures and to educate Catholics about the options and rights they have if they find their parish on the list when the Archdiocese of Newark releases it in the late spring or early summer of this year.

We’ll watch Foreclosing on Faith and we’ll hear from the film’s co-producer and co-director, Viktoria Somogyi. We’ll also hear from Brody Hale, a lawyer who has for more than a decade made it his personal mission to help Catholics fighting to keep their churches from being shuttered, sold, and demolished or put to profane use.

There will be a panel discussion and a question-answer opportunity.

The event is free, but registration is required.

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Our Speakers:

Co-producer and -director of Foreclosing on Faith, Viktoria Somogyi is a Hungarian journalist and economist based in Rome, Italy. For more than twenty years, she has served as an editor for the Hungarian program of Vatican Radio. She has also worked extensively as a freelance Vatican and Rome correspondent for numerous international publications, magazines, radio stations, and online news outlets, and has contributed to an American Catholic monthly.

In Rome, Viktoria founded and led the Hungarian edition of H2Onews, a multimedia news service now known as Aleteia. In 2015, she co-authored her first book, published by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV); the volume was selected for the Frankfurt Book Fair the same year. In 2017, she completed her first documentary examining church closings in the United States.

A native of Massachusetts, Brody Hale has a private law practice with a focus on nonprofit organizations, social entrepreneurship, and conservation. He holds a BA from Tufts University, a JD from Boston College Law School, and an MPP from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

An expert in Canon Law, Brody has for over a decade provided pro bono assistance to groups of Catholics fighting to prevent their churches from being closed by dioceses. He is currently working on behalf of 21 different groups around the country whose churches are threatened with closure.

Brody serves as a member of the board of directors of the St. Joseph Church Preservation Society (Cabery, IL) and the St. Michael Church Preservation Society (Atlantic City, NJ). He is a co-founder of Save Rome of the West. His work to preserve historic Roman Catholic churches has been featured in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, the Chicago Sun Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Worcester Telegram, the Fall River Herald, and the National Catholic Register.

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This screening event is free, but if you would like to make a donation to help us and other groups of Catholics who are fighting to keep our churches open, you can donate via check to Save Rome of the West on the evening of the event or by clicking the link above. The website offers information and resources to help you keep your church open!