Post by BereniceUK on Apr 2, 2017 7:41:05 GMT
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two area men, who describe themselves as "stubborn agitators" unhappy with the closings of Catholic churches, have rescued a pair of World War II memorial plaques nearly lost in the ongoing demolition of the former St. Catherine's church in Cleveland.
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese, which had taken no steps until Monday to save the items, said through a spokesman that one of the plaques will be preserved by the Catholic Cemeteries Association. It was not immediately clear what will happen to the other plaque, which was damaged during demolition.
Stanislav Zadnik and Joe Feckanin, who retrieved the damaged plaque, said they planned to give it to a veterans group. But the diocese later disputed the pair's right to the property.
Zadnik, of Parma, went to St. Catherine's on East 93rd Street on Friday with a camera after hearing that the church -- closed by the diocese in December 2007 and recently sold -- was being razed.
He snapped several pictures of a crane's giant steel jaws smashing the 96-year-old building, including a shot of the jaws ripping apart the church's pipe organ.
Over the weekend, when the demolition workers were gone, Zadnik and his friend, Feckanin of Seven Hills, returned to the site where they found a number of people rooting through the rubble.
As the group pushed away bricks and beams, they found a damaged 4-by-6-foot plaque containing the names of World War II veterans. Dozens of names were missing because pieces were broken off in the demolition.
They then noticed another plaque of the same size bolted to a surviving wall inside the gutted church. That one was intact.
"We found them by accident," said Zadnik, who like Feckanin is a member of Code Purple, a group that has been battling the Cleveland diocese over a downsizing that has included the closings of 50 churches during the last two years.
Zadnik and Feckanin couldn't get to the plaque inside St. Catherine's, but, they said, the demolition contractor told them Monday that workers would remove the plaque and give it to them.
Zadnik and Feckanin said they were planning to turn the plaques over to a veterans group, but the diocese said later Monday that the undamaged plaque, still fixed to a wall, will be given to the Catholic Cemeteries Association.
Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek accused Zadnik of taking the damaged plaque, saying he was in possession of stolen property.
Zadnik denied the accusation. "It was given to us by the contractor in front of four policemen," he said. "I have witnesses. If Tayek's calling me a thief, that's slander."
The plaques are made of wood and hand-painted to look like bronze. Each piece contains more than 200 names.
Meanwhile, demolition workers Monday discovered a time capsule from 1915 in the cornerstone of the building.
Tayek said the time capsule will be given to the Rev. Philip Bernier at Holy Spirit church , which received many of St. Catherine's religious artifacts after it closed.
After closing St. Catherine, the diocese merged the parish with the parishes of St. Timothy and St. Henry. The new parish, Holy Spirit, is at the site of what was St. Timothy's in Garfield Heights.
In August, the diocese sold the St. Catherine property, which includes a school building, to a charter school, Imagine Cleveland Academy.
The diocese continues to run a food pantry at one of the buildings on the site.
Imagine Principal Pharon West said the church site will be turned into a playground. She said she was not aware of the World War II plaques or the pipe organ in the church.
"The diocese said they had cleared everything out," she said. "They said there was nothing left of value to them."
Tayek said, "The plaques were located in an area of the church, the bell tower, which was unusable and had been closed off as unsafe for some time. ... No one came forward to ask about these items" since the church closed about four years ago.
Zadnik said the diocese should have made an effort to remove the plaques out of respect for the men and women fought in the war.
"Two men, a ladder and a screw driver could have removed those plaques in one hour," he said. "They had three-and-a-half years to get them out of there. And they couldn't afford one hour? That's disrespect."
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/09/war_memorial_plaques_retreived.html
parishsouvenirs.blogspot.co.uk/
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese, which had taken no steps until Monday to save the items, said through a spokesman that one of the plaques will be preserved by the Catholic Cemeteries Association. It was not immediately clear what will happen to the other plaque, which was damaged during demolition.
Stanislav Zadnik and Joe Feckanin, who retrieved the damaged plaque, said they planned to give it to a veterans group. But the diocese later disputed the pair's right to the property.
Zadnik, of Parma, went to St. Catherine's on East 93rd Street on Friday with a camera after hearing that the church -- closed by the diocese in December 2007 and recently sold -- was being razed.
He snapped several pictures of a crane's giant steel jaws smashing the 96-year-old building, including a shot of the jaws ripping apart the church's pipe organ.
Over the weekend, when the demolition workers were gone, Zadnik and his friend, Feckanin of Seven Hills, returned to the site where they found a number of people rooting through the rubble.
As the group pushed away bricks and beams, they found a damaged 4-by-6-foot plaque containing the names of World War II veterans. Dozens of names were missing because pieces were broken off in the demolition.
They then noticed another plaque of the same size bolted to a surviving wall inside the gutted church. That one was intact.
"We found them by accident," said Zadnik, who like Feckanin is a member of Code Purple, a group that has been battling the Cleveland diocese over a downsizing that has included the closings of 50 churches during the last two years.
Zadnik and Feckanin couldn't get to the plaque inside St. Catherine's, but, they said, the demolition contractor told them Monday that workers would remove the plaque and give it to them.
Zadnik and Feckanin said they were planning to turn the plaques over to a veterans group, but the diocese said later Monday that the undamaged plaque, still fixed to a wall, will be given to the Catholic Cemeteries Association.
Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek accused Zadnik of taking the damaged plaque, saying he was in possession of stolen property.
Zadnik denied the accusation. "It was given to us by the contractor in front of four policemen," he said. "I have witnesses. If Tayek's calling me a thief, that's slander."
The plaques are made of wood and hand-painted to look like bronze. Each piece contains more than 200 names.
Meanwhile, demolition workers Monday discovered a time capsule from 1915 in the cornerstone of the building.
Tayek said the time capsule will be given to the Rev. Philip Bernier at Holy Spirit church , which received many of St. Catherine's religious artifacts after it closed.
After closing St. Catherine, the diocese merged the parish with the parishes of St. Timothy and St. Henry. The new parish, Holy Spirit, is at the site of what was St. Timothy's in Garfield Heights.
In August, the diocese sold the St. Catherine property, which includes a school building, to a charter school, Imagine Cleveland Academy.
The diocese continues to run a food pantry at one of the buildings on the site.
Imagine Principal Pharon West said the church site will be turned into a playground. She said she was not aware of the World War II plaques or the pipe organ in the church.
"The diocese said they had cleared everything out," she said. "They said there was nothing left of value to them."
Tayek said, "The plaques were located in an area of the church, the bell tower, which was unusable and had been closed off as unsafe for some time. ... No one came forward to ask about these items" since the church closed about four years ago.
Zadnik said the diocese should have made an effort to remove the plaques out of respect for the men and women fought in the war.
"Two men, a ladder and a screw driver could have removed those plaques in one hour," he said. "They had three-and-a-half years to get them out of there. And they couldn't afford one hour? That's disrespect."
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/09/war_memorial_plaques_retreived.html
parishsouvenirs.blogspot.co.uk/