Bricks and Mortar

   I am not being vindictive in the face of tragedy. I can't help the thoughts that enter my mind, especially during the night. They go back to the closing and abandonment of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Valley Falls, then part of St. John's parish.
    There was outrage and outcry:   " We were married here!  So were our parents. My children made their First Communions here. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the church just a few years ago. The church is home to one of the most renowned pipe organs in the country. All our memories are here!" The pleas to keep the church open were demanding at first, and later plaintive. But all in vain.
   The advice and rationale from those higher up, the decision makers, let the parishioners know the real truth. A building is just a construction of bricks and mortar. The heart of a church, and indeed religion, is in its essence, not in its materials. The Mass can be said anywhere, even outdoors, in the open. The building is just the shell for the celebration of Mass. 
   And so the building for Our Lady of Good Counsel was closed, and left to deteriorate. After, that is, the Desanctification ceremony was conducted.