'Somber day of separation': Phoenix's St. Mary's Basilica faces new leadership
The ringing of bells at St. Mary's Basilica diverted Eduardo Martinez and Brenden Rosenthal from their Saturday morning routine. Their stroll to the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market turned into a stop at the storied house of worship.
The 10 a.m. Mass marked the ending of the friars' 127-year shepherding of the church as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix assumes possession of the basilica located on North 3rd Street near East Van Buren in downtown. All but one of the four parish's friars are leaving Phoenix.
A lack of young Franciscan friars seeking to be parish priests led to the withdrawal.
Martinez, a 30-year-old lifelong Phoenix Catholic, had not been to church in a couple of months. Rosenthal, 25, is not religiously affiliated, but likes accompanying Martinez to Mass. Both men were surprised to learn of the historic change.
"I hope it will be the same," Martinez said, mentioning he knows many of the church's members whom he usually sees during Wednesday Mass. "Hopefully I can continue with my weekly ritual."
One clergyman, meanwhile, assured the transition would not affect the ways of the church as the faithful know them.
"I'm just here to be a steward," said St. Mary's new pastor, Father John Muir. "I'm not coming in with some huge plan other than helping the parish be what it is."
'This is my home': After 127 years, Franciscans to leave Phoenix's St. Mary's Basilica
Solemnity reverberates among parishioners
Still, concerns about the church's future permeated the mood among the roughly 60-75 parishioners scattered throughout the basilica's oak pews.
Connie Meza has been a parishioner at St. Mary's for eight decades. The 85-year-old joined when she started school there at 5, one of eight children in her family to be educated through St. Mary's. Horses were common in downtown Phoenix in those days, she recalled.
St. Mary's, whose construction was completed around 1915 and became a minor basilica in 1985, was and should remain a cultural beacon for the city, Meza said. But she fears the friars' exit from power will hit the area hard.
"This is really a displacement of community and people," Meza said, adding the Franciscans in the early 20th century "were synonymous to the county and to the Catholic faith."
At the basilica's lectern, Deacon Santino Bernasconi contrasted the celebratory June 24 service honoring both St. John the Baptist Day and the Franciscan friars with the solemnity that came with Saturday's Mass.
"Today is more of a somber day of separation," Bernasconi said, his voice catching as he remarked on the friars' legacy being the church's material and humanly structure.
Handover marks new beginning
Brother Scott Slattum is a Franciscan friar who will be taking up residence elsewhere in the Phoenix area but will remain on staff. Slattum, 47, has been at St. Mary's for eight years and took an optimistic view on where the church is headed.
"Whenever you have change, it's an opportunity for renewal. So, it'll be exciting to see what's coming forward, or what will be the legacy in another hundred years," Slattum said.
Parishioner Angela Skakoon, 80, remembers singing for the church's choir starting when she was 20. She lauded the outgoing pastor, Father Michael Weldon, for his compassion.
Having been schooled at St. Mary's Catholic High School, the 69-year-old Weldon took on rector duties in 2014.
"This is my home, and it’s gonna be very difficult to let it go," Weldon recently told The Arizona Republic, adding he will be taking a one-year sabbatical before returning to university teaching.
After Mass, parishioners took a procession around the church grounds. Once back inside the church, Weldon asked parishioners if he could take with him a banner bearing the image of Franciscan St. Paschal Baylón that friars brought with them when they first arrived in downtown Phoenix in the late 1800s.
The parishioners obliged and the piece will be added to Franciscan archives in Santa Barbara, California.
At the close of the ceremony, Weldon handed over an ornate, approximately 10-pound bronze key to Diocese Bishop John Dolan, a gesture symbolizing a transfer of leadership.
Father Muir was then handed the key by Dolan.
Franciscan sensibilities expected to endure
As the diocese' vicar general, Muir acts as the bishop's right-hand man. Phoenix-born and raised, the 45-year-old Muir has been a priest for 16 years and was previously a pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Avondale and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Parish in Anthem.
Muir cheerfully describes himself as a "wannabe Franciscan." He stressed the church's Franciscan character — a love of creation and a humble demeanor — will remain intact. He highlighted the culture of charity the Franciscans have established at the church, including St. Mary's Food Bank and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
"The door to the rectory, the office is constantly open, and they're helping people all the time and just getting out into the communit," Muir said. "I have absolutely no reason I would ever want to change that. I just want to keep building on it."
A call to the priesthood came to Muir as a 22-year-old backpacking in Italy through the hometown of the Franciscan order's founder, St. Francis of Assisi.
"You can kind of still feel (St. Francis') spirit in a way. And that night I just felt the strong desire that I should go, that I should just leave my whole life," Muir said. "It was kind of a lightning bolt."
Sitting across from the church apse where statues of St. Francis and St. Paschal stand alongside those of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph below a mounted crucifix, Muir shared he will invite the order's friars to sermonize and give lectures.
"I think my job is to bring back the Franciscan spirit," Muir said.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix's St. Mary's Basilica sees new leadership
