On the last day of last month, Alfred A. Schlert, 56, was installed as the fifth bishop of the Allentown Diocese, which includes Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh and Berks counties. (Monroe County is part of the Scranton diocese.) He is now serving as shepherd to about 500,000 Catholics in the five-county region.

His installation was historic in the sense that he becomes the first priest ordained for service to the Allentown diocese to become a bishop of the diocese. Schlert is a native of Palmer Township, near Easton, and a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Bethlehem Township.He was appointed by Pope Francis on June 27, 2017, succeeding Bishop John O. Barres, who was transferred to become bishop of Rockville Centre, New York. Schlert served as diocesan administrator, then acting bishop before the papal appointment.We congratulate Bishop Schlert on his elevation, and we wish him well in facing a wide-ranging group of issues from a dwindling number of seminarians entering the priesthood to the ongoing instances of priests abusing children or being involved in other unsavory and illegal behavior. He also will continue the diocesan's initiative to integrate the growing number of Hispanic and Latino Catholics who have moved into the area during the past quarter-century.One issue that was glossed over among all of the accolades for Schlert involves church consolidation. This is never a pleasant subject, and we suppose that the topic was quietly set aside so as not to provide a counterpoint to the upbeat nature of an elevation ordination.There is a festering wound in the Panther Valley communities of Coaldale, Lansford, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill, where more than a year ago the diocese announced the consolidation of St. Katharine Drexel (Lansford), St. Francis of Assisi (Nesquehoning) and St. Joseph (Summit Hill) parishes. The result meant that St. Joseph would be the surviving church, while the other two would be closed.At the same time, the diocese announced the closing of Our Lady of the Angels Academy, an elementary school in Lansford that had been supported by the three parishes.Nine years ago, the diocese announced the closing of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in the New Columbus section of Nesquehoning and its being folded into a merged church that included the parishes of Sacred Heart and Immaculate Conception in Nesquehoning. The combined churches became St. Francis of Assisi.Also during that painful 2008 consolidation, St. John, St. Mary and SS. Cyril and Methodius parishes in Coaldale, and St. Michael, St. Ann, SS. Peter and Paul parishes in Lansford become the St. Katharine Drexel Parish at the former St. Michael church building in Lansford. That same year, St. Stanislaus in Summit Hill was closed and merged with St. Joseph.In all, about a dozen Panther Valley Catholic churches have been merged into one.While some individuals are continuing to appeal the closing of some of the churches, hope is fading for any restoration of the status quo. When the Vatican rejected the latest appeal, it was Schlert who issued a statement saying that he was hopeful that the parishioners of the three parishes would begin to focus on "the path ahead rather than on the past.""It is the diocese's hope and prayer that with this ruling by the Vatican, all efforts will be directed toward helping to make St. Joseph Parish in Summit Hill the spiritual home of all the faithful in the Panther Valley," Schlert said in his statement.Given this statement, we can only conclude that this 1,200-pound elephant of discontent is still in the room. Schlert can ignore it by pretending that it is a done deal, or he can show that he is truly concerned about the opinions and raw feelings of the Panther Valley Catholics whose churches have been shuttered.In a statement made after his nomination as bishop, Schlert acknowledged briefly those Catholics who have been "disheartened by past hurts." This certainly includes the hundreds who had been members of their now closed hometown parishes.We strongly urge the bishop to hold a valleywide meeting at St. Joseph's in Summit Hill so parishioners can air their grievances and he can hear them firsthand in an effort to come to some accommodation that acknowledges their heritage and significant contributions to the growth and vitality of the Allentown Diocese.By Bruce Frassinelli |

tneditor@tnonline.com