Syracuse, N.Y.— Recent events around the Syracuse area brought local Jewish residents back in time to the 15th ward, which they once called home. Their population was thriving until the construction of Interstate 81 sent them fleeing.
“Everybody, acquiesced, everybody gave in,” said Etta Rae, a Jewish woman who met her husband Hecky Alpert on their first date in the 15th ward more than 50 years ago.

“There was no protest or anything. Everyone just said, well, we’re going to have to find another place to live.”

The Alpert’s, like most of their Jewish neighbors, left the ward and moved to nearby Fayetteville and opened Temple Beth Shalom, one of several synagogues in the area.
What the couple left behind was a tight-knit community of a few thousand Jews. Alpert, whose grandfather came to Syracuse to take a job at a Hebrew school, said they all arrived from big cities.

“This was the Jewish community. Practically no Christians. They were in the minority,” Alpert said.
Synagogues, also known as Shuls, were mostly orthodox except for Temple Adath Yeshurun and Temple Concord, conservative and reform congregations, respectively.
The entire ward was immersed in Jewish culture beyond where they prayed. People purchased all of their food at Kosher butcher shops and Jewish bakeries that stretched down eight blocks.

President Eisenhower’s National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 tore through the middle of their lives and wiped out every Jewish part of the 15th ward.

Alpert said, “I never thought it was great, but now I can say it is great because there is nostalgia, there is an intimacy, and you realize what you had at the time.”

Mike DeSumma

SYRACUSE, NY- One month after the doors to her parish sealed, young Reena Tretler joined hands with her fellow parishioners in the shadow of St. Andrew the Apostle Church.

Like many there, she didn’t hesitate to voice her frustration with the Syracuse Diocese’s decision that they would never reopen.

“Out of all the other churches we’ve done so much to help everyone else,” Tretler said, “We’ve done just so much for the neighborhood. I can’t help but feel that this is completely wrong.”

The church, which is located on Alder Street on the city’s south side, is the latest parish to be closed in the diocese’s plans for church consolidation.

The downsizing comes as a result of a number of pitfalls that church leaders are facing due to the rising costs of parish upkeep as well as dwindling numbers of priests and parishioners.

In 2007, Catholic leaders unveiled a plan that would lead to the closure of 40 churches over a period of three years. So far, nearly three quarters of those churches have been shut down and protest from area parishioners have ensued.

St. Andrew’s closed last month and its congregation was merged into that of St. Lucy’s Parish on Gifford Street. Both churches had long been linked and served by a single priest. Leaders in the diocese cited a “one parish, one priest” stipulation as the reason for the closure.

But that didn’t sit well for many longtime parishioners of St. Andrew’s who say that was no reason to sacrifice the vibrancy of their parish, which had a long history of social activism.

“We were a solvent parish with a lot of lay participation,” Estelle Hahn said. “It’s not the hierarchy who is church. It’s the people who are church and to not listen to the people is just unforgivable.”

Modern Day Pitfalls

St. Andrew’s and St. Lucy’s were just one of many pairs of churches sharing a priest.

Linked parishes were set up by the diocese as a means of dealing with the huge drop in men going into the vocation. By next year, it is estimated that only 100 priests will be left in the Syracuse Diocese to serve its well over 200,000 Catholics. That is in stark contrast to the near 400 priests that served in the 1970s.

Coupled with the shortage of priests is a lack of parishioners to fill pews on Sundays—specifically younger Catholics to supplement a mostly aging church body.

Parishioners at other parishes that are currently sharing a priest, like St. John the Baptist on the city’s north side, see these trends as signs of the inevitable: more churches will be closing soon.

“I mean the costs are still there but unfortunately the congregations are smaller and smaller,” said Parish Life member Jerry Mott, “along with the shortage of priests it makes it very difficult for parishes to survive.”