Unity key in getting cathedral goals met

STEUBENVILLE - Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said keeping the focus on eventual construction of a new cathedral for the Diocese of Steubenville, despite local economic hardships, is a matter of focusing on unity.

The Triumph of the Cross Parish has been formed from six other parishes in the city, but the drive to build a new cathedral to serve the parish and as the diocesan central church has stalled with about half of an estimated $8 million raised. Had the fundraising campaign met its goals, the cathedral would have been opened more than a year ago. A second phase of fundraising has been under discussion by the diocese.

DiNardo, who said he was invited to discuss the cathedral issue by Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of the Diocese of Steubenville, said while meeting with reporters at Catholic Central High School, next to the proposed cathedral site, it takes persuasion and time.

"People have to be brought together," he said.

DiNardo, as prelate for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, knows the pain of making decisions on closing parishes. Hurricane Ike's devastation in Galveston in September 2008 led to the painful decision to close five parishes and merge them into one to serve the city.

"You understand the sense of loss and the psychological trauma, but you try to build on the strengths through making it a stronger community," he said. "That can be true in Steubenville."

DiNardo said the Catholic church in America is undergoing a shift as the population moves from the Northeast to the West and Southwest.

"I could open four parishes tomorrow in the Archdiocese of Houston if I had the resources and the personnel. There is a huge influx of people," he said.

He said often, with time, people come to see the more vibrant life present in a larger parish.

"For example, when we held our first confirmation all as one parish in Galveston, people saw the energy from the young people and recognized that they're all our young kids," he said.

DiNardo was born in Steubenville and baptized at St. Peter's Church. His family moved to Pittsburgh when he was 2 years old, but he visited relatives in the area often. DiNardo said he makes it back to Pittsburgh, where his sister lives, and he still has many friends, about once a year and tries to get to Steubenville when he can, most recently about a year ago.

DiNardo was in the city to attend a meeting of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture that will wrap up today at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. The sessions were part of the council's first in a series of conferences aimed toward stronger dialogue with the church in North America on matters of science, the arts and literature. Max Bonilla, the university's vice president of academic affairs, is the person in North America charged with coordinating the seminar series.

(Giannamore can be contacted at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)