close-ure

They’re closing down her church. Officially, it’s a consolidation. They’re combining parishes with St. Henry’s. It sounds simple, but it’s not, at least not to her. She’s been attending 7 a.m. Mass at St. Dorothy’s for 63 years, this June. She was married there, her kids were baptized there, Dante was buried from there. She even stayed when the colored started moving in. It is her place – hers. She knows God is everywhere. She knows he works in mysterious ways. But this? This won’t be simple. A different confessional. Different kneelers. (St. Henry's are too hard.) Different everything. She wonders if this is a test of her faith. If it is, she doesn’t like it, not one bit. She won’t stop saying her rosary, but she might stop praying for the bishop. She never did like him much, anyway.