The Diocese of Brooklyn hopes to bring “unity and healing” to St. Saviour in Park Slope.
“On [November] 18th, a facilitator from the Diocese of Brooklyn is meeting with three parish groups to talk about how we can look at the situation and can come up with some ways to bring some unity and healing,” St. Saviour’s pastor, Rev. Daniel Murphy, told this paper.
The meeting will not be open to all members of the parish. Instead, it will be between the facilitator, who is not a diocese employee, and the parish’s committees. A diocese staffer says parents are likely members of the committees.
The meeting may begin to mend fences between Murphy and a group of parents who have criticized his handling of St. Saviour’s school, 701 Eighth Avenue. Tensions have been high since Murphy dismissed Principal James Flanagan, who led St. Saviour for more than two decades.
Cindy Brolsma, who has three children in the school, wishes the meeting were open to all St. Saviour parents.
“One of our biggest gripes is that we’re always outside and even in this situation, we’re completely and clearly not invited to participate,” she said. “We’ve been asking for a meeting with [Murphy] since the very beginning — tell us your vision for the school, tell us why you do what you do.”
While Murphy hopes to reunite the St. Saviour community, he’s wary about hosting a meeting between himself and all parish parents.
“For a meeting to be productive, it has to have certain parameters and guidelines,” Murphy said.
“I think what I’m initiating on the 18th is the way to go — to bring in an outside facilitator,” the pastor added. “He’s starting with these three parish groups and he’ll decide what the next step and the third step is. That’s the way to go. Not to have open meetings where people aren’t given parameters.”
