Brady on latest Philly parish mergers: Sad, but inevitable

U.S. REP. Bob Brady, an Overbrook native who attended St. Callistus Elementary School in the 1950s, was saddened but not surprised to learn Sunday that his lifelong parish is merging into Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on Jan. 27.

"It's sad, but it was inevitable," Brady said. "The handwriting has been on the wall ever since they closed St. Callistus school years ago."

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia also announced that Our Mother of Sorrows Parish (Mill Creek/Dunlop/West Park) will merge into Saint Ignatius of Loyola Parish (Belmont/Mantua/East Park), and that Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish (Haddington/Carroll Park) will merge into St. Cyprian Parish (Cobbs Creek).

Brady said the St. Callistus nuns did not identify him as a future congressman. "I got whacked on my hands, whacked on top of my head, whacked with rulers, whacked with books," he said. "The music teacher whacked me with drumsticks.

"I got whacked for stealing pretzels, stealing candy, talking. I was voted Most Likely To Be Incarcerated by my peers and my teachers. I'm not kidding."

Once, Brady said, he came home with the red imprints of a nun's five fingers on one side of his face.

"We had assigned seats at the dinner table," he said, "and I tried to trade seats with my brother because my father was a cop, and if he saw those marks on one side of my face, he'd give me the same thing on the other side.

"Every time I see a nun today, I put my hands down my back because I know she has a ruler somewhere and she's going to whack me."

But seriously, Brady said: "I deserved every one of those whacks. They made me a better person."

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has directed merger studies for three other West Philadelphia parishes: Saint Barbara (Wynnefield), St. Donato (Overbrook/Morris Park) and St. Rose of Lima (Haddington/Carroll Park).

Final merger decisions are expected by spring for these parishes, and for 26 others in Philadelphia and 13 in Delaware County.

Local parish mergers began last year in Germantown, Harrowgate and Manayunk, as well as in Coatesville and Phoenixville, Chester County.