Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Friends of St. Patrick's Church are continuing the effort to reopen the historic Catskill church. The 134-year-old St. Patrick’s, located on Bridge Street, was closed in 2016 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. The Friends, a group of 25 parishioners have appealed the diocese's decision, but that appeal was denied by the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy in 2018. “We recently heard ... that our appeal is expected to be heard by the Collegium of Cardinals but that the promoter of justice, Father Johannes De Witt, has also written that the financial situation of the parish is very bad and it’s demonstrated that the parish at the moment cannot afford to keep the church,” said Deborah Johnson, co-chair of Friends of St. Patrick’s Church. Republican Greene County Legislator Matthew Luvera, of Catskill, wrote to Albany Catholic Diocese Bishop Edward Scharfenberger in 2017, asking that the diocese allow the community more time to raise the needed funds to repair the church. Anthony Petrianni, co-chair of the Friends group believes there is still hope of overturning the diocese's decision. “They didn’t follow protocol when they closed the church,” he said. “They should have let the congregation know. It should have been up to the people.” Parishioners were in the midst of a capital campaign when St. Patrick's was closed, Petrianni said. The Friends will continue to fundraise while the appeal is pending. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.