Digitization of San Nicola di Bari, Termini Imerese, church records
Hello family search historians, I have been putting consistent pressure on both the Archdiocese of Palermo and the local priest at San Nicola di Bari to release the church records for digitization to family search. Because of your efforts, I have been able to take the family tree on my paternal grandfather's side all the way back to the mid-1500s in the Province of Trapani and the town of Castellammare del Golfo. The records are superb! Not so with his wife, my grandmother's side from Termini Imerese. Perhaps if your organization could persist with the Diocese of Palermo and the parish priest who controls the records for Termini Imerese, we could get these records digitized! I am 74 years old and really would like to complete this tree for my descendants to come as I am the only one that reads Italian. Please help me to achieve the joy of finding 9th, 10th, 11th great grandparents in Termini as I have found in Castellammare del Golfo and Alcamo! The selfish refusal to release the church records is holding us all back from finding our current day cousins as well.
Thank you so very much! Mary Ann Bologna Jordan on behalf of the descendants of Termini Imerese in the USA.
Answers
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Just wondering if there has been any progress on this?
I've hit a roadblock in my research and cannot (with most certainty) go back beyond 1820 when researching Termini Imerese. I guess that I don't exactly understand why San Nicola di Bari cannot digitize and release to the public their records, e.g. Corleone, Capaci, etc...
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FamilySearch never publicly comments on the status of negotiations with record custodians or which records will be released soon.
It seems safe to assume these are Catholic records. The Catholic Church (or at least some of its dioceses and parishes) has a difficult relationship with FamilySearch and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Official Catholic policy says their records should not be digitized by FamilySearch or made available to Latter Day Saints, due to theological disagreements about Latter Day Saints ordinances. It is so fortunate that many (most) Catholic dioceses defy this policy and publish their records on FS.
"The selfish refusal to release the church records is holding us all back from finding our current day cousins as well."
I would not ever call such a decision by a record custodian "selfish". These records are private property and the custodian is not obliged to let anyone digitize them. Remember also that FamilySearch is not the only website or organization that digitizes records. They may instead decide (or perhaps have already decided) to let another website or organization digitize them, especially if that organization can offer them royalties (an attractive proposition for parishes with churches hundreds of years old that need maintenance, or with dwindling congregations and income).
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