Boston: Community Occupation Pressures Reopening of 2 Churches

From Boston Globe April 1, 2005

Barbara Conant and John Hammel rejoiced at St. Albert the Great after learning the Weymouth parish will reopen.
(Globe Staff Photo / Matthew J. Lee)
http://www.boston.com/news/globe

O'Malley to reopen 2 occupied churches

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | April 1, 2005

Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, confronted by unexpectedly strong resistance to his effort to close scores of Catholic parishes, agreed yesterday to fully reopen a closed parish in Weymouth and to partially reopen a closed parish in Sudbury.

The two parishes are among seven that have been occupied for months in round-the-clock vigils maintained by Catholics seeking to persuade O'Malley to reverse the most controversial of the 83 parish closing decisions he announced last summer. But O'Malley said yesterday that even after reconsideration, he is convinced that the five other occupied churches, in Brookline, East Boston, Everett, Scituate, and Wellesley, should remain closed.

O'Malley said that in all cases, he followed the recommendations of a lay-dominated panel he appointed to review the parish closings process. The panel is headed by Sister Janet Eisner, president of Emmanuel College, and Peter Meade, executive vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

''I'd rather be wrong once than wrong twice," O'Malley said in an interview, explaining his willingness to reverse some decisions. ''Not to change your mind simply out of worrying about the bella figura [a good image] I think is a mistake and to me is a sign of weakness."

In addition to ruling on the seven parishes occupied since their closings, O'Malley also said yesterday that he would not close St. Florence Church in Wakefield, which had been slated to close. And, he said, he would set aside his initial plan to close Sacred Heart in Lexington and instead give Lexington Catholics a year to come up with a plan to consolidate Sacred Heart and St. Brigid, the two parishes in that town. But O'Malley reaffirmed his earlier decision to close Sacred Heart parish in Watertown.

The closings are part of a massive effort to reconfigure the sprawling Archdiocese of Boston, which had 357 parishes in 144 cities and towns when O'Malley was installed as archbishop in July 2003. Citing a shortage of priests, money, and worshipers, O'Malley announced plans last summer to close 83 of those parishes.

The archdiocese has closed 59 parishes since last July, often provoking unhappiness but mostly without incident. But in addition to the round-the-clock vigils, two groups of parishioners have filed civil suit, many have filed canonical appeals to the Vatican, three people have been arrested after refusing to leave closing churches, and one group of Catholics unhappy about a parish closing retained a married priest to say an unsanctioned Easter Sunday Mass.

O'Malley said in an interview yesterday that he does not know what he will do if some parishioners decline to abandon their vigils. Asked how he views the possibility of forcibly removing Catholics from churches, he said, ''I'm not enthused about that."

But O'Malley said that he is not sure what he could have done differently to prevent the acrimony generated by parish closings.

''I don't think we had any choice," he said. ''Is it painful? It's excruciating. Could we have not done anything? That would have been irresponsible."

In the two cases in which he fully reversed a closing decision, in Weymouth and Wakefield, O'Malley said he was persuaded by evidence that significant population growth is expected in those areas.

In Weymouth, as word of the reopening spread, joyful parishioners gathered at St. Albert the Great, tearfully hugging one another. They have occupied the church for 215 days, starting right after the last Mass on Aug. 29. The church was officially closed Sept. 1.

Still, the festive mood was lessened by the fact that the popular priest, the Rev. Ronald D. Coyne, would not be reassigned to the parish. O'Malley said Coyne had told him he did not wish to be reassigned to St. Albert's.

''I'm happy we're going to remain open, but I'm not happy about Father Coyne," said John Hamill, a Pastoral Council member and former religious education director. ''It's bittersweet."

Parishioners in Sudbury were delighted, even though the church will remain open only as a chapel, not as a parish, which means some of their activities will take place in Framingham.

In Wakefield, the news that St. Florence would remain open was greeted with joy.

''I screamed," said Phyllis Bunnell, the parish music director, who was on the phone conducting church business shortly before noon yesterday when the Rev. Joseph Murphy walked in and slipped a note with a single word on it, ''unpack," because the staff had packed up church belongings in preparation for its closing.

In Lexington, where O'Malley said Sacred Heart would have a year to combine with St. Brigid, parishioners viewed the announcement as akin to a closing.

''It seems to me that Sacred Heart is going to close and we have to figure out how to do that over the course of the year," the church's pastor, the Rev. Arnold Colletti, said.

''We're very disappointed," said Donna Heuchling, a member of the Sacred Heart Parish Council. ''We'll see if we can find a way to make [the merger] work that's comfortable for both parishes, and if we can't I'm not sure what options will be available to us, but clearly a vigil is one of them."

Meade and Eisner, the leaders of the reconfiguration review committee, said they are still developing recommendations regarding other parishes slated to close, including Saint Pius X in Milton, St. Susanna in Dedham, St. Mary of the Angels in Roxbury, and St. Thomas the Apostle in Peabody, as well as one parish that has already closed, Star of the Sea on Quincy's Squantum Peninsula.

The parishes learned of the decisions in phone calls from archdiocesan officials beginning yesterday morning. Concetta Marchone was standing at the front door of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in East Boston at about 2:40 p.m. when another protester told her that the bad news had just come over the telephone.

''Oh my gosh," the 69-year-old said softly. She put her hands to her cheeks as she stared at the church's beloved statue of Padre Pio, a popular Italian saint, across the street, tears filling her eyes.

She headed back inside to tell three of her friends, Paulina Gollotto, Carmela DiCicco, and Michelina Ciano, who had just finished praying the Stations of the Cross.

''How am I going to say this news?" she said quietly. Gathering up the three older women, Marchone told them in Italian that O'Malley had refused to allow the church to reopen.

''Non permesso? [No permission?]" asked Ciano, 83.

''Non permesso," Marchone replied.

''Why?" the 70-year-old Gollotto asked. ''It's the Italian people who built it; they didn't build it. That's not nice."

''Not nice," echoed DiCicco, 89.

At parishes that got bad news yesterday, the reaction was a mix of sadness and anger. Some scheduled meetings last night; others, such as those at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Scituate, said it would take them a few days to decide what to do next.

Many are placing their hopes in the Vatican, which is scheduled to rule by May 10 on appeals of the closing decisions.

Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform organization, called on the archdiocese to offer a more detailed explanation for how it chose which parishes to reopen and which to keep closed.

''These parishes, many of whom have sustained 24-hour vigils for months, have proven a sincere commitment to their faith communities," said Mike Gustin, chair of the steering committee for Voice of the Faithful's Boston Council. ''It is disappointing that the archdiocese has not found a way to keep all of these vibrant parish communities open."

In Wellesley, parishioners at St. James the Great declared that they would maintain their vigil.

''This is religion, and you hope for the divine," said parishioner Paul Hughes.

In Everett, a somber mood enveloped St. Therese parish as a band of parishioners, in the 156th day of their sit-in, learned that their church would not win a reprieve.

''We're only going to get more stubborn," said Harry Whelan, 68.

In Watertown, Sacred Heart parishioner Mary Barry, a regular at daily Mass for 35 years, said, ''I'm so disappointed. I think a lot of people aren't going to go to church anymore."

However, she said, ''It's only a building'; that's the way I have to think about it now."

And in Brookline, sitting in a church still decorated with scores of while lilies and yellow tulips, Dr. Betty Murphy said she and other protesters at Infant Jesus-St. Lawrence were in ''an afternoon of mourning."

''I'm ready to fight on," said Murphy, an internist and a 24-year parishioner. ''I'm signed up for 6 a.m. tomorrow on the vigil sheet."

Globe staffers Ralph Ranalli, Douglas Belkin, Erica Noonan, Bella English, and Matt Viser, and Globe correspondents Kay Lazar, Michael Levenson, and Christina Pazzanese contributed to this report.Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com. (c) Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company