SacredHeartAppeal.org
Frequently Asked
Questions
FAQ #1 Why are parishes closing?
FAQ #2 Why is Sacred Heart
Parish in Lexington Closing?
FAQ #3 Why were letters not
sent initially?
FAQ #4 What is the timing of
this process?
FAQ #5 Why no appeal to the
media?
FAQ #6 What can be done? Can I write a
letter?
FAQ #7 Is there support for this appeal?
FAQ #1 Why are parishes closing?
The Boston Archdiocese provided a handout containing this information.
FAQ
#2 Why is Sacred Heart Parish in
Good question.
Like many Archdiocesan decisions and edicts there is no clear reason provided for this specific action.
The method and data used to make this decision are not provided. Thus, we can only speculate about the reasons for this. We are told the closing are done based on Canon Law, the guiding principles for the Roman Catholic Church. A web site that contains a listing of the law is: http://www.justiceforpriests.org/code_of_canon_law_index.htm.
Why a vibrant, financially self-sustaining, generous parish like Sacred Heart would be chosen is hard to discern. We are a relatively small parish with a high property value in Lexington. And, let’s face it; we are largely populated by relatively prosperous people. Archbishop Sean Patrick has declared that the process of closing would try not to target only poor parishes. The value of what land we have (less than 4 acres) is relatively high. However, we are a giving parish. See our parish web site for some insight into our vitality: http://www.sacredheartlex.org. Notice in particular, the dynamic Youth Group, the international Christian Service Commission activities. We travel regularly to Honduras and Haiti. We help fund sister parishes in Haiti and in Roxbury. We have 450 young people in our Religious Education program. We believe targeting us due to our affluence is absolute prejudice. Parishioners built the parish church for free in the early 1930’s!
We suspect we were targeted from the outset of the process, prior to any evaluation. We were one of only two “clusters” (sets of geographically-grouped parishes) that consisted of only 2 parishes. Each cluster was required to provide at least one parish recommended for closing. Our understanding is that all of the initial steps in the process did NOT recommend Sacred Heart for closing.
We understand the geography of our town, containing two Catholic parishes. The second parish, St. Brigid, is newer (c1959 vs. 1932) and far larger in terms of space and geographic population. However, it has been in relative decline for several years. The 2003 data from the Boston Archdiocese web site attests to this fact. Its weekend Mass attendance is listed as 1538 compared to 609 for Sacred Heart, comparable to the actual populations of the parish, 1/3 of the parishioners at Sacred Heart are from outside its parish’s geographic boundaries – many from within St. Brigid’s geography. We are a parish of choice. Sacred Heart’s Sacramental Index (SI) a formal, but it seems to us a rather measure of parish life skewed (See the Appeal Letter for a full discussion), is 100 vs. 124 for St. Brigid, a parish three times our size! Furthermore, St. Brigid’s SI is bolstered significantly by funerals (60 there vs. 26 at Sacred Heart in 2003). We know you can do the math – apparently, the archdiocese can’t.
In summary, we know there must be reasons for closing Sacred Heart that do not meet the eye, but we question their veracity, fairness and rationality. Absent the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from the evaluation, we can only state the facts as they appear to us.
FAQ #3 Why were letters not sent
initially?
At the outset, there were no indications that Sacred Heart Parish was in jeopardy of closing. The initial process screening of parishes (through the local vicar and bishop) gave no indications of the impending decision.
Our pastor, Fr. Arnie Colletti, very talented in pastoral skill and a supremely wonderful individual, suggested that letters would not be either required or pertinent.
I suppose we were no paying attention to those who thought they might be at risk. In particular, parishes like those in Waltham, our neighboring town, where a superlative effort included even a letter from town council.
FAQ
#4 What is the timing of
this process?
There is a 10-day window for formal appeals to the archdiocese. Originally announcements were made on the 25th of May, we plan to have our information delivered on Thursday, the 3rd of June, nine days later. Since then we have been informed that the expected date of the formal notification of closure is on or around July 1st.
We understand that the archdiocese will respond within 30 days.
A schedule for closing of Sacred Heart is due in about two weeks. We assume that our appeal could delay that notification. However, given the required 30-day response time, and since parishes will be given two to six months to close, we assume that this will not be a great inconvenience in the context of the immense difficulty resulting from the current decision.
We may inconvenience Religious Education registrations. For that we are very sorry. We suggest you explain to your children, in so far as they are able to understand, the situation. We hope that our nearby parishes will do their best to accommodate us in these circumstances.
FAQ
#5 Why no appeal to the media?
Initially we were wary of media “help”. As anyone who has deal with the media knows well, many in that occupation are more into the entertainment business than into reporting facts. Their approach of distortion is well documented. The modern media contains far too many alarmists who thrive on negative news and turn neutral or even good news into bad news. Our purpose is not to condemn our archdiocese, but to question the process by which they have presumably concluded that we should be tossed out of our spiritual home. We are not in this to rile people up. We simply want straight answers and due consideration.
We welcome any fair, unbiased, non-alarmist and sufficiently detailed, media coverage. We want our story neither trivialized nor sensationalized. This is a account of hope and faith, based in our belief in God.
FAQ
#6 What can be done? Can I write a
letter?
Yes ! See how at the Letters page.
We are told the closing are done based on Canon Law, the guiding principles for the Roman Catholic Church. A web site that contains a listing of the law is: http://www.justiceforpriests.org/code_of_canon_law_index.htm.
Technically that would exclude consideration of fact or opinion that parishioners might typically provide. However, we are inviting any parishioner of Sacred Heart, or anyone who has been touched by our faith to write a letter to the archbishop. If we have these in hand at the time of the submittal of the appeal letter, we will attach them to it. We hope to submit those as attachments to the appeal as evidence of the vitality of the parish, thereby obliging their consideration.
FAQ #7 Is there support for this appeal?
Fr. Arnie Colletti, our pastor has chosen to be passive in this process. He cites the low probability of success for such appeals in the past. He wishes to not raise false hopes for what he sees as inevitable. We respect his decision.
We expect little or no dissent from the faithful in the parish. A discussion prompted by parishioners after just one of the three 5/29-30 weekend masses attracted over 75 people, none of whom expressed any concerns about false hope. At a second meeting more than 150 people attended. We have almost 300 letters and signatures supporting our appeal.
There is an intense love for this parish among its parishioners. It has a long history of care. See the History of the Parish prepared for its 70th anniversary celebration in 2001 on this web site. We have thus far encountered no lay parishioner who is not at least in tacit support of the appeal. Nearly everyone, we dare say, is decisively behind it. There has been no dissent from among those we have contacted thus far.
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