Dear
Archbishop O’Malley,
Sixty-five parishes shared mass this weekend, saddened by the news of their impending closures. Our parish, Sacred Heart of Lexington, was one of these. Your decision to close our parish has torn out the heart of this community. We are at a total loss to understand your reasons.
The
community of Sacred Heart represents everything good about 21st
century Christianity. Ours is a
community in every sense of the word – if it takes a village, then we are that,
and more!
Sometimes
you need to look beyond the numbers and inside the walls. If you were to really look inside the heart
of our church, you would witness a small, but vibrant faith community. We come in all shapes, colors and ages. Our youth ministry is active -- young people
energized by the Catholic faith. Imagine
that?! We are a growing, thriving
community. This is a church filled with people coming together to worship and do the Lord’s work.
Our
community is composed of over 100 families from neighboring towns, other
parishes, who CHOOSE to come worship at Sacred
Heart. Ours is a parish of choice, not
of convenience. So many of the
parishioners who worship at St. Brigid’s (which, by the way is my family’s
neighborhood parish), regularly tell me how spiritually bereft their worship
services are, and how they long for the meaningful experience that my family
enjoys at Sacred Heart. This fulfillment
of obligation, rather than spiritual sustenance, is what Catholics have come to
expect from their churches. Sharing mass
at Sacred Heart is so much more than just an obligation to check off the “to
do” list. It provides food for my soul
that sustains me through the week, helps me to weather the current crisis in
the church, and gives meaning in this secular world. Since leaving college (Catholic), I have not
found this in any other church but Sacred Heart.
It
takes a village, and our faith community lives that belief in our
ministries. Our outreach programs touch
many others, locally, nationally and abroad.
We have a sister parish in Lowell, AIDS ministries, prison ministries,
Haitian & Lakota & Tanzanian programs, Habitat for Humanity, and Oxfam,
just to name a few. You ask Catholics
live as Jesus did, and to minister to the poor.
We have been doing it, but it has gone unnoticed in
By
closing Sacred Heart, you will be dispersing the collective energy of an
amazing and special group of people. We
may be a small parish, but we possess the strength of a giant. Our parishioners have chosen to bypass their
local churches in favor of a community that means something to them. After receiving the spiritual gift of worship
at Sacred Heart, do you really think that we will be willing to “settle” for a
lesser experience elsewhere? In this time
of dwindling attendance at masses, isn’t it to the betterment of the diocese
that a vibrant, growing, financially stable church such as Sacred Heart is
allowed to flourish and grow? Rather
than shut us down, we should serve as a model for what the Catholic Church can
be in the 21st century.
Your
Eminence, please don’t do this to our community. Please reconsider your decision.