|
More parishes consider vigils
Facing a spreading rebellion from worshipers at a handful of closing
parishes, the Archdiocese of Boston says it is planning this week its first
efforts to persuade angry Catholics to leave the churches they have occupied
in At the same time, leaders of three parishes contacted yesterday said they
have been emboldened by the actions of worshipers who are refusing to leave An archdiocesan spokesman said yesterday that church officials will not
take any action that would jeopardize the safety of people occupying
churches, such as forcibly removing the parishioners or shutting off power to
the buildings. But the spokesman, the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, said the
archdiocese would try to communicate with the unhappy parishioners, who have
complained that the church's bishops have been inaccessible and unresponsive. ''We need to start talking to the people in the parish directly,"
Coyne said. Although the vast majority of the 21 parishes closed over the last two
months have shut down without incident, resistance to Archbishop Sean P.
O'Malley's plan to close 82 parishes this year appears to be growing. The
parishes closed so far were among the smaller and weaker parishes in the
group; many of the largest and most financially healthy of the closing
parishes are not scheduled to close until after Nov. 1. ''With every passing day, this becomes more of an event," said the
Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, pastor of Our Lady Help of
Christians Church in Newton, which is remaining open. Cuenin said he supports the archdiocese's effort
to close churches. ''This is a very difficult situation, both for the diocese
and for the people, and ultimately these situations need to be resolved in
some human fashion," he said. ''One way to at least begin is for the
archbishop himself to meet with the people." Anger at O'Malley, whose arrival in ''What you're seeing is probably the most inept response from the
archdiocese in the handling of the needs of their parishioners," said
Colin Riley, a parishioner at Riley said parishioners have been angered to read comments from the
archdiocese suggesting that closing decisions will not be reversed, when
canon law provides for appeals of such decisions. And, he said, parishioners
were unhappy to read that O'Malley became distraught and left a Mass at a
closing parish in Page 2 of 2 – Riley said parishioners in In Sudbury, where parishioners began occupying the building Sunday in
anticipation of the parish's scheduled closing tomorrow, parishioners
acknowledge they will have a more difficult time sustaining a long-term
sit-in because they have a small congregation from which to draw. But
yesterday they were planning to install a phone line and other equipment to
make a long-term stay in the church easier. ''We have tried numerous ways to get in touch with the archdiocese,"
said Bill Bannon, a parishioner at St. Anselm. ''A
ton of letters were sent, and the only one that got a response was the one
from a retiree who had a charitable trust. We called every day for three
weeks and got no response. We were stonewalled like the abuse victims." Coyne said the archdiocese has attempted to communicate with parishioners
in what he called ''the normal way." He said an archdiocesan staffer,
Kathleen Heck, met with St. Albert the Great parishioners after the closing
announcement, and he said pastors were kept informed, a contention that
parishioners dispute. But Coyne acknowledged that communication with parishioners has been weak
in some cases. ''In both cases [ He said the church is increasingly concerned about the sit-ins, which he
said raise safety and liability concerns and have troubled some Catholics who
view it as inappropriate for people to be sleeping in a worship space. ''We're at a point where we're going to begin a more proactive endeavor
towards resolving the occupation of these buildings," Coyne said. ''We
have a plan that we're about to put in place. I'm not at liberty to make it
public, but it does not involve any decision at this time to evict anyone
from these buildings." A few parishes have made clear that they, too, expect to attempt to
prevent the closure of their churches; some are not publicly discussing their
plans, to avoid being locked out by the archdiocese. ''This is just going to build from parish to parish," predicted John
Hynes, a leader of the lay organization Voice of the Faithful. ''I have to
believe we're going to see similar manifestations of feelings of ownership at
other churches. I don't know how many, but for sure it's going to be
more." The Rev. Stephen S. Josoma, pastor of St.
Susanna Church in Dedham, said that at his parish, which is slated to close
after Nov. 1, ''we haven't had conversations about whether people would
sit-in, but I sense now that, should we close, people here are going to do
the exact same thing." And the Rev. Robert J. Bowers -- pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church
in Charlestown, which is also slated to close after Nov. 1 -- said: ''Canon
law states that the people have a legitimate right to make their needs known,
so naturally people are going to do whatever it takes to do that, especially
when they're met with an administration that refuses to listen. The
archdiocese has totally misjudged how incensed people are." Church officials, including Coyne, say that the sit-ins reflect the
intense loyalty of Catholics to their local churches. ''It's pretty impressive to see people that dedicated to the church,"
said Stephen J. Pope, an associate professor of theology at Pope said it is difficult for an archdiocese the size of Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com. ©
Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. |
