Procession of prayers

As rain washed across the gray cobblestones of Old North Square, the parade of statues began marching in.

There were Saints Agrippina, Anthony, Dominic, and Joseph, Jude, Lucy, Rita, Rocco, and Rosalia; the Madonna della Cava and the Madonna della Grazia; the Madonna del Soccorso and Maria di Anzanno.

From every corner of Boston's North End, hundreds of Italian Catholics carrying the statues of the neighborhood's feast societies converged last night at Sacred Heart Church, in demonstration of their support for the Italian parish, which they fear is in danger of being closed by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The marchers, accompanied by the brass Roma Band, decorated their saints statues with ribbons and flowers and cloaked them in plastic to protect them from the rain. Some people carried green-white-and-red Italian flags, while others held signs reading simply, "Perche?" -- Italian for "why?"

"This is probably the last of the real Italian bastions, the heart and soul of the North End, and the North End will be little more than a group of Italian restaurants without this church," said Bennett Molinari, 58, a lifelong parishioner at Sacred Heart. "It's outrageous that this is happening. This is a totally viable church."

The candlelight vigil to save one of two Catholic parishes in the North End was the most colorful expression yet of widespread concern by Catholics who fear that their parishes might be targeted as part of Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's effort to close a significant, but still unspecified, number of the 357 parishes in the 144 cities and towns that make up the archdiocese.

Parishioners across the region have sent letters, circulated petitions, packed into church halls, and tried to lobby individual church officials, as they seek to reverse recommendations by local church officials to close their beloved churches.

At St. Mark Church in Dorchester, all the parishioners posed for a photograph to showcase the parish's diversity. Parishioners from Gate of Heaven in South Boston knocked on every door in the neighborhood, asking residents to write archdiocesan officials. St. Catherine of Siena in Charlestown compiled a detailed analysis of the state of church life in Charlestown; and volunteers sent dictated letters from parishioners unable to write and helped translate for parishioners who do not speak English.

Archdiocesan officials say they are moved by the expressions of support, but that, ultimately, emotional attachment to parishes will not be a factor in their decision-making. O'Malley expects to announce his decisions sometime next month. He says parish closings are necessary because of an archdiocesan shortage of priests, worshipers, and cash.

"People love their parishes, and it's very painful to them to think that something they love could close," said the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, the archdiocesan spokesman. "If you really love something, you're going to fight for it, and these letters are an expression of that. But, at the end of the day, the decisions about which parishes should close and which stay open will be based on factors other than large numbers of letters or demonstrations."

Parishioners say they know their efforts to save their churches could be in vain, but they feel obligated to communicate to archdiocesan officials why they love their churches. Some are contesting the facts, the reasoning, or the process used by the local clusters of churches to make recommendations for parish closings.

"This is very much a waiting period, but we've taken lots of action, and we keep praying," said Honora M. Griebel, a member of the parish council at St. James Church in Salem, which was recommended for closure. Griebel said parishioners met with the regional vicar and the regional bishop to press their case.

O'Malley, in December, urged priests not to act as "free agents" in defending their parishes.

"I have closed enough parishes in my years as a bishop to know that so much depends on the leadership of the parish priests," he said. "Where pastors explain the reasons for this and give parishioners a sense of hope and excitement over the possibility of forming stronger communities, closures have been very successful." But, he said, a pastor's resistance often "infects the whole parish community with a spirit of despair."

But clearly, numerous pastors have, at least at this stage, sided with their parishioners in making the case that their parishes should not close, and many are helping oversee the campaigns.

In Charlestown, the Rev. Robert J. Bowers helped his parishioners forge their argument -- that because they minister to an economically and ethnically diverse parish they should survive -- and communicate it to church officials. Bowers estimated that his parishioners have sent more than 300 letters to chancery officials, as well as a detailed report with analysis of the finances of all three Charlestown parishes, arguing that St. Catherine's is the kind of parish O'Malley supports.

Several parishes have tried to assemble large crowds of worshipers to demonstrate they are still vibrant. It is not clear how effective this strategy will be: The archdiocese is considering Mass figures gathered during the last annual church census in October.

The parish website of St. Jerome Church in Arlington says the parish has decided to submit a petition requesting that the church stay open, and says forms are available at Masses. "If St. Jerome's closes, it's going to be a real hardship of the people here," said Philip H. Akins, 81, parish council vice chairman. "At our first meeting, the mood was, `It's a done deal, St. Jerome's is dead.' But that's not the mood now. We feel we're a viable church."

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.