Council seeks ear of church

A representative of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston yesterday declined to commit on a request that the church give the city the first chance to acquire parish property being sold off as part of the planned consolidation of churches and schools.

Members of the Boston City Council, who questioned the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, an archdiocesan spokesman, said they are worried that properties will be sold off to high bidders, such as luxury condominium developers, when the city sorely needs property for new schools.

Coyne said he would relay the concerns to archdiocesan officials, but said he could not immediately commit to any plan.

He also said that "fewer than a half-dozen" parish schools would be closed as part of the church's effort to address shrinking congregations and financial shortfalls.

City council members, saying they are annoyed and worried by the secrecy surrounding the fate of the city's Catholic parishes, pleaded with Coyne to slow the process of church and school closings and make the recommendations public before a final decision.

Council members also discussed passing a one-year moratorium on any closings.

Coyne sought to reassure council members about the prospect of closings. "We will not close a school unless there's an excess capacity in neighboring schools," he said. He downplayed the impact of the closings, which will be announced in mid- to late May, and said that in the past, parishes were able to transfer 80 percent of students to other parish schools.

He also promised to relay the council's request that there be a year between the announcement and the actual closing of a school, to allow parents more time to find an alternative school for their children.

Council members were not reassured. They urged Coyne during the two-hour hearing to make the process more open and to consider the views of parishioners, many of whom have called their offices to voice their concerns.

They noted the announcement on Tuesday, for example, that the church will sell most of its headquarters in Brighton to Boston College for $107.4 million.

Councilor Jerry McDermott said, "I have a hard time understanding the rush," referring to the May deadline set by the church. Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who attended the committee hearing, urged the council to be more aggressive in slowing down the timetable of closings.

He suggested that councilors stay abreast of any negotiations between the archdiocese and the Boston Redevelopment Authority and consider passing a moratorium that would ask the archdiocese to wait for one year before making any closing decisions.

Galvin, who also serves as chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, said he would explore how the state could preserve parish buildings to prevent them from being destroyed or altered by developers.

After the hearing, he mentioned that in Detroit, many churches had been destroyed by looters in the wake of white flight. "I think you're about to see it again," he said.

Galvin said the state and city are not overstepping their authority by getting involved in the business of the archdiocese.

"If any other institution in this city that had this much land was contemplating this dramatic move, you'd absolutely be demanding answers to your questions," he told the council members.

Priests and parishioners have recommended closing 17 parishes that operate parochial schools, but archdiocese officials said that many of those schools could operate without a parish.

City officials and Galvin said they are worried that a sudden school closing would dump students into public schools and not give parents adequate time to register their children elsewhere.

If the archdiocese closes a school in May, parents will have missed the Boston public schools' lottery deadline for school assignments, leaving them little say in school assignment.

Joseph O'Keefe, policy director for council president Michael F. Flaherty, said after the hearing that a one-year moratorium on closings would be merely a formal request.