Amidst prayers, vows to appeal parish closures
Some say they accept the actions
One day after the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced that St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Salem would close, the Rev. Lawrence Rondeau stood before a dozen people attending yesterday's morning Mass and wept, vowing at the same time to appeal the church's planned demise.
"I hope and pray we can [change] the decision," he told the still-bewildered congregation.
A similar mix of resistance and sadness filled churches set to close throughout the region as Catholics tried to come to terms with the news yesterday. While some vowed to fight plans to shutter more than one-sixth of the parishes in the archdiocese, others sadly accepted what they said was a bitter defeat and tried to decide whether they could worship elsewhere.
At Sacred Heart Church in Lexington, which is scheduled to merge with St. Brigid's Parish across town, worried parishioners listened to a letter from St. Brigid's parishioners welcoming them into the new congregation.
Donna Bosco said she wasn't sure how she and other parishioners would fit into St. Brigid's, which she said is perceived as more traditional. After searching for years for a spiritual home and finding it in Sacred Heart, she said, she is now trying to convince herself that her faith can grow elsewhere.
"That's the test," Bosco said. "Will the spirit continue?"
Sister Fernande Richard, who has worked at St. Joseph's for more than 30 years and is a librarian at St. Joseph's School, expressed anger toward Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, recalling his earlier pledge that parishes like St. Joseph's -- which runs both a Catholic school and outreach to the poor -- would be given special consideration.
"My faith is shaken in the church," she said. "I don't know what he means by Catholic anymore. . . . How does he [O'Malley] define poor? How does he define Catholic?"
The Rev. Christopher J. Hickey, pastor of St. William's Catholic Church in Dorchester, met with about a dozen distraught parishioners after Mass yesterday morning to confirm another unexpected blow: Their school might close as well.
"This blindsided me like you can't believe," Hickey said.
The news led to more talk from St. William's parishioners about appealing the closing, a move Hickey told them he was open to hearing but reluctant to support.
"If the truth is, the children are the most important thing, then [appealing] could serve to hurt them in the long run," Hickey said.
Yesterday's morning Mass at St. Albert the Great in Weymouth turned into a question-and-answer session involving about 300 angry parishioners, who stood one-by-one to quiz the Rev. Ron Coyne about the likelihood of fighting the closing of their parish.
One parishioner suggested the parish ask the town to change the zoning at the Washington Street site to allow only a church on the property. Another asked if parishioners could raise money to buy the church themselves.
Parishioners also contacted a lawyer for clergy abuse victims to see if he would help them in getting an injunction against the planned closure, a move even Coyne acknowledged would probably not work. Still, the parish council was scheduled to decide last night whether to move forward with the effort as attorneys began researching if the case would hold weight.
Sharon Harrington, a 25-year member of St. Albert who helped start its Voice of the Faithful chapter, said she believes the archdiocese has retaliated against Coyne and other outspoken priests who signed a letter calling for the resignation of former cardinal Bernard F. Law during the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Archdiocese officials have denied that activist priests were targeted.
"They knew certain churches had to close and they didn't want it to look like only the poor would be impacted," Harrington said. "This was a way to close others and send a message to the priests who signed the letter. When you look at the [closed] parishes that have good attendance, a high sacramental index, and are financially independent, that's where you see it."
Coyne, who has served at St. Albert for two years, didn't discount the idea. "Show me another parish out there that has the attendance and sacramental index we have and is closing; there aren't any," Coyne said. "When you're not given any reasons for closing, you have to wonder what the real reasons are."
While some parishioners expressed their emotions, others couldn't bring themselves to talk about the closures. At St. Jeremiah Church in Framingham, neither parishioners nor the Rev. Ronald Calhoun wanted to talk.
"It's like a death," said one parishioner who declined to give her name. "It's like a wake."
Christine McConville, Joanna Massey, Kathy McCabe, and Erica Noonan of the Globe staff, and Globe correspondent Kellyanne Mahoney contributed to this report. 