Closings cloud area services

Anger, uncertainty, and sorrow mingled with the prayers offered yesterday at Catholic parishes scheduled to be closed under the consolidation plan announced last week by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley.

"We are witnessing a death, a death of something that is very dear to us -- our parish," said the Rev. Lawrence Rondeau, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Salem, who wept during his homily. "We should feel angry. We should feel sadness. We should feel confusion. Those are all necessary emotions for us to feel."

At St. William in Dorchester, which will merge, the Rev. Christopher J. Hickey compared his pain at the church's selection to the sorrow he felt during the clergy sexual abuse scandal. "The pain of this is as deep, if not deeper, than the scandal," he said. "This is more personal. The church is many people's second home."

And at St. Albert the Great Church in Weymouth, the Rev. Ron Coyne acknowledged to a packed congregation that it was "hard to sense God's spirit" in the closing.

"There are days we won't want to have spirit or go back to church," Coyne said. "I hope everyone in this parish continues to believe in Christ, even though it's not easy to do."

The church closings will lead to a net reduction of 65 parishes in the Boston Archdiocese. As those churches held their first Sunday Masses since O'Malley's announcement, several pastors talked about moving toward appealing the archbishop's choices.

The bad news had been expected at many of the affected churches, but the pain was still tangible in the pews, where congregants must find new places to worship after decades of family baptisms, marriages, and funerals.

Several parishioners listened to Coyne's homily at St. Albert the Great with tears streaming down their faces. A few became so overwhelmed that they walked out.

"It's like a funeral Mass," said Maureen Murphy, who left in the middle of Mass. "He was trying to be upbeat, but it's like the rug being pulled out from underneath you. You can't feel happiness."

At St. Joseph in Salem, Ellen Richard, 81, said the announcement marked her second church closing in 18 months, following the earlier decision to shutter St. Mary's Italian Church in Salem.

"It's terrible," Richard said. "I'm losing my faith . . . I'm telling you, I'm really thinking about not going to church anymore."

Her husband, Henry Richard, 82, said he attended school at St. Joseph, a 131-year-old parish that originally served French-Canadian immigrants like Richard's ancestors. "It's pretty discouraging," said Richard, who said he does not know which church he will attend next.

"But I will go," Richard stressed. "I never miss Mass. We'll have to live with this."

The Rev. Hugh O'Regan preached for understanding in his homily yesterday at the weekly Latin Mass at Holy Trinity Church in the South End. The Catholic Church in Boston "has many trials," he said, "and I have one to present to you today."

O'Regan then read O'Malley's letter, which noted that Boston does not now require a German-speaking church. Established in 1844, the Holy Trinity parish long ago completed its original mission for a German-speaking population that has all but disappeared from the neighborhood.

The church's closing has been deferred until June 30, 2005, O'Regan said. "This is a big letter," O'Regan told the congregation, rapt and silent in their pews. "Are we going to stand up and protest in front of the cathedral? Well, I'm not. But if you want to do it, good luck to you."

O'Regan, like other pastors, noted that Masses and the sacraments will not be the only services affected by the closings. Holy Trinity operates the Cardinal Medeiros day shelter for older homeless people, and Bridge Over Troubled Waters for homeless and abused teenagers. In Salem, St. Joseph runs a food pantry that feeds 3,000 people each month, a 188-student school, and the Little Lambs Baby Program, which provides diapers and baby food to low-income mothers.

Many churches plan to appeal the closing decisions, but parishioners were urged not to hold out much hope.

Claire Hardiman, who attended Mass at St. William yesterday, said she did not think the selection process was fair.

"I just think they did an injustice to make us think we were part of the process when, I think, it was all decided from the beginning," said Hardiman, whose family has attended the church for 60 years.

In Weymouth, parish council spokesman Colin Riley sounded incredulous as he tried to fathom the decision-making process. The financially strong church has experienced flourishing attendance the last two years, congregants at St. Albert said.

"Where does it say, `We're going to close healthy, vital, vibrant, engaged parishes?' " Riley asked.

In Salem, Rondeau expressed similar bewilderment. "It is a process of reconfiguration," the pastor said. "Boy, are we involved. Who could figure? Who could figure that it would be us? But that's what it is."

The school and food pantry will continue in new locations, Rondeau said, but he expressed concern for Hispanic parishioners because St. Joseph offers the only Spanish Mass among the city's five Catholic churches.

"Our Spanish parishioners are confused, and rightly so," Rondeau said. "They don't know where they will go now."

The pastor noted, however, that the presence of three Catholic churches within a mile of downtown Salem must have been a consideration. "Location. Location. Location. It's great in business," Rondeau said. "In our case, it may have worked against us."

At Sacred Heart Church in Boston's North End, longtime parishioners were not heartened that their church will remain open as a chapel, where Mass will be celebrated when a priest is available.

The Rev. Vincenzo Rosato, in his homily, might have summarized the feelings of many area Catholics when he said: "We follow our leaders, even when it hurts, even when it doesn't comply with our wishes."

Sasha Talcott and Franco Ordonez of the Globe staff contributed to this report, along with Globe correspondent Ron DePasquale.