As church fights against closure, O'Malley steps away

A visibly agitated Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, making a rare visit to a parish he plans to close, last night abruptly walked out of a South Boston church where parishioners were pleading with him to reverse course.

O'Malley had already greeted scores of Lithuanian-Americans at the close of an evening Mass at St. Peter Lithuanian Church, and had heard many of them beseeching him not to close the 100-year-old church, when he got into a heated exchange of words with a female parishioner. He became obviously upset -- she later told another parishioner there were tears in his eyes -- and could be heard repeatedly saying the phrase, ''You don't, you don't."

O'Malley's secretary, the Rev. Robert Kickham, then stepped between the archbishop and the woman and ushered O'Malley into the sacristy and out a side door. About a dozen parishioners were left standing in the receiving line, and O'Malley skipped a reception in the church hall that he had planned to attend.

The parishioner who spoke with O'Malley declined to say what she said to the archbishop, and the archbishop's aides said they were not sure what transpired. But they said O'Malley was overwhelmed, though basically OK, at the end of a long day.

''It was not a good situation for any person to walk into tonight, given the level of rhetoric and pressure that is being put on the archbishop," said O'Malley's spokesman, the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne.

The Lithuanian community, scattered throughout Eastern Massachusetts, is irate that O'Malley plans to close the South Boston church, which they say is an important spiritual and cultural center for several generations of immigrants. Some of those parishioners are descendants of people who fled famine in Lithuania in the late 19th century, others fled Soviet persecution after World War I and World War II, and still others have come recently, seeking economic opportunity since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

''A lot of parishioners here have experienced the persecution of their faith and they make a lot of analogies," said the Rev. Stephen P. Zukas, pastor of St. Peter. ''The Soviets made them transit to America, and now they're seeing their churches close again."

O'Malley, who has said the Archdiocese of Boston does not have enough money, priests, or worshipers to justify the 357 parishes that existed at the start of this year, is also closing Lithuanian parishes in Norwood and Cambridge.

The St. Peter's parishioners have refused to comply with O'Malley's request that they choose a date for the closing. O'Malley initially proposed to close the parish before Sept. 1, but agreed to an indefinite extension after parishioners pointed out that the church's 100th birthday celebration was scheduled for Sept. 12. The parishioners have filed an appeal of O'Malley's intent to close their parish, plan to appeal the closing to O'Malley and then to Pope John Paul II once O'Malley announces a date, and are collecting money and consulting with a lawyer.

O'Malley agreed to say a daily Mass at the church after declining to attend the parish's 100th birthday celebration next Sunday. Parishioners say O'Malley ignored their invitation to the centennial for 359 days -- they invited him in August 2003 -- before proposing to stop by on a Wednesday night. They say he has also ignored repeated letters, faxes, and calls from parishioners seeking to discuss the archdiocese's plan to close the parish.

The parishioners say Lithuanian-Americans built the church with their own money and only agreed to sell the building, for $1, to the diocese after a three-year standoff in which the diocese refused to allocate a priest to the parish unless the building was sold to the diocese.

St. Peter's is small, with an estimated 100 people attending the Lithuanian Mass Sunday mornings. Parish leaders estimate that they have about 1,200 households as members and say they serve an important purpose in sustaining the Lithuanian Catholic community in the region.

''By closing our parish they're basically annihilating a Lithuanian ministry in Boston," said Gloria Adomkaitis, the chairwoman of both the parish council and the Friends of St. Peter Lithuanian Parish.

Adomkaitis said the parish is self-sustaining and that it is unfair to close it.

''It's a very distasteful feeling," she said. ''They're going to close our property, take our assets and our treasury to fix Gate of Heaven," a nearby parish O'Malley decided to keep open.