2 more parishes plan church sit-ins

Two more parishes plan to stage sit-ins to block closing of their churches, which could bring to 10 the number of occupied churches, despite efforts by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to respond to the growing rebellion.

The resistance has snowballed, with eight churches occupied in around-the-clock protests, six of them within the last month, and 13 parishes participating in a council that aims to support the church members sleeping in choir lofts and on folding chairs.

Anger is rising even as the archdiocese has temporarily put off some closings that had been announced, most recently by postponing last Sunday's scheduled closure of St. James in Stoughton, where members had not scheduled a vigil and were planning to attend a neighboring church.

Parishioners of St. Jeremiah in Framingham issued a press release last Friday, saying they expect to stage a protest to block the archdiocese's planned Dec. 1 closure. And Anne Green, a parishioner at Sacred Heart in South Natick, said that parishioners there intend to protest an expected closing next month.

Up to four new occupations are expected, said a spokesman for the Council of Parishes, which was formed to support and coordinate the parishes that are protesting church closings. "Between now and early December we should have at least three or four more, absent, of course, a change of heart and a change of circumstance brought about by the archdiocese," said council cochairman Peter Borre, who declined to name the parishes.

Council members held a workshop Saturday to educate would-be protesters about issues that arise when occupying a church, Green said. Among the topics addressed were how to coordinate with police and fire officials to ensure public safety and what to do if church officials arrive to change the locks.

The archdiocese's willingness to reconsider some aspects of the closings reflects input from parishioners, clergy, and community members, along with Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's willingness to adapt to "new information," said Ann Carter, an archdiocesan spokeswoman.

She cited as an example the recent violent crime in Roxbury and community leaders' outreach as one of the reasons that the closing of St. Mary of the Angels was postponed. At St. James, parishioners made a case that the building where their children would attend religion classes at Our Lady of the Rosary was unsafe; for now, all the children are being taught at St. James. Parishioners did not protest the closings of either church.

"Archbishop Sean continues to acknowledge the pain and sadness being felt by people whose parish communities are closing and changing," Carter said. "He has also reaffirmed his commitment to better communicate his vision, purposes, and goals for our archdiocese and is most grateful for the advice of many Catholics about how to continue with the completion of this reconfiguration process."

But Catholics who have lost trust in the process believe that the archdiocese's willingness to reconsider elements of specific closing plans is a tactic aimed at quelling further resistance, even as it rebuffs their requests for direct conversations with the archbishop about the parish closings.

"In my judgment, the archdiocese is struggling to avoid more vigils," said Borre, whose own parish, St. Catherine of Siena, is scheduled to be merged with two others in Charlestown.

The council's members include eight parishes that are staging vigils: Infant Jesus-St. Lawrence in Brookline, St. Albert the Great in Weymouth, St. Anselm in Sudbury, St. Bernard in West Newton, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Scituate, St. James the Greater in Wellesley, St. Therese in Everett, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston. Also participating in the council are St. Catherine of Siena in Charlestown, Sacred Heart in Lexington, St. Thomas the Apostle in Peabody, St. Jeremiah in Framingham, and Sacred Heart in South Natick.

The archdiocese plans to close 83 of its 357 parishes by January, as part of a parish reconfiguration prompted by a shortage of priests, worshipers, and funding. Forty-nine have been closed or subsumed by other parishes, and most have gone peacefully. At St. Augustine Church in South Boston yesterday, parishioners watched a statue of their namesake saint being taken by crane from their church; their parish merged Sunday with St. Monica's.

Early last month, O'Malley said he had asked a panel to examine the reconfiguration process. The archdiocese will continue to reach out to all Catholics, "including those who disagree with particular church closings decisions, so they understand the reasons for the closing of particular churches, and more broadly, for the reconfiguration throughout the archdiocese," Carter said.

Dissatisfied parishioners say they are not being heard and that some reprieves being granted to churches only delay the inevitable. The closing of St. Bernard's was postponed to give members "more time to deal with this," Carter said last week, but parishioners began a vigil nonetheless. They had rejected an archdiocesan offer to hold Masses there on Saturdays and keep the church open on three weekday mornings.

Despite the case-by-case reexamination, the archdiocese has said it intends to follow through with the closings. Yesterday, an editorial in The Pilot, the archdiocese's official newspaper, said the "nonconfrontational approach" with protesters should not be misread as acquiescence. "No one should expect that church occupations are going to change the archbishop's decisions," it stated.

The closings follow the clergy sexual abuse crisis and an $85 million settlement the archdiocese paid to alleged victims who brought claims of abuse against priests, though the church has said the church closings were not prompted by the settlement.

In a measure of how strained relations have become, some protesting church members accuse the archdiocese of trickery. Parishioners have occupied Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in East Boston since Oct. 12. Last Friday, when a locksmith was parked outside the unoccupied rectory, a man parked another car in front of the church and asked protesters to help him move it, said Carolena Lyon. "I said, 'Move your own car,' " said Lyon, who said she suspects he was trying to get them to vacate the church so he could change the locks. Carter said the locksmith had only been instructed to secure the rectory.

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.