Closings reflect city's change

Brockton's parishes are forced to regroup

(Globe Staff / Mark Wilson) Virginia Savilonis-Giovanello remained after the final Mass last Sunday at St. Casimir in Brockton.

Over the past six years, six Catholic parishes in Brockton have closed or merged, making the city one of the hardest hit by the Boston Archdiocese's reconfiguration process. The trend began with Our Lady of Ostrobrama in 2002 and most recently reached St. Casimir Church, a 110-year-old Lithuanian parish that held its final service Sunday.

However, despite the closures, the evolving Catholic community in Brockton is holding on, members say.

"The attendance and involvement numbers at our parish have actually slowly been rising, contrary to public perception," said the Rev. David O'Donnell, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Brockton. "It's a little too soon to say how permanent these numbers are, as people continue to look into new parishes."

The city still has four churches run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and a fifth Catholic church affiliated with the Maronites, a Lebanon-based sect.

"Recognizing that our resources and attendance was dwindling people, time, volunteers, money, etc., it was important to be proactive so as to secure a better foundation for the future," said O'Donnell. "All may sound a bit cliché, but it is true. We had to step back first, then consolidate, and regroup so as to better serve the needs of Catholics in the future."

A year after Our Lady of Ostrobrama closed, St. Margaret Church, a popular but deteriorating Brockton landmark that stood on Main Street for more than a century, was shut down because it would have cost more than $1 million to repair. In October, the building was sold to the Haitian Church of Brockton.

In 2003, St. Edward Parish combined with St. Nicholas Parish of Abington to form St. Edith Stein Parish, on East Main Street in Brockton. And in 2004, Sacred Heart and St. Colman of Cloyne came together, forming Christ the King near downtown.

"Ultimately, I feel the merger was essential to the continued presence and growth of Catholicism in Brockton," said O'Donnell, who has been serving in the city for eight years.

The local Catholic grammar schools have also merged in order to survive. The schools of St. Edward, Sacred Heart, and St. Casimir combined to form Trinity Catholic Academy, which opened in September. Trinity Academy has two campuses, one for preschool through third grade at the former St. Edward School, and a campus for grades 4 to 8 at the former St. Colman School.

When deciding the fate of a parish, several factors are considered by the archdiocese, officials say. The categories include a "sacramental index" figure, calculated by adding baptisms, funerals, and twice the number of weddings; Mass attendance; and an analysis of activities held by the church, including programs for older residents and the enrollment in religious education programs.

Over the years, as Brockton's diverse nature has continued to evolve, the ethnic landscape of its parishes has begun to change as well, a factor contributing to dwindling attendance in some areas.

St. Patrick Church, which was once a base for Brockton's Irish community, now hosts two Spanish Masses per week. St. Edith Stein holds a pair of Portuguese Creole services each weekend, and, according to O'Donnell, Christ the King became "the center for Brockton's Haitian ministry."

Likewise, the Rev. Francis Cloherty, of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, said he has begun to see a new trend growing at his West Side parish.

"We get parishioners from all over," said Cloherty. "Some are from Nigeria and Haiti. Some are from Vietnam and China. They are all English speaking, because we only offer services in English."

At St. Casimir, as the deadline neared to close the church, makeshift crosses appeared on the grounds. Most had pleas written on them, begging a higher power to save the parish, which has long served as the center of Brockton's Lithuanian Village.

"You're seeing it all over the country," said Robert Corey, a lifelong Brockton Catholic who has attended St. Theresa Maronite Church, on the city's north side, for the last 30 years.

"These closures are a result from poor attendance," said Corey, who lives near the village. "Over the years, a lot of the neighborhoods in Brockton have changed. With St. Casimir, you had a Lithuanian church in an area that has a very low Lithuanian population nowadays."

To create a cohesive, welcoming atmosphere despite the closings and mergers, the remaining churches have worked to strengthen their parishes.

At Our Lady of Lourdes, Cloherty and his congregation's leaders have strived to create stronger liturgies and engage the parents of children preparing for their first Holy Communion.

Meanwhile, at Christ the King, O'Donnell and the parish council have been forthcoming about their decisions and the church's finances, in order to promote a sense of openness. The parish plans to participate in a spiritual renewal program, in addition to working with the Life Teen program, which draws youths from throughout the city.

"To me this shows how we need to start ministering to the Catholic community as a whole, not only through 'my' parish," said O'Donnell.