Part II - The Plan of Reconfiguration

Regional reports

Central Region

The Central Region of the Archdiocese of Boston is presently made up of 77 parishes in 5 cities and towns. From 1985 -2003, 15 parishes were closed in the Central Region. In the reconfiguration, 20 parishes will be closing, one parish will be closed but the church will remain open, and 2 new parishes will be established for a total of 58 parishes in the Central Region.

Parish closings (16):

Brighton, Our Lady of the Presentation

Boston, Holy Trinity (closing on 6/30/05)

Boston, St. Ann University Parish

Brookline, Infant Jesus – St. Lawrence

Cambridge, Blessed Sacrament

Cambridge, Immaculate Conception, Lithuanian (closing at the end of the present pastorate)

Cambridge, Somerville – Immaculate Conception

Charlestown – St. Catherine of Siena

Dorchester, Roxbury – St. Mary of the Angels

East Boston – Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

East Boston – St. Mary Star of the Sea

Hyde Park – St. Adalbert, Lithuanian (closing at the end of the present pastorate)

Hyde Park – St. Joseph

Jamaica Plain – Blessed Sacrament

South Boston – St. Augustine

South Boston – St. Peter

Parish closing, church to stay open as a worship space (1):

Boston, Sacred Heart in the North End

Parish closings (4) with creation of 2 new parishes:

Dorchester -- St. Williams

Dorchester -- St. Margaret -- both to close and form a new parish

Roxbury -- St. Francis-St. Philip

Roxbury -- St. John-St. Hugh -- both to close and form a new parish

West Region

The West Region of the Archdiocese of Boston is presently made up of 53 parishes in 23 cities and towns. From 1985-2003, 4 parishes were closed in the West Region. In the reconfiguration, 11 parishes will be closing and one parish will be closed but the church will remain open for a total of 42 parishes.

Parish closings (11):

Bellingham, Assumption

Belmont, Our Lady of Mercy

Framingham, St. Jeremiah

Marlborough, St. Mary

Natick, Sacred Heart

Newton, St. Bernard

Newton, Mary Immaculate of Lourdes

Sudbury, St. Anselm

Waltham, St. Joseph

Watertown, Sacred Heart

Wellesley, St. James the Great

Parish closing, church to stay open as a worship space:

Marlborough, St. Ann

Merrimack Region

The Merrimack Region of the Archdiocese of Boston is presently made up of 68 parishes in 37 cities and towns. From 1985-2003, 17 parishes were closed and 2 parishes created in the Merrimack Region. In the present reconfiguration, 5 parishes will be closing, one parish will be closed but the church will remain open, and 1 new parish will be established for a total of 64 parishes in the Merrimack Region. n.b. These figures do not include the 10-11 parishes that are slated to be closed in Lowell and Lawrence in the next few months.

Parish Closing:

Lexington, Sacred Heart

Parish closing, church to stay open as a worship space (2):

Lincoln, St. Joseph

Stow, St. Isidore

Parish closings (2) with creation of a new parish:

Concord, St. Bernard

Concord, Our Lady Help of Christians

North Region

The North Region of the Archdiocese of Boston is presently made up of 79 parishes in 31 cities and towns. From 1985 -- 2003, 8 parishes were closed in the North Region. In the reconfiguration, 18 parishes will be closing for a total of 57 parishes in the North Region.

Parish closings (18):

Arlington, St. James

Arlington, St. Jerome

Beverly, St. Alphonsus

Beverly, St. Margaret

Everett. St. Therese

Gloucester, Sacred Heart

Gloucester, St. Peter

Lynn, St. Michael (effective 2006)

Malden, St. Peter

Medford, Sacred Heart

Medford, St. James

Revere, Our Lady of Lourdes

Rockport, St. Joachim (may stay open as a worship space)

Salem, St. Joseph

Salem-Peabody, St. Thomas the Apostle

Wakefield, St. Florence

Winchester, Immaculate Conception

Woburn, St. Joseph

South Region

The South Region of the Archdiocese of Boston is presently made up of 80 parishes in 41 cities and towns. From 1985 -- 2003, 4 parishes were closed and 1 parish created in the South Region. In the reconfiguration, 13 parishes will be closing, one parish will be closed but the church will remain open, two parishes will be merged into one, and 1 new parish will be established for a total of 68 parishes in the South Region.

Parish closings (13):

Brockton, St. Margaret

Dedham, St. Susanna

Milton, St. Pius X

Norwood, St. George

Plymouth, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

Quincy, Star of the Sea

Scituate, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini

Stoughton, St. James

Weymouth, St. Albert the Great

Parish closing, church to stay open as a worship space (1):

Rochester, St. Rose of Lima

Parish closings (2) with creation of a new parishes:

Quincy – Most Blessed Sacrament

Quincy -- St. Elizabeth -- both to close to form a new parish

Parishes (2) to merge and form a new parish:

Brockton, Sacred Heart

Brockton, St. Colman of Cloyne

Reconfiguration and Particular Communities

Deaf Apostolate

There are currently two Deaf Worshipping Communities in the Archdiocese: the A.S.L. Chaplaincy (temporarily located at Saint John’s Seminary) and the Deaf Community Center located at Saint Anselm Parish, Sudbury. In a recently submitted pastoral plan for the continuation of Deaf Ministry in the Archdiocese, they proposed their merging into a single worshipping community for the deaf. A new parish location, as central as possible to the entire Archdiocese, will be secured for this community and the Archbishop will assign the community to that parish. Also, a regular Sunday parish Mass is signed weekly, bi-weekly or monthly in seven other parishes around the Archdiocese; none of these parishes have been affected by the reconfiguration

Ethnic Apostolates / Hispanic Apostolate From among the 357 parishes of the Archdiocese, there are 126 Ethnic/Hispanic Worshipping Communities. These consist of 41 “personal parishes” (parishes that were established to serve the needs of a particular group of people) and 85 “ethnic communities” (recognized communities of various ethnic backgrounds that worship [usually in their own language] within a territorial parish or a personal parish that was established for a different group.

Thirteen personal parishes are being affected at the present time by this reconfiguration process; in only 2 of those parishes is the language of the ethnic community still used for worship. These 2 communities will need to be welcomed into a “receiving parish,” while the future needs of the other affected parishes will be discussed and those needs responded to by a neighboring parish community.

Another 18 “ethnic communities” are being affected due to the closure of the parishes in which these communities worship and carry on their pastoral life. In 9 of these cases, the local clusters made specific recommendations for the continued ministry of these communities: in one case the “combining” of 3 neighboring Hispanic communities, in another the “combining” of 2 neighboring Vietnamese communities. They feel that bringing these communities together will serve to strengthen their worship life as well as their pastoral programs and outreach. In the other instances, the clusters recommended a new parish community eager to extend hospitality and to welcome the ethnic community as a part of their parish community.

For the remaining “ethnic communities” further consultation will take place among the lay leadership of the local community, the neighboring pastors, area vicar and regional bishop. This consultation will be facilitated by the staffs of the Offices of Ethnic Apostolates and Hispanic Apostolate, under the direction of the Secretary for Pastoral Services.

In all of the above cases for both personal parishes and ethnic communities, at the conclusion of the consultation, recommendations will be brought to the Archbishop who will make pastoral decisions concerning the future care of these faithful of the Archdiocese.