Archdiocese sells St. Frances rectory in Scituate for $240K

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

Eight years after the St. Francis X. Cabrini Church closed in Scituate, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has sold a portion of the property.

The church's former rectory, which makes up approximately 24,000 square feet of the 1.7-acre property, was sold to Reverends John and Sarah Brockmann on Tuesday for $240,000.

Both are active in churches outside of Scituate. John is the rector at the Grace Episcopal Church in Norwood. Sarah is the rector at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Rockland, and found the rectory to be the perfect fit for a new home.

“We were recently moved up from Maryland ... [and] we rented for a year about two blocks west, and that showed us the beauty of Scituate. Since we’re both priests, we though it would be cool to buy a rectory. And that property fits all of those,” John Brockmann in a phone interview Thursday.

Although the house needs some work, he said the structure is pretty solid, especially considering it was built in 1928.

The couple has no interest in purchasing the remainder of the property, whose closure is is still being appealed with a Vatican court.

The church filed to relegate the property to "profane" use upon the church’s closing in 2004. However, a non-profit group known as the Friends of the St. Francis X. Cabrini Church, has held vigil in the space since then.

As such, the property, assessed at $484,600 during this past year’s assessment, has sat in limbo.

Although the plans for the remaining property have yet to be decided, Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, said the timing was right to sell the rectory, which wasn’t subject to the profane use requirement.

The sale has nothing to do with the taxation of the property, Donilon said, “Not at all, we just felt like it was an opportunity and market conditions were such that we could sell the property. And obviously with the ministers who bought it, there was a need.”

Jon Rogers, a spokesman for the group holding vigil in the church, could not be reached for comment on the sale of the rectory.

The sale is a small part of the property, Donilon said, and the Archdiocese is hoping for a resolution in the near future.

“At the appropriate time, depending on what the decision is that comes back, [it is our hope] that we’ll be able to make a decision on [selling or opening the remaining property] in due course. But there is no rush moving forward,” Donilon said.

Regardless of the outcome, the Archdiocese is tiring of the vigil.

“The vigil needs to end sooner rather than later. It's gone on for a number of years, the cardinal has demonstrated incredible patience, kept his word, and we all went into this with the understanding of how the rules would operate in the appeals process,” Donilon said. “It’s not fair to the 290 open and active parishes that this continues...We’re in 144 cities in the commonwealth, and every parish that is open and serving deserves our attention.”