BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - Updated: 02:48 AM EST
A group of local Catholics plans to ask the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops how the Archdiocese of Boston can close more than a quarter of its parishes by claiming it owns the properties while the conference's own president is trying to fend off lawsuits by clergy-abuse victims by claiming church assets belong to parishioners.
``To us, this is just a glaring inconsistency,'' said Peter Borre of the Council of Parishes. ``We're going to . . . demand that this issue be resolved.''
The Bishops' Conference is scheduled to meet next week in Chicago. The council wants it to clarify how church law defines ownership of parish assets.
Last May, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley announced plans to close more than 80 of the archdiocese's 357 parishes. Parishioners at a half-dozen churches continue to hold sit-ins to try to keep them open, with some arguing church assets belong to parishioners.