Church May Put Chancery in Braintree
By Michael Paulson
Boston Globe
May 23, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/23/mayor_urges_archdiocese_to_stay_in_city/
Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston is strongly objecting to the likelihood that the storied but scandal-wracked Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, which is preparing to celebrate its bicentennial, will move out of the city.
Archdiocesan officials, strapped for cash, are in the final stages of negotiating a deal to move their offices from the campus in Brighton where they have been headquartered since the 1920s to a four-story building off Route 128 in Braintree as part of an ongoing effort to raise money to resolve the financial crisis touched off by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
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Menino, who has at times been critical of the archdiocese for its handling of the abuse scandal and parish closings, said it would be a mistake for the archdiocese to move its offices from the city.
"The Archdiocese of Boston is an institution that belongs in our city," Menino said in a statement yesterday. "The people most in need of charitable services provided by the church and arch diocese are here in our urban neighborhoods. To move the Archdiocese of Boston out of Boston raises serious concerns about the future mission and role of the church in serving this community."
Church officials insist that moving the chancery from Boston would not constitute an abandonment of the city, pointing out that the archdiocese's spiritual headquarters will remain the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in the city's South End, and that the church will continue to be present in many city neighborhoods through its parishes, schools, hospitals, and social service operations.
"Regardless of where our central administration offices are located, the cardinal will continue to reside at the cathedral, and he will continue to have offices there," said archdiocesan spokesman Terrence C. Donilon. "In addition, our social service presence will not decrease as we play a key role serving the needs of the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable."
Most big-city diocesan chanceries are in the cities where the dioceses are headquartered, but Boston would not be the first to move. Most notably, the Arch diocese of Washington is headquartered in Hyattsville, Md. In Massachusetts, there are numerous religious denominations with offices outside Boston. The area headquarters for the United Church of Christ is in Framingham; the United Methodist Church in Lawrence; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Worcester; and the American Baptist Churches in Dedham.
Donilon did not directly address how the church would respond to pressure or pleading from the mayor, but did say: "We greatly respect Mayor Menino and have a good working relationship with him. We share a common concern for the poor and vulnerable. On the education front, Boston is a priority for us as the Archdiocese has made a point of working to strengthen Catholic schools in Dorchester."
If the archdiocese does move the chancery to new offices, the 4.75 acre chancery property, and possibly a portion of the 13.5 acre St. John's Seminary property, would be purchased by Boston College. BC owns 46 of the 64 acres formerly owned by the archdiocese in Brighton and is planning next month, to the dismay of some neighbors, to file a master plan with the City of Boston that calls for using that land for dormitories for 600 students, a baseball field with seats for 2,000, and a residence for 70 to 90 Jesuits.
About 200 people currently work at the chancery, the archdiocesan headquarters, in a variety of administrative roles: handling finances, insurance, real estate, personnel, fund-raising, and communications operations for the archdiocese, which includes an estimated 2 million Catholics in 144 cities and towns. The archdiocese also has employees in several smaller offices throughout the city.
Church officials said that administration would be more efficient, and less costly, if it were consolidated in a more modern office building. The archdiocese considered a move within Boston, but has focused on Braintree because of a deal being offered by Thomas Flatley, the real estate magnate. Flatley is offering the archdiocese a nine-year-old building on Brooks Drive; the terms of the offer have not been disclosed. The possibility that the archdiocese would relocate the chancery to the Flatley-owned property was first reported in the Boston Herald.
Flatley, who Forbes magazine said is worth an estimated $1.3 billion, has been a major supporter of the Catholic Church and serves on the archdiocese's Finance Council, which must approve a move by the chancery. Flatley would recuse himself from any decision involving his property, the archdiocese said.
The possible move was set into motion in 2004, when the arch diocese, needing cash to settle sexual abuse cases, agreed to sell 43 acres of its Brighton campus to BC for $99 million. Last year, the archdiocese sold BC another 3 acres for $8 million. The property sold in 2004 included the Italianate palazzo that housed Boston's first four cardinal-archbishops.
"I suppose when Cardinal [Sean] O'Malley decided to move out of the residence back to the cathedral, it was a diminishment of the centrality of that property," said James O'Toole, a BC history professor. "I don't know if in this day and age it's as big a deal as it would have been at some point in the past. It's certainly less of a big deal than moving City Hall where nobody can get to it, as the mayor has proposed."
As part of the 2004 transaction, BC committed to buying the chancery property for $20 million if the archdiocese decides to sell it and to buy the adjoining seminary property for $40 million if it is for sale. Church officials would not say yesterday how much of the two parcels they might sell to BC and at what price, as part of the transaction now under consideration.
"There have been ongoing conversations between the Archdiocese of Boston and Boston College regarding the chancery property and the additional acreage owned by the archdiocese," BC spokesman Jack Dunn said yesterday. "As we have publicly stated, we would welcome the opportunity to purchase the property, which would help finalize our campus master plan and enable the archdiocese to improve its financial situation."
The archdiocese has owned land in Brighton since the 1880s, when Archbishop John J. Williams opened St. John's Seminary there.
"St. John's Seminary will remain at its current location, regardless of the outcome of our assessment of the long-term needs of central administration," said Donilon. "Cardinal O'Malley has consistently identified vocations to priesthood and religious life as an essential priority for the church. The cardinal considers St. John's seminary in Brighton as a key element in the Archdiocese's planning for the future."
Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.
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