By Jessica Scarpati and Maria Papadopoulos
Wicked Local Brockton
April 28, 2008
http://www.wickedlocal.com/brockton/homepage/x501038764
- St. Casimir Church parishioners say their worst fear is coming true: The Archdiocese of Boston will close their beloved and historic Lithuanian Catholic church.
Parishioners said the church is expected to be closed by the end of May. A parish council member broke the news during two Masses this weekend, at 10 a.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Saturday.
Regional Bishop John Anthony Dooher is expected to read a letter from Cardinal Sean O'Malley concerning the church closing at a meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Sawtell Avenue church, parishioners said.
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| The Archdiocese of Boston has announced it will close St. Casimir Church in Brockton, possibly as soon as next Month. Some St. Casimir parishioners say its hard to have faith in the archdiocese during this traumatic time for them. |
"The archdiocese hasn't changed. They're just a little less bold," said Maryte Bizinkauskas, the church's cantor. "They're closing churches any way they can."
Terrence C. Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, confirmed Sunday that the parish will close, but he did not have a specific date.
"We have to constantly look at what's the best way to balance the pastoral needs with the resources that we have," Donilon said, citing low attendance at the church built by Lithuanian immigrants more than a century ago.
Church officials have been meeting with parishioners about the future of the parish since January, Donilon said.
Years ago, the financially beleaguered Boston Archdiocese had flagged St. Casimir as a possible target for closure.
Rev. Francis J. Cloherty, the regional vicar and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, said parishioners have been privy to the archdiocese's concerns about its low attendance.
Cloherty said the church has had no assigned priest since last July and that sacramental activities have been "very low."
In fiscal 2006, St. Casimir held 10 baptisms, one wedding and two funerals, Cloherty said. The average Sunday Mass attendance was 161, he said.
Established in 1898 as St. Rocco, the church in the city's northeast corner became St. Casimir in the mid 1950s when the Lithuanian community there added a second story, the main church, to the Ames Street building.
The parish school closed last June when the archdiocese realigned Catholic schools in the city, opening Trinity Catholic Academy, with its lower campus at the former St. Edward School and the upper at the former St. Colman School.
That left St. Casimir School vacant, along with the rectory and convent.
Church property in that area is valued at more than $4 million, according to city records.
Meanwhile, Cloherty said the St. Casimir church building needs half a million dollars of work to replace its roof, and another $300,000 of "work" over the next five years. Cloherty could not clarify exactly what long-term work would be needed.
He also said the church brings in $2,000 in monthly offerings, but its monthly expenses run close to $4,000.
The planned closinge does not surprise a Catholic community that has already witnessed local church closings and mergers.
"With the decline in the number of parishioners, the income has declined, so we're not making as much as we should be making to stay a viable parish," said John S. Svagzdys, 82, a lifelong parishioner until moving to Hingham two years ago.
Some St. Casimir parishioners say it's hard to have faith in the archdiocese during this traumatic time for them.
"It seems the archdiocese doesn't have a heart," said Bronius Banaitis of Abington, a 30-year parishioner. "Ethnicity doesn't mean anything anymore to the Catholic Church."
Jessica Scarpati can be reached at jscarpati@enterprisenews.com.
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