BishopAccountability.org
	Parishioners Anxious As Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Readies to Announce Next Round of Church Closings By Stephanie Barry The Republican August 28, 2009 http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/parishioners_anxious_as_roman.html?category=Top%20Stories Anxiety is building among Catholic parishioners awaiting to learn the fates of their churches, according to a spokesman for the local diocese. "It's one of those things. You want it to come, but you're fearful of what you may hear," said Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, referring to people who approached him after the diocese announced Thursday that planned church closures will be revealed at Saturday Masses. Fourteen parishes in Hampden and Hampshire counties will be shuttered by the end of the year, with eight more to follow. The Most Rev. Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell called meetings with priests this week. Pastors will make announcements about their churches' destinies at services over the weekend. The parishes targeted for closure have not been released publicly yet. Dupont said most pastors took the news stoically. "Most of the priests understood the necessity of making these changes," he said. Officials at a Thursday press briefing at the diocesan administrative offices in Springfield said the move was prompted by dwindling numbers of Catholics and population shifts over the past 50 years. The pending closures will follow a wave of church shutterings in Berkshire, Franklin and western Hampden counties on Jan. 1. Not all of those parishioners went quietly. Members of the now-defunct congregation at St. Stanislaus in Adams have been holding round-the-clock vigils at the church since it closed on Dec. 26. "I sleep there sometimes one night a week, sometimes two," said Francis J. Hajdas, 72, a parishioner and one of the founding members of the vigil. "In the wintertime, I have a sleeping bag and I wear a jacket. They're required to keep the churches at 55 degrees. It's not that bad. You can survive." Hajdas and fellow members of "Friends of St. Stan's" have raised $21,000 through collections and have hired a canon lawyer in Rome to handle their appeal of the closure to the Vatican. If they win, the diocese will be ordered to reopen the church. "We just feel that we've been unjustly closed. The bishop made a big mistake," Hajdas said. The group took out an ad in The Republican offering assistance to parishes affected by the upcoming closures. It cautions that churches have just 10 days to file an appeal. Hajdas said their efforts mirror protests over church closures in Boston, Syracuse and Cleveland. Dupont said details of the closures will be broadcast on the diocese's news magazine show, "Real to Reel," on Channel 22 at 7 p.m. on Saturday. McDonnell will deliver a televised address during that program. McDonnell told reporters that he understands the process will be painful, because churches often represent its members' most meaningful moments: baptisms, weddings, funerals. "I know what it's like to lose what really is a memory box," McDonnell said. Contact: sbarry@repub.com
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