Vatican Will Rule on Closed Scituate Church, Patriot Ledger, May 6, 2010

Vatican Will Rule on Closed Scituate Church

Patriot Ledger
May 6, 2010

http://www.patriotledger.com/lifestyle/faith/x1773729237/Vatican-will-rule-on-closed-Scituate-church

The Vatican's highest court will make a final decision on appeals by parishioners of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate and nine other parishes that the Boston archdiocese closed in 2004.

Parishioners at the Scituate Catholic church – currently in their fifth year of an around-the-clock sit-in to keep St. Frances X. Cabrini from closing – say they do not have high hopes for a favorable ruling.

Instead, they await what will happen in the weeks after the closed-door meeting Friday, when the decision of the Apostolic Signatura is made known to the public.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the Boston Archdiocese has repeatedly said he would wait for the canon law appeals process to play out before deciding his next move on the protests by parishioners, which are taking place in two of the 10 Catholic churches, as well as three others that were closed but are not part of the appeal.

Maryellen Rogers, a spokeswoman for the St. Frances X. Cabrini protesters, invited Cardinal O'Malley to "sit down with us, and explore a resolution."

A parishioner arrives for a at a service Sunday commemorating the fifth anniversary of the vigil at St. Frances Cabrini Church in Scituate.

But she also made it clear that the parishioners have no intention of budging, even if the Vatican's lower-court rulings are upheld Friday, as parishioners expect.

"If we're taken out in handcuffs ..." she said, not finishing the sentence.

Peter Borre of the Council of Parishes, a Massachusetts-based organization helping nine of the appealing groups of parishioners fight the closings, said in a later interview what Rogers hadn't.

"We have said from the start that we will engage in a dialogue with them, but only a dialogue that will lead to the reopening of the closed parishes," he said. "These parishioners have been in vigil 24/7 for five-and-a-half years. They're not likely to fold up and go away quietly."

The parishes are among more than 60 closed by the Boston archdiocese as part of a reconfiguration plan announced in 2004 to deal with a drop in attendance, a priest shortage and financial problems after the Catholic church sexual abuse scandal.

Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the Boston archdiocese, declined to comment on actions the archdiocese might take if the appeal is rejected Friday.

"I don't want to sit here and say at one point we will never shut the lights off or turn the water off; we have had to do that in other areas ... and we need this to end at some point," he said. "But I don't see anybody here right now who has a desire to go that route."

Donilon said the archdiocese has a liaison who continues to work with the Scituate parishioners and that Cardinal O'Malley "is a man of peace and is very patient" and willing to let the dialogue continue.

He said the hope, however, is that the St. Frances X. Cabrini parishioners will relent.

"It's our hope that they'll join us and help us to rebuild this church, because we need them," he said. "It just can't happen at that parish. Imagine that energy and commitment that they have being shared with parishes that are open."

Contact: jmann@ledger.com