Archdiocese Goes to Court to End Vigil at Scituate Church

By Fred Hanson
Patriot Ledger
March 21, 2015

http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20150320/NEWS/150329153/2002/LIFESTYLE

Mary Akoury of Weymouth and of St. Albert's listens closely to the arguments presented by the lawyers from the Archdiocese of Boston in Norfolk Superior Court on Friday. She and eight other parishioners from St. Albert's came to support their friends from St. Frances in their vigil.

A Norfolk Superior Court judge is considering a request that would order the parishioners out of St. Frances Cabrini Church after a decade-long vigil.

Judge Edward Leibensperger gave lawyers representing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Friends of St. Frances Cabrini until Tuesday to make additional filings in the case. He did not give any indication on when he would issue his ruling.

The archdiocese brought the action after parishioners failed to meet a March 6 deadline for leaving the church.

“The defendants have no right to occupy the church,” said Bill Dailey, a lawyer representing the archdiocese said during an hour-long court hearing on Friday. “There is no legal right to occupy the church.”

Dailey said the archdiocese allowed the group to occupy the church while it appealed the decision to close the church. The Vatican’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura, last summer upheld the archdiocese’s decision to close the church.

He told the court the parishioner’s efforts are “a direct attack” on the church’s effort to administer its affairs.

Representing the parishioners, lawyer Mary Elizabeth Carmody said they still have another Vatican appeal pending.

She also questioned the archdiocese’s ability to seek civil action against the group for trespassing, saying the statute of limitations is three years. The parishioners have occupied the church since October 2004.

“They have spent three times that in their church,” Carmody said.

She also termed the archdiocese’s request for a temporary restraining order to remove the parishioners as “an extraordinary request.”

Carmody said there is no emergency that is typically needed for the order.

“There is no reason to change the status quo until a trial on the merits,” she said.

The two sides also differ on the legal ownership of the property. The archdiocese said they are the owners, while Carmody said the building is owned by St. Mary’s Church in Scituate.

Jon Rogers, founder of the parishioners group, was pleased with Friday’s hearing.

“I think we’re well on our way to get our wish, and that wish is the voice of the people will be heard,” he said.

Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said it is unfortunate that it was necessary to take legal action against the group.

“It is our hope in the very near future to resolve this in a way that allows them to move on to a new parish,” Donilon said.

About 40 people attended the hearing, many of them parishioners who came by chartered bus.

Fred Hanson may be reached at fhanson@ledger.com.