Sex Abuse Crisis Motivates Parishioners Holding Vigil

WCVB
October 15, 2015

http://www.wcvb.com/news/sex-abuse-crisis-motivates-parishioners-holding-vigil/35864212

Scituate parishioners who have kept their closed church open for years are vowing to continue their fight after their appeal was denied.

Margy O'Brien, 85, is trespassing. She doesn't mince words speaking about how she feels about the archdiocese.

“Dismayed, disrespected but by golly, we are going to fight this,” she said.

Parishioners of St Frances X. Cabrini have stayed in the church 24/7. Vigils have held off the closure of the church for 11 years -- that's more than 4,000 days of defiance.

The group was dealt a legal blow Wednesday when the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that they are trespassers and that the Boston Archdiocese may order them to leave.

The group said the church sex abuse crisis motivates them to keep fighting.

“I wonder if (Cardinal Sean) O’Malley knows how many priests assigned to St. Frances were abusers?” attorney Mary Elizabeth Carmody said.

“You don't get to abuse our children and then tear down our church to pay for your crimes of the past,” said Jon Rogers.

The archdiocese said the parishioners are welcome them to join another parish.

They want O’Malley to meet with them and said they will continue to hold mass without a priest and continue overnight stays.

“There's a mother and triplets who have been doing it from the beginning, and now those kids have a driver's license,” O’Brien said.