Church trespass case is dropped
Man protested closing of parish in Winchester

By Jack Encarnacao
Boston Globe
December 4, 2004

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/
2004/12/04/church_trespass_case_is_dropped/

The only parishioner arrested as a result of protests against church closings by the Archdiocese of Boston will not be prosecuted because the archdiocese asked that a trespassing charge be dropped, the Middlesex district attorney's office said yesterday.

Prosecutors filed a document in Woburn District Court yesterday that said the office will not pursue a case against Eugene E. Sweeney, 69, of Woburn.

The archdiocese had asked the district attorney's office Nov. 15 to drop the case, said Melissa Sherman, spokeswoman for District Attorney Martha Coakley. "At the request of the archdiocese, we agreed to dismiss the charges after a complete and thorough review," Sherman said.

Sweeney's arrest became a flash point for opponents of parish closings, some of whom have staged round-the-clock prayer vigils and sit-ins in eight churches to prevent the archdiocese from shuttering the buildings.

Peter Borre, a spokesman for the Council of Parishes, an alliance of closed or soon-to-be-closed parishes, said a vigil at St. Albert the Great in Weymouth, closed by the archdiocese in August, recently passed its 100th day.

"I'm grateful that the Middlesex district attorney has taken the action she has," Borre said. "The archdiocese owes an apology to Mr. Sweeney."

Winchester police arrested Sweeney on Nov. 6 after Immaculate Conception Church celebrated its final Mass. Officials said Sweeney, a longtime parishioner, refused requests to leave the church. Police removed him about three hours after Mass ended and arrested him on a trespassing charge.

Sweeney, a retired mathematics teacher, spent about two hours in the police station before being released on $40 bail. He pleaded not guilty to the charge during an arraignment Nov. 12 in Woburn District Court and was released on personal recognizance.

The archdiocese's office did not return calls seeking comment last night.

In a statement released after Sweeney's arrest, the archdiocese defended the actions of the Rev. Thomas Foley, who had ordered Sweeney out of the church after Mass, even though parishioners had been allowed to remain in other churches where sit-ins were being held.

Foley's actions "do not represent a change in the policies of the archdiocese, but rather his own judgment about what this particular situation warranted," the statement said. "He acted out of concern for the safety of this individual . . . and the rest of his parishioners who had sadly but steadily seen this closing process through to the prayerful, final liturgy. In his heart, he felt he could not let this one parishioner disturb the closing event."

Foley, who was installed as pastor at St. Ann's Parish in Dorchester on Nov. 7, had convened numerous meetings before the closing of Immaculate Conception so that parishioners could express concerns. He also helped parishioners appeal the archdiocese's decision to close the church. When the appeal was denied, Foley told parishioners he would support the closure "for the good of the greater church," according to statements from the archdiocese in mid-November.

A message left last night at St. Ann's office seeking comment from Foley was not returned.

Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley granted extensions of their closing dates to six parishes Nov. 15. Borre said he interpreted the decision as an attempt to dissuade others from actions like Sweeney's.

"I think that by early November the archdiocese was scared of the spread of sit-ins, and their actions since then confirm it," Borre said. "They created among the pastors the feeling that we must avoid further sit-ins. I think that is the kind of unwritten guidance that the Rev. Thomas Foley followed. It's a matter of what kind of climate do you create within the organization."

After Sweeney's arrest, some opponents of church closings said they were surprised that the case against him was not quickly dropped, in part because the archdiocese had not tried to remove other parishioners from churches slated for closing.

"It's long overdue," Borre said of the decision to drop the charges. "I find it incomprehensible that the Sweeney matter was not addressed more courageously by the archdiocese immediately after it happened."