Charges dropped in church trespass
2 had protested closing in Natick

By David Abel
Boston Globe
December 29, 2004

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/
12/29/charges_dropped_in_church_trespass/

Prosecutors dropped trespassing charges yesterday against two parishioners who were arrested last week after launching a sit-in at a Natick church to try to keep it from closing.

The decision was made at the request of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, which is wrestling with rebellious parishioners as it tries to close parishes to balance its budget and deal with a shortage of priests.

''In a trespassing case, if the party trespassed upon doesn't wish to proceed, unless it's an egregious situation, we generally wouldn't go forward with the case," said Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney's office.

Parishioners Anne Green and Leo Ryan, both of Holliston, were arrested after Christmas Eve Mass when they refused to leave Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which is one of about 50 parishes the archdiocese has closed since July. It plans to close at least 30 more in coming months.

Sacred Heart officially closed Sunday, after a second group of parishioners left the church rather than face threatened trespassing charges.

Both Sacred Heart parishioners who were charged said yesterday that they were relieved not to have to go to court, but disillusioned by what they considered unnecessary action by archdiocese leaders.

''I think dropping the charges was the only sensible thing for them to do," said Green, 54. ''But I still feel suppressed, which is the word the archdiocese is using to close the churches. I feel put down, put out, rejected, and unimportant to the archdiocese."

Ryan, 64, said that it's ''definitely good news" he won't face trespassing charges, but that he's worried the archdiocese will take similar action against members of other parishes.

''We were very peaceful, and I think our vigil should have been allowed to proceed, just as the other vigils went forward," he said. ''I just hope this isn't a new strategy on the part of the archdiocese. I don't think it would bode well for them. They might lose a lot of parishioners."

Green and Ryan were part of a group who locked themselves inside their church last Friday.

A church employee apparently let in police, who ordered Green and Ryan to leave the building, archdiocesan officials said. The two were arrested after disobeying an officer's order, they said.

But archdiocese officials said the Rev. Joseph Slyva, Sacred Heart's pastor, expected police to escort the parishioners from the building.

''It was not the intention of Father Slyva to have these folks arrested," said Ann Carter, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

''He asked the parishioners to leave, and when they wouldn't, he asked the police to escort them out."

Asked whether the archdiocese worries that the request to drop the charges might lead to similar action at other churches, Carter said: ''I'm not worried. These decisions are made on a parish-by-parish basis. I think the right judgment was made in this case."

If a sit-in had started at Sacred Heart, it would have been the ninth parish in the archdiocese where parishioners refused to leave. Vigils are ongoing at churches in Brookline, East Boston, Everett, Newton, Scituate, Sudbury, Wellesley, and Weymouth.

The arrests were the second time that protesting parishioners have been taken into custody since the archdiocese began closing parishes in July. Last month, police arrested Eugene E. Sweeney, 69, of Woburn, after he refused to leave his church, Immaculate Conception in Winchester, which was also slated to close.

At the archdiocese's request, prosecutors also dropped the charges against Sweeney.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.

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