MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate
By Jessica Trufant
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr. 2, 2015
DEDHAM – A lawsuit brought against parishioners occupying the closed St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate is scheduled to go to a bench trial May 5 after a Norfolk County Superior Court judge denied their requests for a jury trial and more time to develop a defense.
At a pretrial hearing Thursday morning, Judge Edward Leibensperger denied an emergency motion by Mary Elizabeth Carmody, a lawyer representing the parishioners, seeking a delay in the case for discovery.
“Discovery is absolutely necessary under these facts. …We haven’t had the opportunity to flesh out the case,” Carmody said. “There’s no emergency here. It’s been ongoing for more than 10 years.”
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston filed a civil suit against the Friends of St. Frances after the parishioners failed to meet a March 9 deadline for leaving the church. The parishioners filed a counterclaim, and have vowed to bring their fight to the state’s highest court.
St. Frances was among dozens of Boston-area churches pegged for closure in 2004 as part of a reconfiguration plan designed to shrink the archdiocese’s growing debt.
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