Cardinal turns down requests for Mass at closed parishes
Apr 27, 2006
Cardinal Sean O'Malley has rejected requests for priests to say Mass during Holy Week at closed parishes where church members have been maintaining prayer vigils.
(Associated Press, April 11, 2006) BOSTON -- In phone calls made by the cardinal's secretary to the protesters, O'Malley denied requests for clergy for Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the city's East Boston neighborhood, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini in Scituate and St. James the Great church in Wellesley, and declined to allow priests for Holy Thursday and Good Friday services at St. Jeremiah parish in Framingham.
O'Malley did allow a priest to preside over a full complement of Holy Week liturgies at the occupied St. Anselm Church in Sudbury because that church was reopened by the archdiocese as a chapel of a nearby parish.
Peter Borre, a co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, an alliance of people unhappy with the parish closings, said another parish occupied by protesters, St. Therese in Everett, did not request a priest.
No reason was given for O'Malley's decisions, which indicate a growing impatience with the occupation of the churches.
"It's the cardinal's hope and prayer that (the vigils) end in a prayerful manner," said Archdiocese spokesman Terrance Donilon.
Since 2004, O'Malley has closed 62 churches as part of a reconfiguration plan resulting from declining attendance, fewer priests and persistent financial struggles, due in part to the clergy sex abuse crisis and settlements with victims. Six of those churches have been occupied round the clock by protesters who seek to reverse the decisions.
Last year, O'Malley allowed priests to say Masses at some closed parishes.
Cardinal turns down requests for Mass at closed parishes