NEWS RELEASE
For Release: Sunday, April 10, 2005
Contact: Peter Borré, 617-448-3850, pxb3@rcn.com
COUNCIL OF PARISHES CALLS ON ARCHBISHOP TO HALT PARISH
CLOSINGS PROCESS AND EXPAND RECONFIGURATION COMMITTEE
Council also asks for Archbishop to release Reconfiguration
Committee report and findings
( Brookline , Mass. ) — The Council of Parishes
today called on Archbishop Seán O’Malley
to immediately halt the parish closings process underway
in the Archdiocese of Boston and to put an expanded Reconfiguration
Review Committee in charge of implementation.
The Council also expressed its gratitude to the parishioners
of Infant Jesus-St. Lawrence Parish in Brookline for
this morning’s Mass celebrated in loving memory
of Pope John Paul II, and as an expression of unity and
solidarity with Boston-area Catholics. Representatives
from more than a dozen parishes that are closed, or slated
to close, attended the Mass and addressed the media afterward
about the flawed parish closings process – or reconfiguration – that
has caused so much pain and trauma to Catholics and communities
throughout the Archdiocese.
The Council of Parishes press conference was held to
respond to Archbishop O’Malley’s March 31,
2005 decisions based on the recommendations of the Reconfiguration
Review Committee co-chaired by Sister Janet Eisner and
Peter Meade. The Council of Parishes delayed its response
to these decisions in deference to our Holy Father’s
difficult last days, his passing, and his funeral. Parishes
in 24/7 vigil could not have Masses this past Sunday
while other parishes of the Archdiocese held Masses in
remembrance of our Holy Father.
The March 31 decisions spared only two parishes outright;
in other instances there are further reviews, and in
one case a parish is to become a chapel. This is a modest
step in the right direction, consistent with other reappraisals
announced these past six months at the urging of the
Meade/Eisner Committee. The underlying problems, however,
still exist and must be addressed.
Since the May 25, 2004 Reconfiguration announcement
to suppress or merge 83 Boston-area parishes, approximately
60 parishes have been closed; of these, seven have held
prayerful vigils, maintaining an around-the-clock physical
and spiritual presence in their churches (some now entering
their eighth month). Many of the remaining parishes are
under reappraisal. Nonetheless, for nine of the original
83 parishes still open, the destructive machinery of
Reconfiguration grinds on, with closings scheduled to
occur soon.
The March 31 decisions reaffirmed that five closed parishes
in vigil since last October “should remain closed.” There
was no acknowledgment of the parishioners’ pain,
and no effort to devise creative solutions such as satellite
places of worship. Most alarmingly, there was no indication
of whether the archdiocese might again condone the forcible
removal and arrest of Catholics from their places of
worship, as was done in Winchester in the fall and in
South Natick on Christmas Day.
The March 31 decisions fail to address the heart of
the matter:
In a flawed and arbitrary manner, senior officials of
the Archdiocese (holdovers from the days of Cardinal
Bernard Law) used the Reconfiguration process to pit
parish against parish through the “cluster” process,
then inserted unexplained reversals during secretive
reviews, and finally presented Archbishop O’Malley
with a fait accompli for ratification.
Under the guise of Reconfiguration, Boston-area Catholics
have been subjected to a new form of abuse by the archdiocesan
bureaucracy. Boston College Professor Thomas Groome acknowledges
this and has called reconfiguration both “unwise
and unnecessary.”
The Archbishop formally recognized the flaws of Reconfiguration
when he launched an external process last fall by convening
the Meade/Eisner Committee. Some actions since then,
culminating in the March 31 decisions, are useful. These,
however, are not enough.
The Council of Parishes urges that the Archbishop take
the following steps:
1. Halt all Reconfiguration actions now in progress.
2. Promptly release the full Meade/Eisner Committee
reports and materials.
3. Take personal oversight through the expanded committee
of parishes under continuing review, parishes mandated
to restructure, and parishes that are closed and in vigil.
4. Expand the committee to secure broader representation
by reaching out:
-- To Council of Parishes members; and
-- To serving pastors
5. Issue promptly a statement prohibiting the use of
police and other forcible means to end peaceful, prayerful
vigils.
The Council of Parishes is a group of committed, concerned
Catholics formed to support parishes subject to closure;
who seek options other than the closure of vibrant parishes
as solutions to the shortage of priests and the financial
distress in the Boston Archdiocese and who provide a
forum for parishes and laity to communicate with the
archdiocese about issues of concern.
