11 year church vigil branded as trespassing

The parishioners have occupied the church since it closed in 2004.

“We were told this was our church”, Jon Rogers, a leader of the parishioners, said in July when the court heard arguments on the case.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed a judge’s ruling Wednesday that parishioners at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate are trespassing on property owned by the Archdiocese of Boston. “There’s still a lot of commitment here”.

The hard-nosed group of parishioners who have been holding vigil say they want O’Malley to understand their opposition to closing the church to replenish the archdiocese’s coffers that were drained by the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal and the outflow of people from the pews.

Since that time, about 100 parishioners, working in shifts, have maintained a continuous vigil at the 30-acre (12-hectare) property in waterfront Scituate, south of Boston. In March, the archdiocese sued to evict them. “We ask the Friends of St. Frances to respect that decision and conclude the vigil”, he said. “It may not have had much of an effect but they have delayed the closure”.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld a June ruling by a state judge that found the parishioners were violating state laws and ordered an end to their long occupation.

“We’re still here, we still have our schedule”, said the parishioner, who would only give the name Veronica.

O’Malley has met with the parishioners several times in the past few years, most recently in November, though parishioners said he had never come to a meeting at the church, which they said still draws hundreds of worshippers at holidays.

“Since the inception of their vigil they have sought and prayed for meaningful dialogue in effort to attain a fair and equitable resolution for both the Archdiocese of Boston and the parish of St. Frances X. Cabrini”, the Friends said in a statement Wednesday.

“You don’t get to abuse children and then steal our church to pay for your sins”, Rogers said Thursday.