Parishioners Evicted From Closed Church to Speak

Members of Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini made their appeal a day after the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that they are trespassers and that the Boston Archdiocese may order them to leave.

A group of parishioners who have staged an 11-year, 24-hour vigil inside a closed Roman Catholic church in Massachusetts have once again lost their appeal to keep it open, a place they say they’ve helped build and maintain since the 1960s.

The appeals court issued its judgment in the case October. 14, agreeing with the archdiocese’s stance that parishioners are trespassing on church property.

“We’re disappointed. I can say there’s a lot of anger in this room”, vigil leader Jon Rogers said Thursday. No US Catholic parish has succeeded in fighting closure for as long as the Scituate group, said a Church expert who asked not to be named because of his ties with the archdiocese. “Indeed it is not”.

Members of a nonprofit organization set up to save the parish said they plan to review legal options with their attorney. Vigils have held off the closure of the church for 11 years – that’s more than 4,000 days of defiance.

The archdiocese shuttered the church as part of a reorganization effort. At the time, then-archbishop Sean O’Malley said that declining attendance, aging priests and increased maintenance costs meant dozens of churches would close, and their congregations would merge with other parishes.

One parishioner participating in the vigil said the group was still awaiting details on the ruling before making any decisions. “There is a new wave of reconfiguration coming”. In a statement, the Archdiocese asked the parishioners to respect the court’s decision and conclude the vigil.

“It is time for Cardinal O’Malley to come here, to meet with the people of St. Frances”, she said.