Boston to close 65 of its parishes
Scandal, priest crunch and funding force cuts.
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
BOSTON -- The weight of a priest shortage, shrinking collections and the clergy sex abuse scandal combined to force Boston's archbishop to announce Tuesday that his Roman Catholic archdiocese will lose 65 parishes by year's end.
The archdiocese, the nation's fourth-largest with more than 2 million Catholics, now has 357 parishes.
"Today is not an easy day for the people of the Archdiocese of Boston,' Archbishop Sean O'Malley said.
"The alternative to going through this exercise would be that we would experience a continual decline in some areas of our archdiocese, closing parish after parish, school after school, outreach program after outreach program.'
O'Malley's announcement completed a process that began in December, when he said the archdiocese would be forced to undergo a major downsizing.
Seventy parishes in all will be affected by the downsizing, O'Malley said.
In addition to the churches, a few Catholic schools will close or merge.
"I wish there was some way that all of these wonderful houses of life and prayer could remain open and alive and full. But there is not,' the archbishop said.
The parishes will gradually be shuttered through the end of the year.
In South Boston, a neighborhood with a large Catholic population, parishioners learned that St. Augustine Church opened in 1868 would close. Parishioner Ed Flynn called the news "devastating.'
"For almost 200 years, St. Augustine Church has been the backbone of South Boston,' said Flynn, the son of former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn.
O'Malley said many factors contributed to the need to close parishes. He said more than one-third of the 357 parishes are operating in the red and 130 of its pastors are older than 70. Also, many buildings are deteriorating it would cost more than $100 million to repair church buildings in Boston alone.
In deciding which churches to close, officials considered weekly Mass attendance, the number of sacraments performed at each church, the number of students enrolled in religious education, the seating capacity of the church and its proximity to other churches, among other factors.
The dozens of parishes closing in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston could sell for more than $400 million on the open market.
Does not suprise me. Chold abuse. Less money coming in. The lack of interest of young people.
Members of 82 parishes targeted for closure take part in a rare outdoor service to urge a change in archdiocese's policy.