Boston parishes closing

[astralis]

Does anyone live in Boston?

I’m trying to search for the churches which are going to be closed and sold. I want to see what history we’re losing but of all the churches that are closing, hardly any of them have a website.

Any help on getting photos of these churches would be appreciated.

Here is a list of churches that will be closed: view list

 

[Flynzy]

Remember only parishes are closing not the Church. the issue is when people get themselves wrapped up in buildings instead of the truth of the faith. Here is a link from the Archdiocese of Boston with the numbers for every parish. You will see for the most part that the parishes closing have very low numbers. The ones that don’t probaly have very old buildings.

rcab.org/Parish_Reconfiguration/PastoralStats2003.html

The Church is wherever we as belivers come together to worship.

 

[astralis]

Actually, 60 churches are closing, five will remain open as worship spaces. The rest will be sold. From the Archbishop’s website:

Total number of churches to remain open as worship spaces maintained by proximate parish: 5

Total number of churches to close: 60
Visit site .

The esteem for sacred art and sacred space is highly valued in Catholicism. For the Catholic, a sacred building is not just a building.

If you believe that selling a church and mourning the loss of the building is ‘wrapping oneself in just a building’ then I highly recommend that you read Pope John Paull II’s letter to Artists.

“The Church needs architects, because she needs spaces to bring the Christian people together and celebrate the mysteries of salvation. After the terrible destruction of the last World War and the growth of great cities, a new generation of architects showed themselves adept at responding to the exigencies of Christian worship, confirming that the religious theme can still inspire architectural design in our own day. Not infrequently these architects have constructed churches which are both places of prayer and true works of art.” - John Paul II.

Even if there were no buildings, the Church will always exist. This was never the question. What you’re bringing up will lead into a question of iconoclasm which the Church has dealt with a long time ago. Essentially, iconoclasm is wrong.

I’m also not debating whether the diocese should sell the churches or not. The attendence numbers are very low and the sexual abuse cases have cost the diocese a lot of money.
demolished. The diocese leadership believes it’s the right thing to do.

 

[Flynzy]

My comment about buildings was based on the news reports coming out of Boston about some of our brothers in the faith condeming the archdiocese for making that hard choice to close some parishes. I too appreciate scared spaces and the art they contain but to talk about leaving the church over a building, as some in Boston are talking about, as some in San Francisco talked about 10 years ago when they had the same issue reduces the building to a building.

 

[Irish_Melkite]

astralis:

Does anyone live in Boston?

I’m trying to search for the churches which are going to be closed and sold. I want to see what history we’re losing but of all the churches that are closing, hardly any of them have a website.

Any help on getting photos of these churches would be appreciated.

Here is a list of churches that will be closed: view list

Astralis,

Of those being closed, probably the most historic is Holy Trinity (German), which has a long and blessed history but is located in an urban area which hasn’t housed its parishoners for 3/4 of a century or more, although they still travel to it on a regular basis with great loyalty. It has a web site:

Holy Trinity Church

I’ll try and revisit the list and see if there are any more of note, but Holy Trinity jumped out at me when the list first was published - in part because I had personal ties to it many decades ago - but also because many of the others are of more modern vintage.

Many years,

Neil