Occupation of Massachusetts Catholic Church to End After 12 Years

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dans0622 said:
Well, I’d throw the “h word” around when it comes to that sort of thing. “Independence” is a rather clear indication of a withdrawal of submission to the Pope and/or withdrawal of communion with those subject to the Pope (one’s own diocesan bishop, for example). Such is the definition of schism (c. 751).

Dan
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Well, then shall we conclude that they’re in danger of qualifying for both the “h” word and the “s” word? 😉

Praying for them.
 
Well I live here in MA and have listened to the parishioners on the local news.

They all have emotional attachments to the parish, which is understandable, but it seems to end there.

The Archdioceses of Boston, like all the dioceses in New England, are closing parishes because they don’t have the priest to staff them.

My dioceses in Centeral MA, did a study 25 years ago, and predicted exactly what is taking place.

As it is, my parish merged with another very small parish, but it just recently closed as the church building was condemned by the town. The building was torn down and the parishioners there are now in my parish, or they chose to go somewhere’s else.

The cities across the dioceses have all had parishes merged into other parishes and the church buildings are sold where possible, or have been used for other purposes. One is used as an EWTN radio station broadcast site.

Many are blaming this on the sex abuse scandal, but it has little to do with this. The main reason as I stated above, is the lack of priest which they knew was coming 20 years ago.

Anyway, the parishioners at this parish took over the building and are now set to form their own independent catholic church, which pretty much says where they are spiritually.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The Archdioceses of Boston, like all the dioceses in New England, are closing parishes because they don’t have the priest to staff them.
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So maybe the bigger concern should be WHY they don’t have the priests to staff them. Just sayin’

We have similar problems in Chicago, btw.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Well I live here in MA and have listened to the parishioners on the local news.

They all have emotional attachments to the parish, which is understandable, but it seems to end there.

The Archdioceses of Boston, like all the dioceses in New England, are closing parishes because they don’t have the priest to staff them.

My dioceses in Centeral MA, did a study 25 years ago, and predicted exactly what is taking place.

As it is, my parish merged with another very small parish, but it just recently closed as the church building was condemned by the town. The building was torn down and the parishioners there are now in my parish, or they chose to go somewhere’s else.

The cities across the dioceses have all had parishes merged into other parishes and the church buildings are sold where possible, or have been used for other purposes. One is used as an EWTN radio station broadcast site.

Many are blaming this on the sex abuse scandal, but it has little to do with this. The main reason as I stated above, is the lack of priest which they knew was coming 20 years ago.

Anyway, the parishioners at this parish took over the building and are now set to form their own independent catholic church, which pretty much says where they are spiritually.

Jim
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That is hard for me to believe. In my understanding, MA does not lack priests , instead they are transferring their priests to another State or Country, especially if they preach the truth about those controversial topics the majority of priests avoid out of fear having more empty pews. I used to attend the Church of Saint Benediction in Somerville, MA, and the majority of people attending were Mexican, and the Parish had two priests (one Spanish decendant and one African that was learning Spanish), and they sent the Spanish priest to another State, and now the African priest, still human, fears he will be sent back to his Country.
 
E_7 said:
That is hard for me to believe. In my understanding, MA does not lack priests , instead they are transferring their priests to another State or Country, especially if they preach the truth about those controversial topics the majority of priests avoid out of fear having more empty pews. I used to attend the Church of Saint Benediction in Somerville, MA, and the majority of people attending were Mexican, and the Parish had two priests (one Spanish decendant and one African that was learning Spanish), and they sent the Spanish priest to another State, and now the African priest, still human, fears he will be sent back to his Country.
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What is this supposed to mean? An African is as human as you or I. I assume “auto-spell-correct” pulled a fast one! 😛
 
E_7 said:
That is hard for me to believe. In my understanding, MA does not lack priests , instead they are transferring their priests to another State or Country, especially if they preach the truth about those controversial topics the majority of priests avoid out of fear having more empty pews. I used to attend the Church of Saint Benediction in Somerville, MA, and the majority of people attending were Mexican, and the Parish had two priests (one Spanish decendant and one African that was learning Spanish), and they sent the Spanish priest to another State, and now the African priest, still human, fears he will be sent back to his Country.
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This is false.

The shortage of priest was predicted from a diocesan study 25 years ago, based on the numbers of men in or applying for the seminaries at that time. The numbers were very low. Also, all seminarians ordained are listed in the diocesan news papers and where they get assigned in the diocese.

They don’t send needed priests to other states, the priest’s request a transfer and another Bishop accepts them.

The African priest may have been here in training and is required to return to Africa, but I don’t know his circumstance.

Again, the shortage is not caused by Bishops transferring priests out of state. Bishops don’t transfer priest to another dioceses unless the priest request it and is accepted by the other Bishop.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Well I live here in MA and have listened to the parishioners on the local news.

They all have emotional attachments to the parish, which is understandable, but it seems to end there.

The Archdioceses of Boston, like all the dioceses in New England, are closing parishes because they don’t have the priest to staff them.

My dioceses in Centeral MA, did a study 25 years ago, and predicted exactly what is taking place.

As it is, my parish merged with another very small parish, but it just recently closed as the church building was condemned by the town. The building was torn down and the parishioners there are now in my parish, or they chose to go somewhere’s else.

The cities across the dioceses have all had parishes merged into other parishes and the church buildings are sold where possible, or have been used for other purposes. One is used as an EWTN radio station broadcast site.

Many are blaming this on the sex abuse scandal, but it has little to do with this. The main reason as I stated above, is the lack of priest which they knew was coming 20 years ago.

Anyway, the parishioners at this parish took over the building and are now set to form their own independent catholic church, which pretty much says where they are spiritually.

Jim
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My Baptismal Parish, St. Michael’s in Lynn, MA, was one of the parishes closed. There were protests and a 9 year vigil however the majority of the parishioners have joined other parishes. This parish was founded by Polish immigrants, built by those immigrants, funded, sustained and maintained by those immigrants and in fact grew to house a school as well as the church. While it is truthful and objective to state parish buildings become the property of the Diocese it is just as deceitful to ignore the human element, especially in many of those old parishes built by the parishioners through their monetary and physical contributions. The Diocese was richly enhanced and rewarded by those old ethic parishes and was, to me, pretty callous in its handling of these closures.

As for the connection to the sex abuse scandal, it is curious that the majority of these parish closings occurred at the same time the lawsuits were being settled. Coincidence, perhaps, but certainly questionable.
 
While I certainly understand the pain and hurt that comes with the closing of a parish that represents a community’s faith journey/experience, these demonstrations/actions have had a very unfortunate domino effect in New England. Now many Bishops are deadly afraid of closing and consolidating parishes and thus structurally the dioceses are under great strain both financially and in man power. These protests have unfortunately hurt the larger mission of the Church because we are woefully structured to face future challenges now…
 
dans0622 said:
I also would not want to throw this “s word” around lightly. However, when I read something like “John Rogers, spokesperson for the former protesters, says that the group will transition into an all-inclusive, independent Catholic church”… it doesn’t look good.

Dan
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The most recent Globe article mentions that they had a married "priest’ say "Mass’ yesterday, someone by the name of Terry McDonough who refused to go through the laicization process when he got married.
 
Only pouring more salt on the wound. It’s already been established that all Masses said there have not been approved by the diocese.
 
This entire situation is horribly regrettable and I believe the disenfranchisement of some of the parishioners was just too much for them. While their reaction, if truly represented in the news, is absolutely wrong I believe they need our prayers not criticism. The diocese should be reaching out to them at this critical time to bring them all back into communion.
 
These people left the Catholic Church a long time ago.

They are now meeting in a Freemason’s Hall with an illicit, married priest.

As one of them said, “We are the bright light our world needs, and I pray that we burn forever.” Yeah, it’s not about them at all…
 
Parishioners didn’t get there way and so they are breaking away and forming their own ‘church’.

The tradition started by Luther is alive and well.
 
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