Changes Coming In The Archdiocese of Boston

Some of the local Boston MA media outlets have a report of the Archdiocese of Boston announcing a new reorganization plan for the Catholic parishes; among them WBZ, Channel 4.

According to the reports, the local parishes will be organized into collaborative groups, sharing resources and staff, under one pastor. Redundant staff members could be laid off, and theoretically the group could decide to close a church to conserve resources.

Members of the Council of Parishes, an organization dedicated to preventing the closing of parishes, has already denounced the plan. They claim that the implementation of this reorganization could lead to the closing of hundreds of parishes. Some are accusing Cardinal Sean O’Malley of defying the Vatican, which recently prevented a local diocese from closing church buildings.

First, the exact details of the plan have not been released. Priests of the Archdiocese are to be briefed next week, and then the laity. Second, we cannot continue the same path we have been, hoping to keep all parishes opened, all parishes independent. The Catholic Church in Boston does not have the finances or the clergy to do that. This challenging situation requires thinking outside the box, new solutions. The experience of Catholic community must never remain static, but evolves in response to changing times. As long as the local communities, whatever their makeup, their shape, are united with their bishop, the Catholic Church lives.

I hope I can keep myself open to these changes, that the Holy Spirit will help me see the Father’s will in what is about to happen. And that I always remember that, no matter where we are, what community I eventually belong to, we are all united in the Body of Christ.

The Vatican, Closed Parishes, And Diocesan Reorganization

I have recently been exploring a Catholic news website called Vatican Insider. It is sponsored by the Italian publication, La Stampa. I came across a post reporting on a Vatican document being prepared, which will provide guidelines to American bishops on how to reorganize their dioceses. It specifically addresses the closing or merging of parishes, and the sale of Catholic hospitals.

The reason for the creation of this document is the number of dioceses that have been closing parishes, and the controversy it causes in the Catholic community, and the economic impact it has on the American dioceses. It is being reported that one possible recommendation is that while a parish may be closed, the church itself could be maintained by a responsible lay family or group, with a priest coming in to celebrate Sunday Mass.

This could be a partial solution for the situation that exists here in the Archdiocese of Boston. There have been churches of closed parishes that have been occupied for years by former parishioners, who refuse to let go of their church. But a parish is more than a church, it is a community of clergy and laity, active in charitable works, a place where persons, child or adult, is formed in the faith. And most importantly, it is a community that comes together and encounters Christ in the Eucharist. We are seeing now, and will see in the future, that some parishes will no longer have the resources, either in people or finances. All bishops and parish communities will have to face that fact, and address it.

Hopefully, the guidelines that will come out from Rome, will provide a common structure and procedure that could lessen the pain, the sense of loss, that people feel when a parish is closed.