Boston Parish defies O’Malley: Plans Easter at Protestant church

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By Jessica Fargen
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - Updated: 04:47 AM EST

"Defying the wishes of the archbishop, a shuttered Quincy church is holding a Catholic Easter Mass in a Protestant church and a married priest will preside.
The pain of a first Christmas without their neighborhood church was too much to bear for Star of the Sea parishioners in Quincy, said Sean Glennon, one of the leaders to reopen the church.
``Too many of our parishioners expressed that they couldn't go through that again, especially on Easter, which is the highest holy day of the year,'' Glennon said.
The Mass at the Protestant First Church of Squantum, which is on the same street as Star of the Sea, is the first Catholic Mass in the tight-knit section of Quincy since its closure in October.
Parishioners are holding the Mass against Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's wishes, and the Rev. Terry McDonough, a married priest not recognized by the church, will preside over an expected 500 people.
Glennon said O'Malley, in a letter, ``has denied permission for us to hold Mass in a Protestant church.''
But parishioners have overwhelmingly supported the idea and they may ask the Rev. McDonough to keep saying Mass there.
``If parishioners decide they wouldn't mind celebrating Mass there on a regular basis, he's a priest without a parish community,'' Glennon said.
McDonough was ordained in 1962 but was automatically suspended when he married in 1984. McDonough, who has two kids, said the Vatican does not sanction him as a priest, but he believes that does not matter.
``I'm ordained and I have the same priestly powers as the pope does,'' he said. ``They can never take that away from me.''
The archdiocese put the seaside church property, valued at more than $1 million, on the market late last year. An archdiocesean spokeswoman would not comment on the use of a married priest.
Glennon said the Vatican is reviewing the parishioners' canon appeal to keep the church open."
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Clearly if they are going to sell the parish for $1 million dollars, this thing can be kept open forever. Lets look at the economics. The parish is paid for I would assume. And they had money in the bank, at least enough to operate. If 500 people are going to church at the protestant church on Easter Sunday, that means they could raise $1,500 if each person gives three dollars. I don't know but at $10 bucks a person they would have an operating budget of $15,000 a month and that probably would go along way.

Don't these Bishop's know that at some point they are trying the patience of their flock to such an extent that the disobedience of the faithful appears to be a virtue, at best, and is not culpable, at worst. I am the last person who would agree with an illicit mass being said. That offends our Lord greatly. For the priest to say that he "is as much a priest as the Pope" is deeply troubling. But who is to blame. Certainly the laicized priest. He knows what he is doing and he is misleading the faithful. Certainly the Bishop who instead of making a plan for each parish that respects the community of the faithful entrusted to his care so that the parishners can reasonably accept the closing of their parish. Not just anouncing that they are closing the parish and locking the people out of their churches.

Do not the parish's belong to the faithful who have developed communities over the decades and who call these places home. Knowing that the money is going to pay for the sins of omission and commission of those who have bankrupted some diocese in this country due to moving around sexual predators and denying the just demands of the faithful for accountability.

He wasn't in Boston as these people each day were shocked and embarrassed and harrassed for their faith as the Shanley case and others were there each day to remind them what human's their Pastors are. And now to attempt from above to rob these poor people of their faith homes. A person can only do this if their authority is earned rather than just legal.

"Matthew 20:25-28

25(A)But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

26"It is not this way among you, (B)but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

27and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

28just as (C)the Son of Man (D)did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

These Bishop's should be wearing sackcloth fasting for the sins of their priests and their brothers and the faithful. Not selling the parishes to pay off lawsuits. These bishop's don't have families. They don't know what it is like to get the little one's ready for mass and have a service convenient, regular and with community. They do not grow old shuttling themselves to mass on buses and walking in all kinds of weather and relying on their friends to make it to mass regularly.

For every house of God that they close. It is one less place that our Lord waits faithfully for his children in the Tabernacle in the holy and blessed Eucharist. It is one less place that prayers are offered to the most adorable and blessed Trinity. It is one less reminder to the neighbors that their is a God and he waits patiently and conveniently for them when they need him.

In case you want to bid on the churches to save them for the future, go to the Diocesan Real Estate Web Site.