Voice of the Faithful

Parish Closings Fast Facts

Parishes

There are 357 parishes in the Boston Archdiocese.

80 Geographic Clusters
Timetable:

Mar. 8^th: Cluster recommendations were forwarded to 22 regional vicars – All public communication stops here until final decision in May.
Mar. 15^th, vicars will offer their comments to the five regional bishops
Mar 26^th, the bishops are to submit their recommendations to an archdiocesan central committee
May 04 (formally October 04 was announcement date), Archbishop Sean O’Malley will make parish closings announcements.

Most and Least Active Parishes In Boston

	Most	Least
Avg. Weekend Mass Attendance	3,475 Most Holy Redeemer, E. Boston (O)	114 Immaculate Conception, Cambridge (C1)
Baptisms	436 Most Holy Redeemer, E. Boston (O)	3 St. Michael Lynn (C)
1^st Communions	350 St. Mary, Franklin (M)	13 Parishes has zero
Confirmations	190 St. Michael Hudson (O)	13 Parishes had zero
Marriages	92 St. Michael, N. Andover(O)	Three parishes had zero
Funerals	191 St. John the Baptist, Quincy (C3)	Zero Our Lady of Victories, Boston

Source: Archdiocese of Boston/Boston Globe Staff, 2/8/04

Parish Activity by Community

§ Sacramental Index

source: Archdiocese of Boston/Boston Globe Staff, 2/08/04

In the Archdiocese of Boston, there is one church for every 5,800 Catholics; by contrast, in the Diocese of Las Vegas there are 20,600 Catholics per parish.
47 Parishes in Boston have been closed since 1985.
As of 3/15/04 Boston Globe article, 27.5% were unable or unwilling to offer any recommendations for parishes to be closed

Rev. Robert L. Connors “Less than 20% of the 2 million Catholics are attending Mass on a regular basis”.
List of Central Committee for Reconfiguration names:

Contact Info: Central Committee for Reconfiguration – rmc@rcab.org

Financial

50 Parishes are unable to pay their bills (Sean O’Malley, Boston Globe, 12/17/03)
The archdiocese has borrowed $135 million over the last year (2003) to pay for legal settlements.
“We have taken out three loans totaling $97.5 million…All three loans will be repaid by funds that will not impact our daily work,” Excerpt from remarks by archbishop O’Malley to the priests of the archdiocese of Boston, 12/16/03.
$104 million is needed to repair 200 church buildings within the City of Boston, and $50 million more for them to satisfy building codes.
The Archdiocese of Boston filed suit against one of its insurers, Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Co. for refusing to cover $59.3 million of the $85 million church settlement with 522 victims of clergy sex abuse. The insurer argued the archdiocese’s settlement as a voluntary payment, and the company was not obligated to contribute, World Magazine.
Parishes have gone $7.4 million into debt since yr. 2002, when Bernard Law forgave their previous debts of $26.6 million in recognition of the Jubilee year.
The archdiocese faces a $4 million deficit during its next fiscal year, which begins July1st.

Priests

The number of priest in the archdiocese dropped by 37% from 1988 to 2003.
132 of the 597 priests in the archdiocese are over age 70, the mean age is 59.
Currently, the archdiocese has 40 men in training to be priests.

Fund Raising

The Annual Catholic Appeal has exceeded its $9 million goal for the yr. 2003 by $1.5 million.

Schools

The Boston Archdiocese has 41 schools in the city.
Currently, the Catholic Church is education 53,227 youngsters at 168 elementary and high schools and preschools throughout the archdiocese.
In 1965, the Boston archdiocese was educating 119,229 pupils in 246 elementary schools and an other 33,640 student in 99 high schools. Toda, there are 36,577 pupils in 123 elementary schools and 16,35 students in 33 secondary schools.
In Boston, nearly 11,000 children, out of an estimated 82,000 school age youths I the city, attend 38 parochial schools.
22 out of 35 elementary schools have fewer than 250 students

Notable Lay people involved in the closing process

Kathleen Heck – appointed to oversee the closing process for the archdiocese.
Bernard Swain – management consultant with a doctorate in theology, helping with negotiations among church leaders in 8 Greater Boston communities

Parish/School Closings -- Special Focus Boston

Sacramental Index Key: MA – Mass attendance, B- Baptisms, FC- First Communions,
C- Confirmations, M-Marriages, F-Funerals. Source: http://www.rcab.org/Parish_Reconfiguration/PastoralStats2003.html

Parishes to Close

Sacramental Index

Schools to Close

Location

Parish Name

Location

School Name

Charlestown

St. Catherine of Siena, Est. 1887

Rev. Robert Bowers – 617-242-1750

633

Somerville

St. Ann Elementary (Pre K-8) Mrs. Grace Alexander, Principal 617-625-1108

East Boston

Our Lady of Mount Carmel est. 1905

Rev. Francis Paolo, 617-567-3215

304

Jamaica Pln.

Blessed Sacrament, K1-8, Jean Moschella, Principal 617-522-1870

Our Lady of the Assumption est. 1869

Fr. Jose Manuel de La Pena 617-567-1223

515

Saint Mary Star of the Sea, Est. 1864, Rev. Robert R. Kennedy 617-567-0056

529

Cambridge

Blessed Sacrament, Est. 1905, Administrator 617-5471669

220

Imm. Conception (Lithuanian), Est. 1910,

Rev. Simeon W. Saluenas 617-547-1623

114

N/A

St. Francis of Assisi

(Italian) Est. 1917 Rev. Norbert DeAmato 617-876-6754

255

Immaculate Conception. Est. 1926 Rev. Alexander J. Keenan 617-547-3455

114

N/A

Summerville

St. Joseph, Est 1869

Rev. Henry J. Jennings 617-666-4140

806

Brookline

Infant Jesus St. Lawrence Est. 1999

Rev. James G. Burke

617-566-3131

306

Jamaica Pln

Blessed Sacrament Est. 1891 rev. Michael F. McLellan 617-522-0650

752

Dorchester

St. Brendan, Est. 1929 Rev. James F. Fratus

754

St. Mark A. Robinson, est. 1905 Rev. Daniel J Finn, 617-825-2852

N/A

St. Christopher, Est. 1956, Rev. George A. Carrigg 617-436-7273

450

St. William, est. 1909, Rev. Damiel J Riley, 617-265-0100

1429

Zero

Charlestown

Somerville