Archbishop Sean O’Malley announced the parish closings today, completing a process that began in December when he said the archdiocese would be undergo a downsizing, the Associated Press reported.
The parishes will gradually shutter through the end of 2004. Seventy parishes in all will be affected by the downsizing, but five new parishes are being established through mergers.
«At this time,» Archbishop O’Malley wrote in a statement, «over one third of our parishes are operating in the red, the deterioration of our parish buildings and churches (that in the city of Boston alone would cost over 100 million dollars to repair), and the aging clergy (130 pastors are over 70 years of age) have forced us to make the hard decisions that we have announced today.»
