After deciding to close and sell a number of churches in recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is now being held hostage. Parishioners in five of its closed churches are ... refusing to leave! That's right, they've decided to "occupy" some of the closed churches to prevent the Archdiocese from selling their longtime places of worship. Impudent scum! Don't they understand that these properties need to be liquidated to help pay for recent, ahem, legal settlements? Do they think the Catholic Church is made of money?
A front page article in today's New York Times describes the scene as a "Quiet Rebellion".
For 1,533 days, the group at St. Frances has taken turns guarding the building around the clock so that the archdiocese cannot lock them out and put it up for sale. They call it a vigil, but by now it is more of a lifestyle.
So what is the Archdiocese's response to these pesky squatters?
The archdiocese will not provide priests to most of the vigil churches, and it has removed most statues, altar cloths and sacred objects. It changed the locks at St. Frances in October 2004 but unwittingly left a fire door open, an error the parishioners call a miracle.
The archdiocese has not tried to evict the parishioners or shut off the heat and electricity.
They haven't tried to shut off the heat? Why the hell not? You can't wage spiritual warfare with wimpy half-measures. Where's that old tyme religious spirit? Cut the juice and turn those pews into human ice trays!
Many of the St. Frances holdouts describe being transformed from passive Catholics to passionate, deeply involved members of a spiritual community that they say could be a model for the future of the troubled Catholic Church.
Clearly, this rebellion is headed down a very disturbing path.
Since St. Frances has no priest, parishioners lead services that include everything but consecration of the host. On the Sunday before Christmas, about 50 parishioners attended a service conducted entirely by women, including two who distributed communion.
All women? What an abomination! You can't take the "homme" out of the homily without incurring the wrath of the Almighty... Torquemada their asses!
“The [vigils] can’t go on for infinity,” said Terrence C. Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese. “These [vigils] have to end at some point, but how, I don’t know.”
You don't... know? Really? These rebels have been occupying your property for over 200 weeks and you still don't know how to end it? (Or is it that you "know", but don't have the will to do it?)
New Orleans police evicted parishioners from two Uptown Catholic churches Tuesday, allowing the Archdiocese of New Orleans to reclaim the churches which parishioners had occupied around the clock for almost 10 weeks.
Police were instructed to arrest occupiers if they resisted, with Archbishop Alfred Hughes deciding "It's time to bring this to a close"
Now that's leadership! On the Feast of the Epiphany, some very very wise men decided to take action. They even got the police to saw down a 100 year old church door during their search and clear. Surely the Godhead is looking down on this, most pleased.
[P]olice and church officials had to force their way into Good Counsel [Church], sawing an opening in a side door.... novelist Poppy Brite and Hunter Harris Sr. were led out of the church in handcuffs and placed in a police squad car.
Throw the book at them!
[A]nother Good Counsel parishioner, Harold Baquet... also was removed in handcuffs and placed in a waiting squad car.
Baquet said he climbed out onto the church's roof to escape notice, but police found him there.
A rooftop manhunt? Awesome. The Archdiocese of New Orleans knows how to take action.
A similar scene occurred at St. Henry's Church, literally right next door to my daughter's school. While I'm glad my daughter was able to witness this historic eviction first hand, I only wish she could've seen the police drive over a protester's foot (as they did at Good Counsel) and heard the subsequent wailing. See, when Religious Leaders and law enforcement coordinate their efforts, shit gets done! That's a lesson my daughter can cherish for life. (New Orleanian of the Year, Karen "Gadfly" Gadbois can be seen in the background making trouble with a camera at the 1:11 mark in the vid.)
Again, the spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese said he didn't know how to end the occupation of the closed churches. The solution is obvious. Get armed cops to sweep them out. Have them crack some skulls to send a message to the rogue parishes, God willing.
I'm reminded of the great theologian Ralph Wiggum, who once said "The rat symbolizes obviousness." I don't know what he was referring to, precisely, but in this case we know who the rats are, and we know where they hide. The solution is obvious. It's just a matter of willpower. The New Orleans Archdiocese showed the fortitude to sweep the rats out. Now it's Boston's turn.
Come on. The "vigils" were the parishioners' acts of civil disobediance in protest of what they feel are bad decisions by the Archdiocese. Progressives know how the civil disobediance game is played better than anyone. You (and if you're lucky a large group of the like-minded) commit your act of disobedience and wait for the authorities to come enforce the particular ordinances you set out to violate in protest. When they come to arrest you (fairly painlessly, you hope) you hope to have the eyes of the media there so your perceived plight is exposed to the largest pool of the general public possible. If you can make the event spectacular without anyone getting hurt, perhaps by going limp and forcing the police to physically drag you out or by having enraged elderly people climb atop police cars or something, all the better. You subsequently play the media game by using the perhaps new found access to publicity to further air your grievances, hoping for sympathy from the public to generate pressure from the public that may, if you're lucky, make the conflicting party's actions enough of a public relations nightmare such that they reconsider. The more you can frame it as a black/white, good vs. evil situation for the media (with your side as the "good", of course) the better you'll do. The local blogosphere is joining the other media in playing their dutiful role in this drama right now.
This is the point of the game at which we have now arrived. And I don't say "game" to trivialize the matter--I understand how important it is to these folks to continue to worship in the same building they have been worshiping in. But the tactics and game plan are often the same no matter the crux of the issue.
Has it been determined who owns the churches in question?
I thought it would be the actualy church who owned the property. But some people are telling me that it is the parishioners who own it and have clear title.
Does anyone have an answer? I was going to blog about this issue, perhaps in not as much of a snarky way, but I want to make sure I have my facts straight.
The parishioners say the title of the church gives them ownership for 500 years.
Puddin: "But the tactics and game plan are often the same no matter the crux of the issue."
Yes, I know how the game is played, Puddin. But it's interesting that Boston has waited on these vigils for 219 weeks without doing what New Orleans did after 9.
"But it's interesting that Boston has waited on these vigils for 219 weeks without doing what New Orleans did after 9."
I'm thinking Boston's been wishing they'd done what New Orleans did a long, long time ago...and would have, if they thought they could "get away" with it.
The police wouldn't let themselves be used by the Archdiocese in Boston. The NOPD apparently has no such qualms. So much for a separation of church and state...
Leigh: If those people are trespassing then how would that be a violation of church and state? If I call the police and tell them that I have someone trespassing on my property, then they have the power to come arrest you (assuming, for the moment, that the archdiocese owns the building)
Puddin: "... if they thought they could 'get away' with it."
Right again. But why does N.O. think they can "get away" with it, and not Boston?
Seriously. This whole cat and mouse occupation/vigil wait-em-out game seems silly to me.
Ooh, I know a hiding place in the belfry where no one can find me.
Let's visit at 2am and see if we can get them to leave.
This is just immature, imo. In both cities, the Archdiocese closed most of the parishes it wanted. Instead of playing these "games" why not craft a solution to keep the vigil churches open. Use a retired pastor, or import a foreign priest. Obviously there's a passionate core of Catholics who want to keep their particular parish: work with them and find a way to do so! Closing historic churches in vibrant neighborhoods, and playing a "lock em out/wait em out" game is just stupid, in my opinion.
Well, Oyster...as the longtime parish priest of my childhood said when he was transferred away from our parish--the Catholic Church is not a democracy by a long shot.
"the Catholic Church is not a democracy by a long shot."
Clearly. And as a Protestant, who has affection for the "priesthood of all believers" religious model, I sort of enjoy the anti-hierarchical nature of this "protest". That's why I highlighted the 3rd and 4th quotes.
It took a lot for me not to make a Martin Luther reference regarding the sawed door, too.
Im Jewish... so part of me doesn't understand to what point Catholics must follow the church authority. I always thought that their priest (and especially the Bishops) would have the final word and as good Catholics they would be required to follow them.
