This is a nice touch. Two of the merging parishes have decided that their new name will Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. While some people are protesting on Boston Common, the rest of the people are preparing for the future.
Blessed Teresa parish will take over for St. Margaret and St. William, and it seems the people of the new parish understand the obligation they’re taking on with the new name:
“It’s a big challenge to choose that name, because if we’re representing Mother Teresa, that’s a challenge to the community to say we need to be more like her and reach out to everyone,” said Jim Dymek, a member of the Parish Council at St. Margaret. “Just think about the intersection of Columbia Road and Dorchester Ave.—there are people at that corner asking for money every day. What can we do to help these people?”
I think it’s a good move because, in that neighborhood, parish identities are more than just where you go to Mass on Sunday (if you do), and Mother Teresa has such strong name recognition and such a reputation for sanctity that no one could reasonably disagree with the selection.
I thought there was a canon law forbidding the renaming of parishes. The new parish ought to be called St. Margaret and St. William parish or St. William and St. Margaret.
That’s been the pattern around these parts.
It’s not technically and legally being renamed. The old parishes are being suppressed and a new one is being erected on the property of one of the old parishes. They’ve been doing it that way here for several years. It’s supposed to give people a sense of a break with the past and a new beginning and all that.
That’s interesting. I heard one reason for combining the old names is that continues any perpetual bequests made in the name of the parish.