The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy has rejected appeals by parishioners of 10 Boston parishes against their suppression. The announcement was made on Saturday.
Of course, it doesn’t deter those diehards holed up in the churches. They say they expected to lose this first round of the appeals process and will continue with an appeal to the Apostolic Signatura. While the Signatura has overturned suppression orders before, they haven’t overturned any in Boston and they were overturned for violations of canon law.
Whatever else they’ve done, the Archdiocese of Boston has followed canon law (generally), and the minor errors they made were corrected without invalidating the closings. The archbishop has the right to close parishes if he presents legitimate reasoning, and he is given broad discretion as to that reasoning.
“They won’t listen even to the Church”
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