I try not to link to subscription-only content, but I have to comment in this case. Margery Eagan is the Boston Herald‘s resident lapsed liberal Catholic who gets her jollies whacking the Church she has abandoned for not conforming itself to her vision of the divine (i.e. her) will.
Yesterday, she turned her attention to Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish in East Boston where a group of Italian grandmas have been sitting in protest of its closing, accusing the archdiocese of anti-Italian bias (right) and double-dealing and the usual litany of half-baked complaints. As I pointed out last December, it is less than a half mile from the next closest church (by car, not as the crow flies), there are 3 churches within 1 mile, and it trails all the other churches in parish statistics. But because a statue of Mary toppled at the last Mass, they have taken that as a sign that God doesn’t want their parish to close.
So here we are 8 months later and Eagan is trumpeting their cause, calling them Grandma Martyrs for the Faith, with Peter Borre of the VOTF-offshoot Council of Parishes chiming in, calling the archbishop a “jack-booted thug.” The protesters descend into hyperbole, claiming they’ve been “emotionally abused” by the archdiocese.
Eagan tries to summarize the events of the past year, but neatly forgets some important details.
Here’s the deal. Nine months ago, when the archidiocese shut their 100-year-old parish, Gina et al. set up inflatable mattresses and began a vigil to keep their church open. They raised money to pay bills. They held communion services with black market hosts. They scrubbed the neglected building: polished pews, hauled out broken vases, candles.
