The meeting between Fr. Mark O’Connell, representing Cardinal Sean O’Malley, and the people of Holy Trinity parish in Boston’s South End is going on now. Holy Trinity is one of the parishes slated to be closed in reconfiguration. It is the only parish with an authorized Tridentine Mass and also the last parish dedicated to ministry to German-speaking peoples.
A friend is emailing updates from the meeting and he tells me that the Archdiocese has proposed merging Holy Trinity with the Cathedral parish, rather than the previously proposed St. James parish in Chinatown. The Chinatown move had been adamantly opposed because of the fewer available parking spaces and generally less suitable facilities.
However, the big news is that the Tridentine Mass would move to Mary Immaculate Parish in Newton. That parish had been one of two, along with St. Philip Neri, that had been slated to merge in some way. It looks like Mary Immaculate is staying open.
The question is whether Mary Immaculate is suited to the celebration of the Tridentine Mass with an altar ad orientem and altar rail and the rest. However, it could be said that Newton is a better location than the South End because it is more centrally located and easier to get to than the South End of Boston. For my money, I would have seen it moved to Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton, but that’s mainly because of the delicious irony it would represent.
Meanwhile, Fr. Charles Higgins, a frequent celebrant of the Tridentine Mass, would become the pastor of Mary Immaculate.
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