The cause of the fire in Sacred Heart Church in Weymouth, Mass., was determined to be a faulty refrigerator. Not surprising given the age of most appliances in parish facilities and what can happen with bad wiring.
I’m still a little surprised at the quick and confident statements that the parish will rebuild. The pastor said he’s confident the archdiocese will approve a new building. On Saturday, a spokesman for the archdiocese said he didn’t expect the parish to close as a result of the fire. On Sunday, during a Mass for the people of Sacred Heart, the archbishop did not promise that the church would be re-built, but he did promise that the parish would continue.
I’m curious why such pledges would be made if just a few months ago the archdiocese was saying that Weymouth did not need 5 parishes and only relented on closing St. Albert because the people staged a sit-in.
Incidentally, I’m amused that the news reports variously said that the parish has 10,000 to 15,000 parishioners, but then say that average weekend Mass attendance is 1,500. My guess is that the larger numbers are every baptized Catholic in its geographic area, not those who are actually practicing their faith.
