Last week, parishioners at three closed Western Mass. Catholic churches got some limited good news: in a rather surprising development, the Vatican has overturned the decision by the Diocese of Springfield to close their churches, St. George and St. Patrick, both in Chicopee, and St. Stanislaus Kostka in Adams.
The three churches were closed by the diocese as part of a larger closing and consolidation plan to address financial pressures and declining numbers of both churchgoers and priests. The two Chicopee churches were closed in 2009; St. Stanislaus Kostka, in 2008.
In response to the closings, parishioners at the three churches followed an established appeals process, taking their pleas to keep their churches open all the way to the Vatican. In Adams, St. Stanislaus’ parishioners have employed a strategy of occupation to prevent the church from being locked, maintaining a remarkable and moving round-the-clock vigil in the church. The vigil—complete with sleeping bags and cots for the overnight shift—began directly after the final celebration of mass at the church in December of 2008, and has gone on for more than 780 days.
The recent decision, which comes from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, found that the diocese’s bishop, Timothy McDonnell, was not justified in closing the three church buildings. It did, however, uphold McDonnell’s decision to merge the parishes housed at those churches with other parishes—St. Stanislaus into Pope John Paul the Great, and St. George and St. Patrick into the Holy Name of Jesus parish.
The Vatican also upheld two other decisions made by McDonnell: the closure of Springfield’s Our Lady of Hope, which was merged with another parish to form the new Mary, Mother of Hope parish, and the closure of Chicopee’s Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was consolidated with the Holy Name of Jesus parish. An appeal to the Vatican by parishioners at Northampton’s St. Mary’s is still pending.
What exactly will happen next to the three churches whose parishioners won their appeals remains unclear. While the Vatican has overruled the Springfield diocese’s decision to close the churches, the diocese retains the power to decide how the buildings will be used. A statement issued by diocese spokesman Mark Dupont noted, “It has to be stressed that in each instance the parish itself is not being reestablished and that any permitted use of the building will not be the same as when it was a parish church.
“In the case of these three churches the Congregation seems to be undertaking a new application of Church law,” the statement continued. “For example it should be noted the circumstances in these three cases was consistent with the diocesan reasoning in the case of the Assumption Church for which the Congregation did uphold closure of the church. Because of these factors the Bishop is seeking immediate clarification from the Vatican as well as through canon lawyers.” The diocese does have the option of appealing the decision to the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
The statement also noted that the Congregation for the Clergy has apologized to McDonnell for publicly releasing its decisions before conveying them to the Springfield diocese.
Last fall, McDonnell reversed his earlier decision to close another local church, Indian Orchard’s Immaculate Conception. In that case, parishioners’ appeal never reached the Vatican, but instead was decided on the local level.
