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Posted on 12/23/2006 7:19:16 PM PST by Serviam1
BOSTON – December 23 - Known as the Christmas Parish for introducing New England and the country to many Christmas customs brought here by German immigrants during the mid-1800s, including the ever-popular decorated pine Christmas tree, Holy Trinity Church in Boston's South End may be celebrating its last Christmas in 2006.
A plan to merge Holy Trinity with the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and move the Latin Mass to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes parish in Newton Upper Falls was announced on November 26, 2006. Since Holy Trinity was originally scheduled for closure in May 2004 as part of the Reconfiguration Plan of the Archdiocese of Boston, two announced closure dates, 30 June 2005 and 15 December 2005, have come and gone.
So ironically parishioners of "the Christmas parish" are facing, for the third time, their potential "last" Christmas.
The 2006 Christmas Mass schedule at Holy Trinity, located at 140 Shawmut Avenue, is:
Christmas Eve
11:30 PM: Concert of traditional German and English Christmas carols.
Midnight: Traditional Latin High Mass; begins with candlelight procession in which the celebrant lays the Infant Jesus in the crèche. (The scheduled celebrant is Father Charles Higgins, the proposed new pastor of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes parish if the plan goes through to merge it with nearby St. Philip Neri parish in Newton and then move the Latin Mass to the merged parish.)
Christmas Day
10:00 AM: Mass in English and German. (Carol concert precedes Mass at 9:45 AM).
12:00 PM: Traditional Latin Low Mass.
More information may also be found at Holy Trinity's web site, www.holytrinitygerman.org
Founded in 1844 to meet the pastoral needs of German worshippers, Holy Trinity Church is the Archdiocese's oldest ethnic parish. For 161 years it has cherished and preserved German Catholic traditions both for new immigrants and for their descendants. It is the only German Catholic parish in New England's eleven Catholic dioceses. In 1990 it expanded its role by embracing the Archdiocese's only authorized traditional Latin Mass. The combination of these two very compatible traditions has produced a faith community that is much stronger than the sum of its parts. The parish has also demonstrated its commitment to ongoing Christian charity by willingly sharing its facilities with two social service agencies: the Cardinal Medeiros Center day shelter for the homeless and the Bridge Over Troubled Waters residence for at-risk youth.
Catholic ping...
Any insights on why this parish is now failing?
+
If you want on (or off) this Catholic and Pro-Life ping list, let me know!
It isn't. The Archdiocese is determined to close it, though.
There, that's better...
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