Boston Archdiocese to close Holy Trinity and move Indult

BOSTON – March 25 – The Archdiocese of Boston announced today that, beginning Sunday, April 22, that the traditional Latin Mass will move from Holy Trinity Parish in Boston's South End to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish in Newton Upper Falls. Parishioners plan to appeal the move.

Father Mark O'Connell made the announcement this afternoon in a meeting with parishioners. This meeting was a follow up to a meeting on November 26 at which he first announced a plan to merge Holy Trinity with the nearby Cathedral of the Holy Cross after first moving the Latin Mass to Newton. Despite the move of the Latin Mass, "no closing date has been set" for the merger of the rest of the parish with the Cathedral, according to Father O'Connell.

In addition, he announced that Cardinal Seán O'Malley would like Holy Trinity's German parishioners to "find a home at the Cathedral." They would be able to celebrate a monthly Mass in German in the Cathedral's Eucharistic chapel, and they would be asked to help with the celebration of Christmas. The German parishioners, descendants of the nineteenth-century founders of the parish, were assigned Father Harry Kaufman as chaplain during the November meeting, but little else was determined about their future.

Father O'Connell also gave updates on plans for the social service agencies based at Holy Trinity. The Archdiocese will spend money to move the Cardinal Medeiros Center for homeless older adults to Our Lady of Victories on Isabella Street. The Bridge Over Troubled Waters residence for at-risk youth will not be moved "until a plan [for the church building] is proposed and accepted."

Father O'Connell also shared the first formal financial report since a new administrator assumed responsibility for the parish in March, 2006. According to this report, Holy Trinity will run a $20,000 deficit this year; Father acknowledged that he understands that the planned closure of the parish has caused a decline in contributions. Finances are a key concern of parishioners, and some have speculated that part of the reason for the closure of the parish may be a cover- up of financial irregularities. The parish did not submit the required financial reports for several years, and parishioners learned in December 2005 that the former administrator transferred over $176,000 to the other parish he administered. This money was returned upon discovery of the transfer.

Parishioners plan to appeal both the division and the merger of the parish. Key to their appeals is a difference in view of the status of the parish. Father O'Connell articulated the Archdiocese's view that, "This is a German parish that has the indult to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. The indult can be moved canonically."

Parishioners counter that the Archdiocese is using the move of the indult to divide the parish before closing it, a violation of their rights as parishioners. This action casts doubt on the Archdiocese's promise that they will have parishioner status at Mary Immaculate. In addition, parishioners object to the plan to move the assets of Holy Trinity only with the German parishioners. They believe that, according canon law, these assets should follow all the parishioners.

Ironically, the announcement of the move of the Latin Mass comes on what may be the eve of an important announcement from Rome. Rumors have circulated for over a year that the Pope will soon issue a document easing restrictions on the Latin Mass. The most recent rumor in the Italian press states that the document could be released as early as tomorrow but no later than Easter. While the document has yet to appear despite several earlier rounds of rumors, these rumors are more credible because another important document on the Mass, the apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, was released on March 14. The document on the Latin Mass is expected to follow the apostolic exhortation.

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.

From http://www.bettnet.com/blog/index.php/weblog/date_set_for_move_of_bostons_indult_mass_to_new_parish/

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Date set for move of Boston’s Indult Mass to new parish

Following up on today’s scheduled meeting between a representative of the Boston archdiocese and Holy Trinity Parish, the South End parish that is the home of Boston’s Traditional Latin Mass, an announcement was made.

According to commenter Frank Doyle, who is a parishioner, the final Indult Mass at Holy Trinity will be celebrated on April 15 and the first Indult Mass at the Latin Mass Community’s new home of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton will be the next Sunday.

That does not mean Holy Trinity is closing. Fr. Marck O’Connell said the closing date for Holy Trinity has still not been set. He also said that Cardinal O’Malley still wants the German community to be part of the cathedral parish.

If anyone has more details from the meeting, please feel free to put them in the comments.

Posted by Domenico Bettinelli on 03/25/07 at 03:24 PM | Categories: Archdiocese of Boston • Church Property • Parish & school closings • Faith and Liturgy •

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According to Fr. Mark O'Connell of the Archdiocesan Office of Canonical Affairs, our last Mass at HT will be Low Sunday, 15 April 2007. As you may well expect, I am extremely upset at the Cardinal and his delegation of the "dirty work" to Fr. O'Connell, who clearly does not have a grasp of the impact of several significant pastoral issues, let alone logistical issues that will fall squarely on our shoulders. This plan remains short term solution since no juridical protections have been proposed. I have great concern of the "at will" nature of the plan that relies heavily on a singular priest. There will be a significant requirement to minimally fund reversal of "wreckovations" done to MIL in the 1970's by the former pastor of MIL, not to mention a proper restoration and upkeep of much deferred maintenance to the physical structure. I cite some of these existing conditions I have observed below.

I do not think either the spokesman for the Archdiocesan Office of Canonical Affairs nor the Cardinal have a grasp of the true task at hand nor have diocesan resources been committed. I am not convinced that their decision has had any link to a professional Architectural/Engineering review. If it has, it has not been shared or communicated to myself or the Latin Mass community. Unfortunately, this church is not directly served by public transit, the closest light rail station, Eliot Station being nearly one mile away. There are currently a good percentage of Holy Trinity parishioners dependent on public transport, including many elderly. The burden (cost and man power) for some para-transit would fall squarely on the new pastor (Fr. Charles Higgins) of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes (MIL). To date zero planning whether it be the purchase or lease of vans has occurred.

For your information, the present church building of MIL was dedicated by Cardinal O’Connell on 24 November 1910. It was (is) an imposing edifice situated on a hillside in Newton Upper Falls. It was rendered in an Italian Romanesque brick style featuring a 135 foot campanile. Originally the roof was in a red terracotta tile and has unfortunately succumbed (long ago) to the utility of asphalt. The front elevation can be best described as a portico reminiscent of a Roman Temple with a vertical proportion expressed by columns of the Corinthian order supporting a pediment that has sculptural relief of figures that represent the apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1854. The focal point of the interior remains the High Altar constructed of white Italian marble. Originally it was set behind an altar rail of red Italian marble with bronze “corkscrew” uprights and gates. The apse was lavishly painted with gilded stenciling serving as a backdrop to the reredos, above which a half dome contained three paintings of the Blessed Virgin: The Annunciation on the left, The Assumption in the center, and The Coronation on the right.

Unfortunately under the pastorate of Fr. Michael F. Doocey (1970-1993), following the Second Vatican Council and ensuing iconoclasm, the interior of MIL was generally wreckovated. The once beautiful sanctuary and nave has been generally white washed. This includes a set of polychromed Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) rendered white. The altar rail was destroyed save about eight feet at the locations of the former Side Altars of St.Joseph and Our Lady. Even these segments were relocated about six feet into the Nave. The marble flooring of the Sanctuary has been obscured by ubiquitous (Archdiocesan) red wall to wall carpet. A new and immovable freestanding Altar was formed about six feet forward of the bottom step of the old High Altar salvaged from the two existing rectangular Side Altars oriented back to back to roughly form a square proportion. The Holy Tabernacle of the old High Altar was systematically plugged and removed to the location of the old St. Joseph Side Altar where a “new” shelf was constructed and enhanced with a marble relief of “The Last Supper” also removed from the lower section (antependium) of the old High Altar. The remaining void from the old High Altar was covered by blank slab of roughly matching marble.

At least six rows of the original front pews, including the front “blind” pew panel are missing or destroyed. This provides space for God knows what…Liturgical dancing??? The same applies to rear five or six rows I suspect were removed for “gathering space”. Great, let’s encourage yapping in church.

My complaint? We (the Latin Mass community) will need to reverse and absorb the cost of the destruction wrought over the last 35 years to even approximate the Liturgical archtectonics of the sanctuary and nave that remain extant at Holy Trinity (HT). At a very minimum we need a temporary altar rail in the devastated Sanctuary of MIL. I am very concerned by the existing sight lines and blind spots encumbered by the permanent (immovable) placement of the existing freestanding altar, particularly with the large Liturgical entourage typical of High and Solemn High Masses. It is Fr. Higgins intention to use the old High Altar. He has taken the first step in restoring placement of the Tabernacle in the old High Altar. Unfortunately, he is currently disinclined to move the freestanding Altar since the parish will remain bi-ritual. I suggest he either work on the design of a movable but dignified freestanding Altar or celebrate all Masses here on in ad orientum. At this point, true restoration of just the church sanctuary for a dignified celebration of the Classical Roman Rite could cost several hundred thousand dollars. This does not even begin to address the balance of deferred maintenance throughout the balance of physical plant that includes significant deterioration to roofing, stone and brick masonry, exterior woodwork and ornamental ironwork. The existing pipe organ, inoperative for years with water damage and cracked bellows could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to restore.

His Eminence (or Fr. Mark O’Connell) fully expects us to invest our Time, Talent and Tithe (as we did at HT) with absolutely no juridical guarantee (structure) to our permanent attachment to this parish. IMHO, if we don’t press this issue we could find ourselves in the same dilemma we find ourselves today…parishioners of convenience, which I liken to a common law marriage. As it stands, we are relying on the abilities of a dear priest. If removed from the equation, we may find ourselves roaming the diocese without a permanent home. This move will be VERY costly to our community and is fraught with risk.

For more info on MIL:
http://members.aol.com/maryimmoflourdes/hist/history.htm

In nomine sancto ejus,
Rob Quagan
Architect

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