Boston, Mass., May 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Boston’s massive parish reorganization is necessary to advance the mission of the church, said Archbishop Sean O’Malley at a press conference yesterday.
At the end of a six-month process, which included consultation with thousands of lay people, the archdiocese decided to close 70 of its 357 existing parishes. Five new parishes will be created in parish mergers. In the end, there will be 65 less parishes but only 60 less churches, since five of the former parish churches will continue as worship sites.
The archbishop assured that in no way would the sale of the churches be used to finance legal settlements with victims of sexual abuse by priests.
“The sale of the Brighton property of the former archbishop's residences and surrounding land has raised the $90 million dollars needed to do so,” Archbishop O’Malley said. “No money from the future sale of parish assets will be used to pay for the settlement.”