Judge to protesters: End 11-year vigil inside closed church
May 14, 2015, 4:00 PM
In this Tuesday, May 5, 2015 photo, Marc Dean, a parishioner who has been in vigil at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church for the past five years, leaves after his shift is over, in Scituate, Mass. A Massachusetts judge on Thursday, May 14, 2015, has ordered parishioners of the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church to end their 11-year protest vigil and vacate the now-closed Roman Catholic church. In his ruling, Superior Court Judge Edward Leibensperger said the parishioners are "unlawfully and intentionally" trespassing at the church in Scituate. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
BOSTON (AP) — Parishioners of the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church must end their 11-year protest vigil and vacate the shuttered Roman Catholic church, a Massachusetts judge ruled Thursday.
But the Friends of St. Frances, the group that has been occupying the Scituate church day and night since 2004, say they’re not going anywhere. They intend to ask the state court to stay the ruling pending an appeal.
“As of today, nothing changes,” Jon Rogers, one of the organizers, declared late Thursday. “From Day One, we made a promise that we would exhaust every appeal that was available to us, and that includes the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.”
The Archdiocese of Boston, which had sued to evict the group, urged protesters to end the vigil and respect the judge’s ruling, which it called “clear and thoughtful.” In a statement, it invited the protesters to “participate and join in the fullness of parish life.”
In his ruling, Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Edward Leibensperger declared the former parishioners were “unlawfully and intentionally” trespassing on the church and said they would be barred from the property effective May 29.
The ruling followed a one-day bench trial earlier this month in which lawyers for the archdiocese argued the group was trespassing on church-owned property. Lawyers for the Friends of St. Frances argued that the group had a right to occupy the space and that church law must be considered in the case.
Leibensperger disputed that notion. “The right to control access to one’s property invokes no ecclesiastic issue,” he wrote in his 16-page ruling. “An owner of a property has clear and unequivocal interest, supported by property law, to prevent uninvited and unsupervised persons from being inside the building.”
Rogers, the protest organizer, called the ruling and the abbreviated trial “incredibly disappointing.”
“This is not just about us. This is about all the churches,” he said. “What this ruling says is that our houses of worship are not ours and that we’re just invited guests. We don’t believe that’s right. We’ve been told our whole lives that these churches are ours. This is our spiritual home.”
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church was among dozens of parishes closed as part of a controversial plan to restructure the Boston Archdiocese’s debt.
Opponents had said the closures were the archdiocese’s way of paying for clergy sex-abuse settlements, a charge the church has repeatedly denied. The archdiocese blamed the closures on falling attendance, a priest shortage and financial problems.
The Friends of St. Frances have been occupying the now-deconsecrated space since October 2004, with at least one former parishioner holding vigil in the space day and night and supporters holding Sunday services.
The group has sought a number of ways to save the church, from appealing to higher church authorities and the Vatican for relief, as well as a civil suit that was ultimately dismissed.
The archdiocese, which is led by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, had given the group until March 9 to leave. When it refused, the archdiocese took them to court.
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