Catholics defy church with Natick celebration

[emad]

By Thomas Caywood
Monday, March 28, 2005 - Updated: 09:55 AM EST

Hundreds of area Catholics openly defied the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Boston yesterday on the holiest day of their faith.

Former parishioners of Sacred Heart Church in Natick gathered in a muddy town park near the shuttered church to celebrate Easter Mass said by a priest suspended by the church for marrying.

``We are practicing our faith,'' said organizer Anne Green, who was a parishioner at Sacred Heart her whole life. ``I feel like we are the church. The hierarchy, the archdiocese, they are there to serve us, not to suppress us.''

Fourteen-year-old Brendan Melchiorri said the Mass felt as valid as any to him despite the lack of a church and an officially recognized priest.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=75381

[TheFarseer]

1. I sincerely hope the next pope will consider priests marrying

If for no other reason than we simply will not be able to recruit enough priests if we don't.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Don't hold your breathe

we will be lucky if the next pope isn't a member of Opus Dei.

[toopers]

2. There should be another schism

The American Catholics should split off from the European Catholics.

[MADem]

3. And odds are good the Europeans would follow along

They just need some entity with guts (and a huge chunk of CASH) to lead the way. The HRCC would have a tough time surviving without the huge infusions of cash they get from North America.

[James T. Kirk]

5. Plenty of chruches in Natick.

http://www.masstimes.org/dotNet/showchurches.aspx?type=uscity&q=&country=United+States+of+America&city=Natick&countrycode=US&statecode=MA

This "defiance" is silly. Yeah, yeah, it's sad when a church closes, but there are plenty more nearby.