The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston says it is spending $880,000 a year to maintain 14 churches that it has tried to close but are occupied by protesters, tied up in litigation, or restricted because of appeals to the Vatican.The cash-strapped archdiocese says it is shelling out the cash to heat, insure, and maintain the buildings, five of which have been occupied by protesters, in some cases for more than three years.
The others are vacant, but the archdiocese has been unable to sell or reuse the properties because they are tied up in civil lawsuits or canon law appeals.
Compounding the archdiocese's money woes, the sale of closed parishes has generated just $62.7 million - far less than the several hundred million once anticipated - and most of the sale revenue has already been spent to shore up various church funds and assist existing parishes with operating and construction costs, the archdiocesan chancellor reported in an e-mail to priests.
In addition, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has pledged to spend $2.5 million on the new consolidated Catholic school in Brockton, said James P. McDonough, chancellor of the archdiocese.
"As we look ahead, we are faced with significant financial challenges," McDonough wrote in the e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe. "The proceeds from reconfiguration will need to be viewed as part of the overall solution to these challenges in the months and years ahead."
McDonough said that the archdiocese has closed or merged 75 parishes since 2004. But the archdiocese also created 13 parishes during the reconfiguration process, so the overall number of parishes is down 62, to 295.
In an interview, McDonough said he drafted the update to priests in the spirit of openness.
"There have been a number of questions about where we stood," he said. "This is an effort to get the word out to our own folks."
A critic of the archdiocese, Peter Borre, yesterday said more of the proceeds from the closed parishes should have been used to directly help the remaining parishes rather than to address the general financial needs of the archdiocese.
"Parishioners were told during reconfiguration that all monies raised from the closing of parishes would be used for the benefit of the parishes, but close to half of the proceeds were used for overhead," said Borre, who is the co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, a coalition of Catholics opposed to the church closings.
Borre cited in particular the archdiocese's use of $17 million garnered from the closed parishes to replenish an account that was depleted in 2000, when Cardinal Bernard F. Law, citing the ancient Biblical tradition of forgiving debts during so-called Jubilee years, wrote off $28 million owed to the archdiocese by 104 parishes. Borre called the decision to use the funds from closed parishes to pay off debts that had previously been forgiven a "clawback.""If you stand back and try to read this [e-mail] analytically, the money guy in the archdiocese is basically telling the pastors there's not that much available," Borre said. "That's a bare-metal rendition of what he's saying."
McDonough responded, "we needed the revolving loan funds [for parishes] to be recapitalized."
He added that all the money from closed parishes was used as promised, as direct support for parishes or for funds and programs that benefit parishes. Terrence C. Donilon, the archdiocesan spokesman, also rejected Borre's characterization.
"While Mr. Borre continues to have an unusual interest in trying to create fractures within the Catholic community, he is not an authority on the archdiocese," Donilon said. "We remain focused on keeping open the doors to those in vigil with the hope they will join welcoming parishes."
The five closed parishes occupied by worshipers - who call their protests vigils - are located in East Boston, Everett, Framingham, Scituate, and Wellesley. McDonough said it is costing the archdiocese $10,000 a month to maintain the vigil parishes - or about $350,000 to date. The annual tab for maintaining closed parishes, $880,000, includes not only the vigil parishes but also those not occupied but are the subject of civil or canon law challenges.
"We understand that there's a canonical and a civil process that needs to evolve and be concluded," McDonough said. "Cardinal O'Malley has committed to letting those processes take their course, so we need to make certain the buildings are maintained and are safe for those who are occupying them until such time as the appeals have been concluded."
The archdiocese still has 22 unsold properties - including the 14 tied up by challenges - that would be worth an estimated $31 million if sold, McDonough said.
It is not clear how long the civil appeals - playing out in the Massachusetts courts - or the canon law challenges being heard by a Vatican tribunal will take.
Borre, who flew to Rome in October to advocate for opponents of the closings in meetings with Vatican officials, said the Vatican has given extraordinary latitude to the archdiocese because of its financial crunch. He said the cost of maintaining the vigil parishes is "the cost of doing business," and said it is a tiny fraction of the overall archdiocesan budget.
But Donilon said the money being spent on the closed parishes could be used on parishes that are officially open.
"We feel these people should come home to the church and be part of vibrant parishes," he said.
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