Decade-long sit-in at Massachusetts Catholic church nears end

Former parishioners of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Roman Catholic Church, in Scituate Mass., are waiting to find out whether they can keep their church building, after 96,000 hours of sit-in protest.

With resources spread thin after the sexual abuse scandal and shrinking congregations, the Boston Archdiocese in 2004 announced consolidation plans. St. Frances was among 85 Catholic churches in the diocese to receive an intent to close notice.

Appeals to the Archdiocese to reconsider went unanswered. The night after the last mass, someone changed the church locks. The vigil started the next day. St. Francis is the last of six congregations maintaining a protest.

At any time, the 11 years of constant vigil could be forced to end by a ruling in the lawsuit the Boston Archdiocese filed against the congregation. Last week, the St. Frances community filed a motion to suspend tomorrow’s court-ordered evacuation deadline. They now wait to hear the judge’s ruling.

“It breaks your heart. I just don’t know what will happen” said Patricia McCarthy. A member of St. Frances since the church opened in 1961, McCarthy spent Tuesday night alone in the building. Next to her, the sign-up sheets showed the schedule for the next 10 days. More than 100 participants help ensure the church is never unoccupied.

“This is our spiritual home,” McCarthy’s son-in-law, Jon Rogers, a lead organizer, said. “We’ve been taught for years that this is our church and that it’s our responsibility to care for it."

The community turned parts of the church into a living space, using the confessional area and sacristy for a cozy sleeping quarters. Families and individuals typically have their weekly vigil time slot. Three triplets became weekly occupants when they were too young to attend school. They are now in high school.

McCarthy believes the Archdiocese’s refusal to reinstate St. Frances as a fully functioning parish is motivated by money. The church sits on 30 acres overlooking the Atlantic. McCarthy brags the congregation has kept the beautiful church in “mint condition.”

The gym and classroom space, formerly used by the church, was closed off to them in 2004. It is now run down and covered in graffiti.

Two local Protestant churches have offered to let the St. Francis community join them, impressed by the congregation’s dedication.

St. Francis still holds communion services every Sunday. Priests sympathetic to the parishioners take turn leading the services. Their identities are kept a secret to avoid being chastised by the Archdiocese. They go by the code named Deep Chalice instead.

“We don’t ask any questions” McCarthy adds.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.