Compassionate Catholicism "Archiocese shuts off heat and water at St. James in Wellesley"

[David Sky]

excerpt from article
....
"Parishioners who have maintained a vigil at the church for almost seven years voiced skepticism about the claim that the boiler was unsafe and disappointment that they were not given advance notice of the shutdown. But longtime vigil leaders said the lack of heat and water inside the building will not weaken their commitment.

“I can wear my overcoat,” said Paul Hughes of Wellesley, one of the St. James parishioners who started the vigil. “I don’t think it will have any effect ... I would hope that it would give us a stronger sense of unity, and even greater resolve.”

The latest action by the archdiocese follows years of legal wrangling and protests over the church closures. Parishioners still maintain vigils at several churches, including Wellesley, East Boston, and Scituate."

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/scituate/2011/10/archiocese_shuts_off_heat_and.html


Tell us how the Catholic church is NOT about power and authority over ordinary people and their beloved community church.

[trotsky]

1. Large legal bills, shrinking (and aging) parishes, a shortage of priests...

and things that the leadership evidently would much rather fund (like attacking birth control options and homosexuality) all lead to this kind of situation.

Why these people stay in a church that treats them like shit and refuses to change I'll never understand.

[David Sky]

2. I don't understand it either, but I respect their position, for sure.

It's a great form of public protest, like we seem to be seeing a lot of these days from around the world.

I think the similarity between these actions is really only one: objection to an unjust use of power and money.

[lbrtbell]

3. I left the Catholic Church years ago

And I'm better for it.

[LeftishBrit]

4. By contrast..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/16/occupy-london-protest-st-pauls?intcmp=239


This is C of E, not Catholic; and UK not USA - but I daresay churches differ widely within countries and denominations as well.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. And Trinity-Wall Street, another Episcopal parish, is supporting the

protesters as well. (That parish also served as a staging and rest area for the 9/11 responders.)

(For those of you who remember the PBS program Wall Street Week, it's the church shown in the opening credits.)

[David Sky]

6. I am constantly amazed at the hierarchical nature of the Catholic church, and the

willingness of Catholics to be submissive to Rome, or to the Pope, or to their local arch diocese.

This seems to be a relic left over from times when some people were slaves and some people were free as long as they proclaimed their allegiance to their church.