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Boston Archdiocese closes 65 churches

zultr

Thinker
Z
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Nov 18, 2003
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149
Article.

My great grandparents were married at St. Augustine in South Boston in 1881. That church, and the church in which I was baptized, are to be closed. Though raised Catholic, I am not religious. However, I am saddened from a historical and cultural perspective, if not a religious one. I also feel sorry for those watching a chunk of their communities torn down. The church, after letting pedophiles run rampant for decades, is now facing another huge lawsuit and seems to be closing the churches. What a shock then, when it seems as if an disproportionate number of churches are closing in areas with high property values (Lexington and Concord have 4 churches mixed in among their million+ dollar homes; 3 are closing).

BTW, there's a forum on the Globe's website; it's surprising how many negative (i.e., anti-religion) posts there are. I assume lots of you are hanging around over there.
 
zultr said:
BTW, there's a forum on the Globe's website; it's surprising how many negative (i.e., anti-religion) posts there are. I assume lots of you are hanging around over there.
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Not me, but if I'm going to be among friends...
 
As a former resident of the area I'm sad to see this happen.

I don't know if the Vactican understands certain aspects of the world. Between the reccomendation of denial of Communion by a bishop (to which I say, go to the Epsicopal church. It's the same damn thing, only no stigma.) and the long-time denial of the pedophile priests, it seems like the church is sticking its fingers in its ears and going, "LALALALALALA". I half wonder if it's almost a marketing ploy to the Evangelists and Fundamentalists. Or even a "We're just as Biblically hardcore, yo" street cred.

I vaguely remember the Fall River scandal that O'Malley helped to defuse. This gives me hope that the seemingly pleasant Fransician monk can help stabilize the situation of the Boston archdiosese.

At the very least, I want to see him beat some of Law's underlings with that staff.
 
LostAngeles said:
This gives me hope that the seemingly pleasant Fransician monk can help stabilize the situation of the Boston archdiosese.
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As I noted above, I think it's sad despite my lack of involvement with religion, but I have no sympathy for O'Malley. Here's why, among other reasons.
 
zultr said:


As I noted above, I think it's sad despite my lack of involvement with religion, but I have no sympathy for O'Malley. Here's why, among other reasons.
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Well, that's why I said "seemingly". Homosexuality and Catholism is not like peanut butter and chocolate so I'd expect that kind of response from him. I think it's absolutely ignorant and blind to the actual issues and troubles surrounding the "American family", but that seems to be the standard for the Church itself. I'd just like to see my Cat-lick friends that I left behind have their church back to (a better and less abusive) normal and I think O'Malley might do it. I hope he does, actually. It's less of a "think" and more of a "hope".

As far as MA gay marriage goes:

If you're from Boston, then you know that once Gov. (Rep.) Finneran stopped railing to halt the gay marriages, nothing will happen on the politcal end of that for a while.
 
Even apart from the recent scandals, the Catholic Church has been moving away from small congregations towards mega-churches. I think its a bad change (Chesterton made a great case for this in his defense of the family (from his book 'Heretics'). If you haven't read it (and I assume no one here has) it is a great read.

Really, the problem is that between mandatory celebacy and the other unpleasant parts of the vocation, they are running out of priests.

By the way, one of the best books that I have ever read is the first Roman Catholic Catechism (the 500 page book) done after Vatican II. Its discussion of homosexuality moved SO close to a moderate, accepting position. It's a shame that Rome has done a 180 since then. . .
 
Why is it that beautiful buildings and corruption tend to go hand in hand? By the way, does anyone know that the Book of Revelation (chapters 16-18) refers to the Roman Catholic Church as Babylon, the Great Harlot? Also, with respect to the Great Red Dragon, the Beast out of the Sea and the False Prophet (chapters 12-13), this is supposed to represent the Reformation. So what does that tell us about the state of Today's Church? It certainly doesn't deny that a True Church exists but, where the heck is it?

Having said that, I would also suggest that the Book of Revelation has already been fulfilled, and doesn't suggest the end of the world so much, as it suggests the end of an era which, would have occurred in the 18th century, about the time that the Age of Enlightenment began.
 
*hand goes up*

Wasn't Revelations written by John the Baptist? Wasn't the Roman Catholic Church not formed until years later?
 
LostAngeles said:

*hand goes up*

Wasn't Revelations written by John the Baptist? Wasn't the Roman Catholic Church not formed until years later?
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No, John the Baptist was thrown into prison and beheaded shortly after Jesus began to preach. ~ Matthew 14:1-12 While St. John The Divine was supposedly another of Jesus' diciples. As for the Book of Revelation, it was supposed to be the vision of St. John regarding the end of times which, most people misconstrue as being the end of the world.
 
Piscivore said:

It was my understanding that the beast in Revelations was Domitian.
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Who was that, a Roman emperor? While I have to admit there are a lot of theories. So in that respect about all I can do is encourage people to do their own research. However, my own research tends to back up what I'm saying here.
 
Iacchus said:
Who was that, a Roman emperor? While I have to admit there are a lot of theories. So in that respect about all I can do is encourage people to do their own research. However, my own research tends to back up what I'm saying here.
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Erm, yes. The one who expanded persecution of Christians to the entire empire (Nero started it, but kept it to Rome proper.)

What was the nature of your research? To what texts did you refer?

And please clarify how the "end of times" is different from the "end of the world".

Thanks.
 
Piscivore said:

Erm, yes. The one who expanded persecution of Christians to the entire empire (Nero started it, but kept it to Rome proper.)

What was the nature of your research? To what texts did you refer?

And please clarify how the "end of times" is different from the "end of the world".

Thanks.
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If you follow the link I referred you to about the Age of Enlightenment, all of the links on the original post link to some aspect of this, not to mention the links regarding Emanuel Swedenborg on this post.
 
Iacchus said:
If you follow the link I referred you to about the Age of Enlightenment, all of the links on the original post link to some aspect of this, not to mention the links regarding Emanuel Swedenborg on this post.
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Can you please provide a specific link to the relevant information? I had to wade thru a lot of unrelated nonsense to come up with the impression that your "research" on Revelations consists of "Emanuel Swedenborg wrote a book that said so, and I believe it". If this assumption is incorrect, please elaborate further, but sum up your point and don't just toss random links at me. Thanks.

Meanwhile, I found this site that pretty much explains the conclusion I found for myself a decade or so ago, using my KJV and a paperback copy of Gibbon. I do realise this perspective (the one labeled "Historical-Critical Interpretation") is going to be totally incompatible with the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, so no need to point that out... :)
 
Iacchus said:
If you follow the link I referred you to about the Age of Enlightenment, all of the links on the original post link to some aspect of this, not to mention the links regarding Emanuel Swedenborg on this post.
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Emanuel Swedenborg is unfortunately one of the most know Swedes. He wrote a few mystical books, where he, among other things, described the people of Moon that looked like small boys, and the cows of Mercury. He failed to describe the inhabitants of Uranus, Neptun and Pluto, which of curse was yet to be discovered at that time, around 1760.

Anyway, Emanuel Swedenborg was perhaps a slightly schizophrenic person as old, he heard voices, and what those voices said is what became his mystical books.

About the churches; I think it is a good thing that they are remade to housing, or shopping mal, pub, bars or whatever that makes people happy. Churches in the US are usually very new buildings. Churches in Europe are sometimes very old, and they have a cultural value as buildings and should perhaps not be remade to something else but museums.
 
Anders said:

About the churches; I think it is a good thing that they are remade to housing, or shopping mal, pub, bars or whatever that makes people happy. Churches in the US are usually very new buildings. Churches in Europe are sometimes very old, and they have a cultural value as buildings and should perhaps not be remade to something else but museums.
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Most of the older churches in the NE U.S. (while not as old as some of Europe, certainly) qualify as historical buildings. Heck, we have a few down here in the SW. Some also have value as sites of political import, such as the Old North Church.

It would be nice to see at least ONE of them turned into a memorial for those children who had their innocence, and sometimes their very lives, sacrificed to the predations of the misanthropic tyranny of the priesthood.
 
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