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	Parishioners Suspend Vigil after Talk with O'Malley W. Newton Church to Focus on Merger By Matt Viser Boston Globe [Boston MA] January 11, 2005 After a 90-minute meeting last night with Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, parishioners at St. Bernard Church in West Newton last night decided to suspend the 24-hour vigil they began Oct. 24. "The mood was one of frank discussion, and we did show him our disappointment with the way the archdiocese has handled this process," said Joe Drake, chairman of Friends of St. Bernard, a group formed to oversee the vigil. "But we are ready to move forward and work with the archdiocese on reopening our church." O'Malley last month announced that St. Bernard could remain open, but over the next year they will have to meet with nearby parishioners from Corpus Christi in Auburndale and come up with a plan to merge the two churches. St. Bernard parishioners initially were disappointed with this plan, because they believed that it pitted them against another parish, and they decided to continue their vigil to show their dissatisfaction. O'Malley, in a sign that he may start meeting personally with parishes, three weeks ago began asking to meet with parishioners. After the meeting, Drake said most felt comfortable with suspending the vigil and focusing instead on rehiring administrative staff, restarting religious education courses, and trying to persuade members who left for other parishes to return to St. Bernard. Drake said O'Malley did not ask them to suspend the vigil, but they believed that it would be "a good faith measure." However, they still must meet with members of Corpus Christi to decide a plan for merging the parishes. The Rev. James M. Mahoney, who currently oversees clergy support and training for the archdiocese, was appointed by O'Malley last week to oversee the merger. The Archdiocese closed 51 parishes last year and is expected to close another 30 this year. St. Bernard originally was to be closed on Oct. 24. But a week before that O'Malley announced that the parish would "remain open for worship on Sundays until further notice," to give church officials time "to provide additional assistance to the parishioners who are finding this process particularly difficult." He said they could continue to hold one Mass on Saturdays and keep the building open for three weekday mornings. Virtually all other aspects of parish life ended, including religious education, weekday Masses, and outreach programs to the elderly and the sick. Parishioners interpreted O'Malley's announcement in October as an effort to stave off their vigil, and they moved forward with their plans, which were relatively low-key and involved little more than making sure at least three parishioners were in the church at all times. The church has continued to hold masses on weekends, overseen by Rev. Paul E. Kilroy. St. Bernard has a sprawling property that includes a private school for special needs students and a 114-year-old house that used to be home of the church's caretaker. The church has allowed his widow and her son to continue living there. The church's property is assessed at $11 million, by far the highest of any parish in the archdiocese, which some believed was a reason it was marked for closure. Although the vigil at St. Bernard is over, seven closed Catholic churches remain occupied by parishioners, and several other parishes, including St. Thomas the Apostle on the Peabody-Salem line, have vowed to stage vigils to prevent their parishes from closing. Drake said the parishioners at St. Bernard remain supportive of those vigils.
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