MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By Jay Lindsay
| Associated Press
February 10, 2012
A proposal by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to cut costs by organizing its 290 parishes into 125 groups that share resources could crush its pastors, who now face a bleak future after sustaining the church through the clergy sexual abuse scandal, a veteran priest wrote in a letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley obtained by Associated Press.
“I can well imagine that the very process of implementing such a proposal would result in serious psychological and even physical sickness,’’ wrote Monsignor William M. Helmick, pastor of Saint Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury.
The priests “would feel as if they and what they have done and continue to do is of no value and is not appreciated,’’ wrote Helmick, who recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination.
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