HANSON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Jenna Russell
Globe Staff
March 11, 2012
HANSON – Their graceful new church had risen quickly from the ground, and in September 2002, after years of planning and praying, parishioners gathered to celebrate Mass in it for the first time.
It was a bright day, full of joy and hope. But a darkness had descended as the church was being built. As the service began, protesters, gathered across the street from the church’s freshly-hung front doors, shouted angrily into a bullhorn. “Cardinal Law is a disgrace!’’ they cried, their voices not quite drowned out by the ringing church bells.
St. Joseph the Worker, a close-knit Catholic parish in a small town south of Boston, opened its new building – and with it, a new chapter – at a moment when the Catholic Church was mired in deep despair. As the parish marked a milestone, Catholics across the Archdiocese of Boston recoiled at revelations that their highest-ranking leaders had covered up sex crimes against children for decades.
The Hanson parish was spared the worst of the turbulence. It was not convulsed by a priest’s removal, or placed on a list for closure. Ten years later, it is in many ways the same place. Its growth continues; its airy, well-lit sanctuary still looks new. The same tall, good-natured pastor stands upfront on Sunday mornings.
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