CHICOPEE (MA)
The Republican
By Jeanette DeForge, The Republican
CHICOPEE – The Rev. David Darcy jokes that sometimes he feels like Moses leading his flock from place to place.
The pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church has been facing one of the most complex church closings in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. A combination of precedent-setting rulings from the Vatican and a deteriorated church that was declared unsafe has left the parish with four churches and the question of where it should settle permanently.
“We are struggling with how to wrap our heads around it,” Darcy said.
During the past decade the Springfield diocese has closed or merged nearly 70 churches in Western Massachusetts. The closings were followed by a few lawsuits and a flurry of appeals to the Vatican filed by parish members protesting the decision’s by the bishop, the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.