MASSACHUSETTS
Reuters
By Scott Malone October 15, 2015
Massachusetts’ top court on Wednesday ruled that parishioners who have staged a decade-long vigil aimed at stopping the closure of their Roman Catholic church are trespassing in violation of state laws.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church is the last of a half-dozen Boston-area churches that parishioners occupied in opposition to a 2004 decision by the Archdiocese of Boston to close some 70 churches, as the clergy sex abuse scandal began to take a heavy toll on church finances.
A group of parishioners has occupied the 30-acre (12- hectare) property in waterfront Scituate, south of Boston, 24 hours a day, seven days a week since that time.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld a June ruling by a state judge that found the parishioners were violating state laws and ordered an end to their long occupation.
“While we acknowledge the defendants’ heartfelt beliefs that they are entitled to remain on the premises as an exercise of their freedom of religion, the judge’s conclusion that the defendants are trespassers is supported by the evidence.”
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