HOLYOKE (MA)
The Republican
By Jeanette DeForge, The Republican
HOLYOKE – A preliminary ruling by the Vatican’s top court ordered protesters to leave the Mater Dolorosa Church where they have held a 24-hour vigil for nearly a year and banned the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield from demolishing or selling the church.
The Apostolic Signatura also said it will hear an appeal of the decision by the Vatican’s lower court, the Congregation for the Clergy, which upheld Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell’s decision to close the church. It rejected a request to appeal the order to merge the parish with another.
Protesters called the decision a partial victory and are meeting to decide if they should follow the order to end the vigil. The protest began June 30, the day of the last mass before the church was closed and the parish merged into the new Our Lady of the Cross.
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