Boston's gifts to the wider church

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 29, 2004

We'll try to resist the temptation to delve too deeply into the Boston Red Sox as consoling metaphor for the beleaguered members of the Catholic community in Boston. It is enough to say, perhaps, that the Red Sox going to the World Series is proof that wonderful things can happen even if lousy things seem to be the norm.

For Boston Catholics, the latter certainly has been true. They've had their share of lousy. Perhaps something wonderful can happen.

Not to get too far ahead of the story as it is still unfolding in Boston--and there is considerable reason for distrust, anger and frustration--but there are some signs that Boston's awful ordeal could be the wider church's gain.

No one knows for certain what will grow in the wake of the turmoil that resulted in the Boston archdiocese being labeled the epicenter of arguably the most damaging episode in U.S. church history.

For starters, the wider church was given Voice of the Faithful, the lay group with the motto "Keep the faith, change the church."

The whole episode also energized Catholics there to a new appreciation of their role in the church. Boston College, which has sponsored the "Church in the 21st Century Project," has shown what kind of leadership role a Catholic institution of higher education can provide in a time of crisis.

Most recently, it was heartening to see the interview Archbishop Sean O'Malley gave to The Boston Globe concerning parish closings. O'Malley has appointed a committee of prominent Catholics to review what has occurred so far in the process that aims to close a total of 82 perishes in the archdiocese. Twenty-eight have been closed so far, but parishioners in two of the parishes--St. Albert the Great in Weymouth and St. Anselm in Sudbury--are conducting around-the-clock vigils to prevent them from closing.

We can almost feel some in the Boston archdiocese rolling their eyes in exasperation--letting us know that nothing really has happened. But allow us to tell you how it appears to some at a distance, knowing full well that any mechanism for including lay opinion and insight is elementary and vulnerable and can be yanked out of operation by church authorities at any moment.

The fact that you have experienced about the worst of it in terms of betrayal, in terms of victims and in terms of the consequences for your diocese means that you have a certain credibility before the rest of the church. So we watch as you continue to push for accountability in the sex abuse crisis, in the finances of the church and in the rationale for closing parishes.

We watch, too, as your archbishop, who inherited enormous pastoral and financial problems, makes his way through this unprecedented tangle of difficulties.

In recent days, it has been reported that the committee appointed to review the closings has recommended--and that the archdiocese has agreed--that two parishes scheduled for closing be given reprieves (not permanent). That suggests that O'Malley is at least open to compromise or rethinking his position on some matters.

As the Globe editorialized: "The reprieves ... establish two important facts: The recently appointed review committee has clout, and Archbishop Sean O'Malley has an open mind."

We hope they're correct on both scores. Boston, in the end, could be developing some needed models and wisdom for the church at large.

Hey, the Red Sox, after all, are in the series.