My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

May the Grace and Peace of our Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ be with each and every one of you throughout the New Year!

During my recent Advent meeting with most of the priests serving in the Archdiocese of Boston, I informed them that I would soon write to all of the faithful of the Archdiocese about the process of reconfiguration. As I now fulfill that commitment, I invite your careful consideration of this letter.

In the course of the last twenty years or so, the number of parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston has decreased from 404 in 1985 to 357 at present. During much of these past two decades, the so-called "Boston plan" sought to develop recommendations at the cluster level for parish reconfigurations. Pastoral planning at the parish and cluster levels properly has had, as its main focus, fulfilling the mission of the Church.

Today, for a variety of reasons, such planning for mission is more crucial than ever. Among these reasons are:

· Changes in demographics: people have moved; they are having fewer children; there are fewer regular churchgoers;
· The priest shortage: we need more than the forty (40) Boston seminarians we have right now. All of us, clergy and faithful, need to identify and invite young men to consider a vocation to the priesthood, as we foster environments in our homes and in our parishes that encourage all our people, young and old, to respond faithfully and generously to the call of God in their lives;
· Financial difficulties faced by many parishes: exacerbated, no doubt, by the sexual abuse scandal, many parishes have been struggling for years, if not decades, with overwhelming fiscal challenges, including the inability to meet all their financial responsibilities;
· The current poor state of many of our buildings: as a snapshot of the dimensions of this reality, a recent review of all parish property in the City of Boston, comprising roughly 1/7 of all the buildings in the Archdiocese, determined that to bring these buildings within Boston proper up to an acceptable standard of usability would cost approximately $104 million.

Pastoral planning for mission must be addressed without further delay. The reallocation of resources, reconfiguration, is urgently needed and must move from the mode of planning and conversation to that of action and implementation. The groundwork has been laid in the past two decades. Much discussion has already occurred. Now is the time for decisive action.

Together, we must work to rebuild our Church. My conviction - a conviction I hope and pray that you share - is that the work of rebuilding our Church entails a serious, committed effort throughout the Archdiocese to realize a Church that will be better able to fulfill the mission entrusted to Her by the Lord in response to the needs of the faithful. This vision means that much collaboration and cooperation has to take place as we move into the next phase of reconfiguration. As this part of the process begins, please know that:

· Reconfiguration will involve a substantial number of parishes throughout the entire Archdiocese;
· No parishes have been designated for closure. The number of parishes to be closed has not yet been determined;
· Reconfiguration will involve not merely those parishes unable to pay their bills.

The Most Reverend Richard G. Lennon, Moderator of the Curia, has accepted my request to oversee the reconfiguration process and serve as Chair of a Central Committee, comprised of lay faithful and clergy from each of the five regions of the Archdiocese, along with a few members of the Archdiocesan staff. I look forward to working with and receiving counsel from this committee as decisions are made in the reconfiguration process.

Not only will the regional bishops, vicars, pastors and other clergy be involved and asked to give their input, but also I expect that lay pastoral staff, parish pastoral council and parish finance council members will also be involved in the conversations and recommendations. Moreover, I want to ensure that there is sufficient opportunity for parishioners to be heard - this process must truly be the work of the whole Church. All of these conversations, involving so broad a spectrum of people, will enrich the reconfiguration process and strengthen our Archdiocesan effort to rebuild our Church. As we come together for these conversations, it is imperative that all come with an open mind rather than a self-interested plan to save a particular parish. The reconfiguration will only work if everyone involved is committed to serve the whole Catholic family of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Every parish in the Archdiocese, except those in Lawrence and Lowell who are already well into the process, will begin conversations about reconfiguration later this month. Bishop Lennon will soon communicate a more specific and detailed timeline.

Past experience has shown that it will be painful to close parishes. We must be sensitive to that reality and help each other in the grieving process as a number of our parishes close. However, even in the midst of mourning, we must challenge each other to make the sacrifices necessary to ensure that the parishes that do emerge will be stronger, more able to respond to peoples' needs, and better staffed with more resources for ministry. The painful sacrifices of reconfiguration must lead to stronger Catholic parishes better equipped to carry on the work of evangelization, to reach our young people, to serve our senior citizens and our poor, to perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy and to pass on the faith to future generations. We must accept the challenge to make great sacrifices to achieve an even greater good. The future of our Church's ministry in the Archdiocese depends on God's grace and our willingness to make the sacrifices necessary for reconfiguration.

Thank you for your attention to so lengthy a letter. Thank you for being faithful to Christ and His Church here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Please join with me and with our sisters and brothers in Christ as we shoulder the cross of reconfiguration and accept the challenge to rebuild our Church.

I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel, God with us, may continue to smile upon all of us who together make up the Church of Boston and bless us with His gifts of Joy, Hope and Peace, as I entrust our effort to rebuild our Church to the powerful intercession and protection of His Blessed Mother. I remain

Devotedly yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap
Archbishop of Boston
 

Dear Monsignor / Father:

This letter is a follow-up to Archbishop Seán's letter to all the Faithful giving more specifics about the process that he has decided will be used by all the parishes of the Archdiocese for the reconfiguration initiative. This letter offers an outline of the process that I hope will be clear and helpful as we move forward with this Archdiocesan effort.

It is imperative that all parishes be involved in the conversations that are asked for so that the best possible information and responses may be forthcoming, for only then will the Archbishop be prepared to offer mandates in the spring which will, when fulfilled, bring forth a configuration of our parishes which will respond to the needs of all the faithful and will be better able to carry out the Mission of the Church.

I have asked each of the Vicars Forane to have a meeting as soon as possible with the priests of the Vicariate to discuss this process and to offer an opportunity for all as brother priests to support and encourage one another as the Archbishop calls pastors and all priests to a leadership role in this process. This will be a challenging and demanding task for all of us, as it will be for all the Faithful of the Archdiocese. However, united with one another and united around our Archbishop there will be strength and wisdom in our endeavors for the goal of Rebuilding My Church is worth all of our efforts and will be blessed by God as it is the future of His Church we are concerned about in this Archdiocesan initiative.

The process from now until March 8, 2004 calls for conversations on the cluster level leading to responses to the following two questions:

1. If the Archbishop needs to close a parish in your cluster for the greater good of the Archdiocese, how would you recommend that your cluster of parishes be reconfigured and why?
2. If the Archbishop needs to close more than one parish in your cluster, how many parishes would you recommend for closure and how would you recommend that your cluster be reconfigured and why?

It is essential that all clusters answer these questions carefully with the wider interest of the Archdiocese in mind, even though the final outcome may be that no parishes close in your cluster.

It is important that the meetings of the cluster parishes involve a number of people. These people will, as the conversations proceed, become the leadership group of the cluster. The composition of membership for the meetings includes pastors, one or two staff persons from each parish, and a member of each parish's Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Council. The cluster meetings should begin as soon as possible after the meeting with the Vicar Forane mentioned above, unless that meeting cannot be scheduled at this time then the cluster meetings should begin before the Vicariate meeting happens.

In order to guide you, there are three points I wish to offer regarding these cluster meetings. First, the meetings should begin with prayer for it reminds us that we are the people of God in His Church. Second, there needs to be an expressed awareness that what is being called for at this time is an Archdiocesan response to the challenge to Rebuild My Church and not solely a look at the cluster parishes in isolation from the Archdiocese. And third, there must be a forthright exchange of information and data about each parish, e.g., financial viability, Mass attendance, Sacramental activity, state of physical properties, etc. To assist with this third point I have enclosed a one-sheet inventory which you may find helpful. Without such openness, the deliberations of the cluster group will be compromised as the members strive to respond to the above two questions. Without prayer, an appreciation of an archdiocesan perspective, and sharing of information, I would dare say the responses from the clusters to the two questions may not be the best responses for the Church going forward.

It will be most important that over these next several weeks leading up to March 8, 2004 that there be communication and opportunity for discussion at the parish level about what is happening. The cluster group that will be meeting and discussing these matters should not carry on their deliberations in a vacuum. Regular notices in parish bulletins should keep parishioners informed. Also, the conversations of the cluster group should be shared with staff and with the Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils. Lastly, pastors may wish to offer parish meetings for the parishioners in order to explain reconfiguration and why it is happening, along with the questions to which the clusters are asked to respond. Every effort should be made to help people understand what is happening so that our faithful Catholics are informed and may have opportunity to offer their thoughts on all of this.

Some have said that this process may be too quick; however, others have suggested that the Archbishop should just name the parishes to close and let's get on with it. What the Archbishop desires is to address the issue in a way that offers opportunity for input from parishes and clusters and at the same time to realize an outcome in a timely fashion so that we, as the Church of Boston, may begin to move forward revitalized and energized. I offer these remarks to help us understand this process and to assist us in explaining to our parishioners the desired goal as a result of reconfiguration.

The responses to the questions mentioned earlier in the letter must be received by the Vicars Forane by March 8, 2004. For your information the Vicars Forane will review the responses and pass them on to the Regional Bishop along with his thoughts about the responses. Considering the responses and the Vicars Foranes' assessments, the Regional Bishops will forward them, along with his recommendation to me, for the Archbishop's consideration. The Archbishop will review these three items: the cluster's responses, the Vicars Foranes' assessments, and the Regional Bishops' recommendations, along with the Central Committee's advice. He will, in April, issue mandates to parishes in a town or city or in a cluster for specific reconfiguration action. The mandates may differ from the original cluster's recommendation, either in light of the recommendations of the Vicar Forane, the Regional Bishop, the advice of the Central Committee or the Archbishop's decision taking into account the overall needs of the Archdiocese.

It is my earnest prayer and hope that the contents of this letter are helpful to all of us as we embark upon this challenging work. Let us go forward with confidence and a vision that being about such an important work we do so with the support of one another and with God's Grace.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend Richard G. Lennon
Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia
 

Dear Bishop Lennon,

This past weekend a meeting was held for the Marlborough Vicariate concerning the reconfiguration initiative. Among the participants at the meeting were Bishop Walter Edyvean, Regional Bishop for the West Region, and Father Michael J. Bova Conti, Vicar for the Marlborough Vicariate.

Your directive for the reconfiguration process was distributed at the vicariate meeting. In your letter you noted "the process from now until March 8, 2004 calls for conversations on the cluster level…". While the parishes of St. Ann's in Wayland and St. Zepherin's in Wayland/Natick have engaged in collaborative efforts with each other as well as parishes in neighboring communities, a formal cluster relationship has not been established. In giving attention to the reconfiguration initiative, we, the pastors of St. Ann's and St. Zepherin's Parishes, desire to form a cluster comprising our two parish communities.

To our knowledge, when the cluster process began in the 1990's, St. Zepherin's Parish was assigned to a cluster with the three parishes located in Natick. At the same time, St. Ann's Parish was assigned to a cluster involving Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Sudbury and St. Julia's Parish in Weston. For a variety of reasons, these arrangements did not produce any concrete results.

However, in recent times, the pastoral staff members from St. Ann's and St. Zepherin's Parishes have engaged in collaborative efforts, particularly in areas effecting adult faith formation and youth ministry. We, ourselves, readily assist each other with sacramental requests as the need arises. Our parish staffs have also been accustomed to meeting regularly with parishes in Framingham, Natick and Sudbury. While not all of the parishes in these communities participate in this parish collaborative, the sharing of ideas and a minimum of common projects have resulted.

So we might begin active participation in the archdiocesan reconfiguration initiative with our parish communities, we ask that a response be made to our request as soon as possible. Know that we appreciate your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Rev. Ronald L. Bourgault - Pastor, St. Zepherin's Parish
Rev. Frank J. Silva Pastor - Pastor, St. Ann's Parish
Cc: Most Rev. Walter J. Edyvean Very Rev. Michael J. Bova Conti

February 13, 2004 - Letter from Bishop Lennon to all Priests

Dear Monsignor/Father:

As I write to you I wish to first acknowledge the difficult task that you are presently involved in responding to Archbishop Sean's call for Cluster Meetings for the purpose of reconfiguration and to thank you for what you are doing to help realize his goal, and our goal, of having a more vibrant Archdiocese of Boston.

There are several items I wish to present for your information, so that you may appreciate what is going on and be able to share this information with your staff and with those whom you serve.

Archbishop Sean has indicated on more than one occasion two specific concerns which need to be carefully attended to in the whole reconfiguration process.  Thus, in formulating the cluster's response to the two questions presented in my 10 January 2004 letter, these two concerns need to be addressed in the response.  The first is the inclusion of established and recognized ethnic communities presently being served in a cluster as active participants in the cluster discussions.  In presenting a plan in response to the questions please be sure to indicate how this ministry might continue within the reconfigured parishes.  The second focuses on maintaining strong Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese. A cluster's response needs to address this important aspect of parish life in a way that will serve Catholic education well into the future. 

In Archbishop Sean's letter of 9 January 2004 and his talk on BCTV on 4 February 2004, he spoke about the closure of parishes.  It is the Archbishop's intention that the reconfiguration process will lead to some parishes closing and other parishes welcoming parishioners from the closed parishes.  The Archbishop has deliberately chosen the canonical procedure of suppression rather than that of merger.  There are many reasons for this choice.  As you probably already know, where there is a merger of two or more parishes the assets and liabilities of the parishes belong to the new parish that is formed from the merger, whereas when there is a suppression, the assets and liabilities of the parish that is suppressed or closed belong to the Archdiocese of Boston.

The Archbishop has chosen this approach so that many issues may be addressed.  First, let me say again that none of the assets from suppressed parishes will be used to fund clergy sexual abuse cases.  Funds for that purpose will come from the proceeds of the sale of part of the Brighton land and from insurance coverages.  The proceeds from the assets of suppressed parishes will provide monies due employees of suppressed parishes for past work and separation assistance, for vendors who are owed money from suppressed parishes, for amounts for past employee benefits and parish insurance due from suppressed parishes, for run out costs of Health Insurance for separated employees, for covering unfunded pension liability for employees of suppressed parishes, for repayment of revolving loans from suppressed parishes, for expenses involved in the closure of suppressed parishes, for assistance to parishes that are unable to fund needed church repairs, for expenses for providing current support services to parishes, for establishing an endowment fund for parish support for those parishes that cannot be self-supporting, for recapitalizing the Revolving Loan Fund, and I am sure there are other needs that I have not yet thought of which will benefit from the assets of suppressed parishes.  As you can see a large portion of the assets from suppressed parishes will be needed to address very immediate past due obligations and employee benefits of the suppressed parishes. 

With regard to employees who will lose their positions due to reconfiguration, please know we are committed to helping them secure positions at parishes if at all possible or to assist them with finding other employment.  Also, presently a policy is in draft form which will address the various benefits to employees who lose their positions due to reconfiguration.  As soon as the policy is completed and reviewed by various groups, it will be presented to Archbishop Sean for his approval.  The policy will be distributed to all parishes as soon as the approval is granted.  In consideration for all of our employees and to provide fair and equal treatment, I ask that there be no separate arrangements at the parish level, nor any new employment contracts entered into or extended beyond July 1, 2004.

Also, a policy is in process to address Promise for Tomorrow funds, especially the monies designated for parishes.  The Pastors Advisory Committee has reviewed the policy and has offered its recommendations.  There will be a few more consultations before it is ready for the Archbishop's consideration.  Again, once it is approved I will make sure that you will receive a copy of the policy so that the information may be shared with parishioners.

Lastly, appreciating the challenges you have in all of this process, especially as a leader in the community, Father Robert Connors and Father James Mahoney are scheduling Regional Meetings for the middle of March to more thoroughly address the many issues you now face.  Archbishop Sean hopes to attend as many of these meetings as possible and the Regional Bishops will be present for the meeting in their region.  I encourage all priests to attend these meetings to hear what is said, to ask questions or make comments, and to spend time with one another in priestly fraternity.  Additionally, there will be general orientations scheduled in each region for parish staffs and informational meetings specifically for pastoral associates, DRE's and school principals.

As we move forward let us do so united with one another and united with our Archbishop focused on the goal: Rebuild Our Church.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+Richard Lennon

May 24, 2004 - Letter from Archbishop Seán Patrick O'Malley to Father Bourgault

Dear Father Bourgault:

I write to you and to Father Frank Silva, Pastor of Saint Ann Parish regarding reconfiguration.

Having carefully considered the items relative to both of your parishes and having heard the various recommendations from your reports through the Presbyteral Council, I have decided to ask Bishop Richard Lennon to meet with you both to arrive at a better understanding of the pastoral situation of your two parishes before I make any decision. On the one hand I wish I could make a decision now for your sake and that of your parishioners and yet I feel I need more input so that my decision may be pastorally sound.

I hope you understand and will work with Father Silva and Bishop Lennon to assist me in this important work.

Thank you for all you do for the faithful of your parish and for the wider community.

Fraternally yours in Christ,

+ Sean

Archbishop of Boston