A recent Vatican ruling confirming closures of 10 Boston-area churches has Immaculate Conception parishioners worried.
Greg Warszt, of Ludlow, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Springfield, heads for the raffle tent Friday with baskets to be raffled Sunday during the church's Dozynki Festival.SPRINGFIELD - As giant bounce houses were inflated and 30,000 pierogis were set to boil in preparation for the 30th annual Dozynki Festival, the pastor was in the rectory Friday tallying up baptisms, weddings and funerals.
“I’m not sure whether or not the month of June is going to make a difference,” said the Rev. Dariusz P. Wudarski, of Immaculate Conception Church, a largely Polish parish in Indian Orchard. “I don’t know if it’s any different than the month of May or April.”
The figures are part of monthly statements Wudarski sends to the Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, since the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in November delayed the closing of the parish for six months. It had been among more than a dozen local churches slated to be shuttered amid fiscal belt-tightening for the diocese, which extends from here to Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.
But a particularly vocal push-back by parishioners won them a stay until June 30, a deadline that has obviously come and gone. Wudarski said he received a personal letter from McDonnell on June 29.
“With the arrival of the end of the fiscal year, the time has come for a final analysis of what has happened over the past several months in Immaculate Conception Parish,” the letter begins, according to Wudarski, who read it to a reporter.
McDonnell said he will make a final decision by the end of July. A recent ruling by the Vatican’s highest court, however, has ratcheted up the anxiety level for Wudarski and his parishioners.
Ten Boston-area churches appealed their closures to Rome and learned in May that they had been denied, but written rulings supporting the decision were not issued until July 10. The translated decisions essentially said that dioceses are justified in closing even fiscally sound parishes if it suits the greater good of the flock.
“What is to be judged in deliberation is not only the condition of the parish to be considered, in truth also the entire diocesan salvation of souls is to be provided for, to be accomplished by the best possible means,” the ruling said.
Wudarski believes the ruling leaves “an awful lot of doors open” for the church hierarchy, though he is reluctant to speculate how it may affect his own parish.
View full sizeRichie Stanley, 6, of Monson, has fun with Silly String at the Dozynki Festival at Immaculate Conception Church.“I am not at ease with this,” he said simply. Of the congregants laboring outside in the oppressive heat to set up for the annual Polish-American festival, he said they are optimistic. “This is an immigrant population, many of whom fought against Communism ... They have the mentality to challenge authority.”
A spokesman for the diocese said 11 other local churches have appealed their closures, but declined to provide an updated list.
Church officials said the ruling is consistent with the rationale it has been offering to parishioners since announcing parish closures and mergers in the winter.
“This is Rome acknowledging that we are all one piece ... and that parishes can be modified irrespective of what their financial situation is,” said Msgr. John J. Bonzagni, director of pastoral planning for the Springfield diocese. “The rulings are saying what we and other dioceses have been saying all along, that dioceses have a need to take a healthy look at the entire diocese and stabilize their future.”
Officials attributed the closures to shrinking revenues, plummeting numbers of Catholics over several decades and shifting populations. They were careful to note at the outset that churches targeted had more to do with geography, and clusters of churches in certain areas, than financial health.
However, McDonnell challenged the Immaculate Conception parish to boost its congregation and revenues when he attended a morning Mass in November.
Kelly A. Tracy, of Ludlow, a longtime parishioner whose great-grandparents helped build the church more than a century ago, said the church has picked up around 60 new members and weekly collections are up about 33 percent.
“This church is a lot of things to a lot of people,” she said, adding that she is unbothered by the Vatican ruling.
While Wudarski confirmed weekly collections are about $26,500 greater than they were this time last year, he worries nonetheless.
“Is that enough? I don’t know ... We will wait and see what happens,” he said.
Diocesan officials would not comment on the future of the parish.
