St. Jeremiah’s Parish
Telephone: 508-405-1927 ~ Email: contact@stjeremiah.org
January 15, 2006
STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO DENIAL OF APPEAL
BY THE CONGREGATION OF THE CLERGY
You all have heard the reports in the press today that our appeal and those of nine other parishes have been denied by the Congregation of the Clergy at the Vatican. The first notice that we had of this news here at St. Jeremiah were calls that we received from the press after the Communion Service yesterday about 5 p.m. We have not yet received anything in writing from the Congregation or the Archdiocese. We expect that we may receive something in the mail on Tuesday.
This news, although upsetting, is not altogether unexpected. Prior appeals of church closings were lost at the level of the Congregation – which is like a court of appeals – but won at the next level, the Apostolic Signatura – which is like the Supreme Court. We fully intend to pursue our appeal to the Signatura. So, this is not nearly the end of our odyssey.
We are also pursuing an appeal through the Office for Divine Worship – because our church was a dedicated gift from the Moynahan family and also because of the donation of “Christa’s bells” for the purpose of worship. Our civil lawsuit also will continue. We will keep you informed.
We have not had any contact from anyone at the Archdiocese. As you all know, we have been working closely with Archbishop O’Malley and will continue to do so. Regardless of any decision of the Vatican, the Archbishop has the power to fully re-open our parish. We will continue to make that request of him and to do all that we can to make that happen. We fully expect that our Masses and Religious Education program here at St. Jeremiah will continue for the foreseeable future.
Our Mass next Sunday will be in memory of Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and her father, Edward Corrigan. It would be a wonderful honoring of Christa’s memory if the Archbishop chose that day to announce that we will fully re-open as a parish. We will ask him to do just that. Please plan to join us for the remembrance of Christa and her Dad.
In the meantime, we need to keep praying that the Archbishop will recognize what a wonderful, caring, committed Catholic community he has here at St. Jeremiah. We are just the kind of parish that the Church needs in the 21st Century. Thank you all!