From: <dp@worldnet.att.net>

To: <editorial@bostonpilot.org>

Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 11:13 AM

Subject: Parish Closings To the Editor,

The decision to close wealthy parishes rather than merge them with an adjacent one had to be based solely on where the assets go. Under a closure, the assets go to the Chancery whereas in a merger they go to the new formed church. On paper, my parish, Sacred Heart, Lexington, can be shoe-horned into St. Brigid's our larger sister parish. In reality, for many reasons, not all of our parishioners will go there. Consequently, our parish family will be disbursed and our beautiful church sold to the highest bidder. I realize that the archbishop firmly believes he is doing the right thing and that appeals to his level, no matter what the rationale, are rarely (if ever) approved. I trust therefore that he will use the hundreds of millions he gets from the closures wisely because in the process he has broken the spirit of many loyal Catholics (religious and lay) by disbanding their communities and taking away their cherished houses of worship.

-Lexington,MA