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24068: Nlbo: (pub) A local article on Haitian church closing (fwd)
From: Nlbo@aol.com
http://www2.townonline.com/somerville/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=
158659
Taking their faith with them
Haitian community moves to St. John's in Cambridge
Somerville Journal
By Erin Dower/ Journal Staff
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Parishioners at Immaculate Conception Parish will join thousands of
other displaced Catholics in search of a new spiritual home after
they say their final goodbyes to their church this weekend.
But at least some members of the Alewife Brook Parkway parish
are trying to see this Sunday's final Mass as much a beginning as it
is an ending.
"We will take our faith with us," said the Rev. Richard Cornell,
an administrator at the Immaculate Conception Parish.
The parish opened in 1926 and will hold its last service at
10:30 a.m. Sunday. The final mass at the Immaculate Conception Parish
will be delivered at 10:30 a.m. by Cornell and the Rev. Al Keenan.
The church has about 500 parishioners, including about 200 Haitians,
who have had to seek a new place to worship, Cornell said.
Many Haitian parishioners will move to St. John the Evangelist
in Cambridge, and other members of the Immaculate Conception Parish
will take their faith to St. Agnes' or St. Camillus' churches in
Arlington, Cornell said.
Nekita Lamour, one of the Haitian parishioners, said she is
concerned about Haitian Catholics being uprooted again.
"This is our second or third move," she said.
Haitian Catholics from Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Everett
and other communities were forced to leave the Our Lady of Pity
Parish on Rindge Avenue when it closed in September 2003.
Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced in May the church the
Haitians joined, Immaculate Conception, must also close its doors as
part of the archdiocese's decision to close 67 Catholic churches in
the region.
The Archdiocese has no plans to sell the Immaculate Conception
on Alewife Brook Parkway, according to spokesperson Kathleen Heck.
"There is no plan in place for that property," Heck said. "It's
just too early."
Lamour said she feels optimistic that St. John's will be a
permanent place for Haitians to worship, hold events and build youth
programs.
"I think the community needs stability," she said. "I'm seeing a
community that's deteriorating. In other words, what's happening in
Haiti is happening here."
But Lamour said she envisions a "vibrant" church for Haitians.
"I'm hoping the move will be part of a new start, a new year,
new change," she said.
Cornell said he also feels closing the Immaculate Conception
Parish will not deter Catholics from practicing.
"Of course we are sad about the church closing and the people
having to go somewhere else," he said. However, "it is not a matter
of where you are practicing. It is a matter that you take your faith
with you."
Chris Helms contributed to this report.