So from praying to Condo's certainly a bleak outlook for the Congregation who will now have to move
The old-timers call St. Peter's The Rock. They talk of the days when there were 10 Masses on a weekend, when the convent was full of nuns and the schools packed with children, when the ushers wore tuxedos to High Mass at the Dorchester church.
But now the convent is empty, attendance at Mass is sparse, the school population has shrunk to one-fifth its former size. The church has no pastor, and is so desperate for cash that, after the last cut in the subsidy from the archdiocese, the priest in charge sold the rectory artwork and furniture, as well as the dining room set.
And the makeup of the parish has been transformed. The Irish-Americans who filled the parish are almost entirely gone now; the neighborhood is dominated by immigrants from Cape Verde, while the largest group of worshipers at the church is from Vietnam.
IMMACULATE CONDOS: Over the next two years, 70 Catholic churches in Boston will be sold. Some may be converted to condos, like this former church in Newton, Mass, picture at the top.
Globe report
The convent, which once housed 30 nuns, is now largely vacant, and the one nun left on the faculty of St. Peter's School is poised to retire. No pastor has lived at St. Peter's for nearly a decade; the rectory is home to two Vietnamese priests, one of whom is assigned to a Chelsea parish. One of the school buildings is rented to the Boston public schools; the other is still a parochial school, with 173 pupils, down from 1,100 in 1967.
In its heyday, in the 1930s and 1940s, St. Peter's was home to an estimated 26,000 Catholics, most of whom went to Mass at least once a week.
A lot of history there and yet like most things today money and disinterest is a major factor I think; disinterest from the masses and money dreams in eyes of some folk who have bought these Churches.
I can hear it now " OH but I had to spend ex amount of dollars to convert them to condo's" of course what they don't mention is the huge profit they will make ah good old democracy at work; even the former Soviet union are at it; saw the error of their ways; hopefully the Chinese will as well; still they too are branching out into this money grabbing world; look at Hong Kong
So from praying to Condo's certainly a bleak outlook for the Congregation who will now have to move
The old-timers call St. Peter's The Rock. They talk of the days when there were 10 Masses on a weekend, when the convent was full of nuns and the schools packed with children, when the ushers wore tuxedos to High Mass at the Dorchester church.
But now the convent is empty, attendance at Mass is sparse, the school population has shrunk to one-fifth its former size. The church has no pastor, and is so desperate for cash that, after the last cut in the subsidy from the archdiocese, the priest in charge sold the rectory artwork and furniture, as well as the dining room set.
And the makeup of the parish has been transformed. The Irish-Americans who filled the parish are almost entirely gone now; the neighborhood is dominated by immigrants from Cape Verde, while the largest group of worshipers at the church is from Vietnam.
IMMACULATE CONDOS: Over the next two years, 70 Catholic churches in Boston will be sold. Some may be converted to condos, like this former church in Newton, Mass, picture at the top.
Globe report
The convent, which once housed 30 nuns, is now largely vacant, and the one nun left on the faculty of St. Peter's School is poised to retire. No pastor has lived at St. Peter's for nearly a decade; the rectory is home to two Vietnamese priests, one of whom is assigned to a Chelsea parish. One of the school buildings is rented to the Boston public schools; the other is still a parochial school, with 173 pupils, down from 1,100 in 1967.
In its heyday, in the 1930s and 1940s, St. Peter's was home to an estimated 26,000 Catholics, most of whom went to Mass at least once a week.
A lot of history there and yet like most things today money and disinterest is a major factor I think; disinterest from the masses and money dreams in eyes of some folk who have bought these Churches.
I can hear it now " OH but I had to spend ex amount of dollars to convert them to condo's" of course what they don't mention is the huge profit they will make ah good old democracy at work; even the former Soviet union are at it; saw the error of their ways; hopefully the Chinese will as well; still they too are branching out into this money grabbing world; look at Hong Kong
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