February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Natick, Anne Green and Leo Ryan, were arrested on trespassing charges when it became obvious that they intended to start a 24-hour vigil within the church to protest its imminent closing. The church’s pastor, Rev. Joseph Slyva, called the police after five parishioners, including Green and Ryan, refused his request to leave. The other three left with their food and sleeping bags when the police arrived.
Green, who is 54, and the 64-year-old Ryan were due in court this week for their arraignments.
On Sunday afternoon, after the final Mass, about a dozen other protesting parishioners filed out peacefully after the police were again called to the church by the pastor. The church officially closed that afternoon, making it the 15th church in the archdiocese to close under the plan to merge and reconfigure parishes because of the financial fallout from the sexual abuse scandal, declining attendance, a shortage of priests, and changing demographics.
Parishioners at eight other churches are holding round-the-clock vigils in a bid to get Archbishop Sean O’Malley to change his mind about closing their churches.
The Christmas Eve incident at Sacred Heart’s marked the second time that someone was arrested for protesting a church closing. In November, a 69-year-old man was arrested at Immaculate Conception Church in Winchester after he refused to leave. Charges were later dropped at the request of church officials.