Boston-area church group suspends Wellesley occupation

WELLESLEY, Mass. -

Parishioners occupying a closed Boston-area Roman Catholic church have suspended their seven-year protest vigil for a final Vatican appeal on its future.

A spokeswoman for the group at St. James the Great in Wellesley tells The Boston Globe Friday it's complying with a Vatican request to end the vigil during the review. Suzanne Hurley said vigil members got the Vatican request July 6 and agreed to it Sunday.

Archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said the archdiocese is encouraged by the decision.

The appeal will determine if the property can be converted to secular use. The Vatican has said the parish won't reopen.

The town has agreed to buy the property for $3.8 million, if it can build recreation facilities there.

Donilon said two other parishes closed in 2004 now remain in vigil. Eight had once been occupied.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Thebostonchannel/local/~3/fku_fLBlsi0/index.html

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