24068: Nlbo: (pub) A local article on Haitian church closing (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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.