Archbishop Seán O'Malley

2101 Commonwealth Avenue

Brighton, MA 02135-3192

Dear Archbishop Seán:

I, along with the Parish Pastoral Council, and with the overwhelming support of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish community, am writing to request that you do not issue the decree directing the suppression of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in West Concord. Throughout the reconfiguration process, I have provided the information requested by the Archdiocese and argued that this information substantiates that Our Lady Parish is a thriving, living branch of the tree of our faith that should not be cut off. I would now like to justify our request for withholding the decree by showing how, over the past twelve years, this parish has been rebuilding the Church in this community.

I recognize that the reconfiguration of parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston has been an essentially fair process that has sought to include the advice of clergy and laity and has spread the burden of the closings equitably among urban and suburban communities, both rich and poor. This parish has felt deeply the troubles that have beset the Archdiocese as a whole and we have sought to heal them. However, our parish community is finding it very difficult to understand how a parish as successful as our own may be recommended for closure. I believe that the criteria for suppression do not fit Our Lady Help of Christians Parish, and that closing a powerful agent of healing and growth in the church will not serve the needs of this community or of the Archdiocese.

At Our Lady Parish:

· average weekly attendance and the number of registered households has more than doubled in the past twelve years to nearly 950;

· attendance and financial support have held steady during the past two years despite the turmoil in the Catholic community of Boston;

· the parish is especially successful in attracting young families to join our faith, both through RCIA and the Family Ministry Program whose outreach is effective in drawing back those who have fallen away--these families are behind this phenomenal growth;

· the parish's fiscal health has grown steadily since 1992, so that it has been able to retire all debt, accumulate a surplus, and build a new parish center that is an icon of this growth; and

· in the past year the parish surpassed its $100,000 goal for the Grand Annual Collection that funds its thriving outreach programs and ministries.

Over the past decades, there has been a major, ongoing demographic shift towards the suburbs of Boston, especially the western suburbs, in line with what is happening in many other American cities. Communities like West Concord are precisely where the church needs to be, because they nurture the young families that represent an important part of the future of the church. Our parish has proven that it is successful in drawing these families to the faith. In many towns and cities where there is more than one parish, the Archdiocese has decided not to combine parishes in the reconfiguration process. The effect of the reconfiguration on three of the five parishes in the Concord Cluster appears to represent an adjustment that is disproportionate to the reconfiguration process carried out in virtually every other cluster in the Archdiocese.

What would be lost through the suppression of Our Lady Parish far outweighs any short-term benefit that might be gained from the consolidation of the Concord and West Concord parishes. In this changing demographic landscape, the special strength of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish is that it is a dynamic, growing community with a strong sense of its identity and a successful tradition of bringing in new families to the Lord's house for worship, prayer, and service. Even after the announcement and in full knowledge of the impending closure, three young families registered to join our parish. Clearly, there is something in the spirit of our community, which is a magnet for so many. I would like to argue that the Archdiocese, in order to weather the storms of the current day and thrive in the future, needs parishes like Our Lady Help of Christians.

The laity of this parish have invested heavily in its future. The people of our community have freely given their time, their treasure, and their talent to make Our Lady Parish the best achievement of our community. In the past year, Our Lady Parish has opened a new parish center, which is helping to enhance the work of our ministries. Its families came together to raise more than $1.4 million for this building and its maintenance. This building is but one example of the many ways in which this community seriously cares about the work of the Church and invests its wealth in it. The proposed closing has therefore engendered a sense of betrayal in the community. Coming on top of the clergy abuse scandal, this closing would deal a devastating blow to the faith exactly in a place where the faith has, up until now, been so fruitful. That is why I am arguing that maintaining Our Lady Parish is in the best interest of the Archdiocese and the community.

In earlier correspondence to you and in the data collected by the Archdiocese, I have emphasized the many strengths of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish--its financial stability; its more than doubling of church attendance in the past decade; its ability to reach out and support the poor, sick, elderly, youth and every other vulnerable group; its ability to attract every age group to the faith; the vibrancy of its religious education program; and its strong sense of community in coming together to celebrate the sacraments. These characteristics provide the strongest argument against suppression, and in fact underscore that this parish does not fit the defined criteria for closing. When these strengths are set against the larger picture that we have drawn in this letter for maintaining a strong Catholic presence in West Concord, the case for continuing Our Lady Parish is compelling. I am pleased to extend to you an invitation to visit Our Lady Parish, receive the heartfelt welcome of its people, and see the evidence of their faith and work.

I pray that the story of Lazarus, called by his friend Jesus from the tomb as a sign of our future Resurrection, may also be the joyful story of our parish.

May God's blessings be upon you and upon Our Lady Help of Christians.

Yours in Christ,

Reverend Austin Fleming

Our Lady Help of Christians