Parishioners of Brockton church bid farewell after last Mass

The Enterprise of Brockton, Mass. www.enterprisenews.com By Maria Papadopoulos ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER BROCKTON — Her eyes red from crying, Lynn St.Cyr moved through the pews of St. Casimir Catholic Church one last time while holding her camera on Sunday. The 30-year-old Abington resident, who received her First Communion at St. Casimir, took photographs of the colorful stained glass windows and of religious statues. "I'm pretty sad," said St.Cyr as she wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue. She was among dozens of parishioners who attended the last Mass at St. Casimir, a church built by Lithuanian im migrants, on Sunday. The Archdiocese of Boston issued a decree of suppression to all registered parishioners of St. Casimir last week. "I've cried a lot of tears," said parishioner Barbara Gregory, of Brockton, as she joined others in taking photographs inside the church following Mass. "I've had all my sacraments here, actually, and my mother also, and grandmother and grandfather," said Gregory, 64. Others, like Paula Cannon, walked slowly from pew to pew to read the name plates of parishioners who had donated money to build the church. Cannon, who grew up in the church and attended the parish school, drove more than 240 miles from her home in Belfast, Maine to attend Sunday's Mass. "My grandfather, Joseph Kumpa, had a pew that was do nated in his name at one time when the church was built," said Cannon, her eyes brim ming with tears. "Now I'm rec ognizing many of the names here that contributed to this church." During the Mass, the Rev. Henry Mair tried to console parishioners. "We're here in sadness be cause it is the last Liturgy...but all Christians are people of hope and I wish you do not forget that," said Mair, of the Friars of Atonement chapel on Westgate Drive. Mair also spoke of forgive ness as St. Casimir's history came to an end. "The most difficult thing is to forgive others, especially those who have hurt me, those who have wounded me...how diffi cult it is to forgive," he said. Parishioners voted June 18 not to allow Bishop John Dooher and other clergy to at tend the final Mass, saying the religious leaders "manufac tured" the church closing. Parishioners said they will appeal the closure. To show their opposition, several parishioners had erect ed wooden crosses outside, on the church lawn, to create a "Hill of Crosses," which emu lates a pilgrimage site in Lithuania. But on Sunday, several of those crosses were taken down. The crosses lay in a pile near a metal fence. The church on Sawtell Av enue in the city's Village section celebrated its 110th anniver sary earlier this month. On Saturday, at least six members of the Brockton parish went to Worcester to protest the Diocese of Worcester's decision to close another Lithuanian church of the same name. St. Casimir Church in Worcester, a 114-year-old parish founded by Lithuanian immigrants, will be officially closed on Tuesday.

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YouTube | June 29, 2008

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