In cuts, archdiocese is seen as sharing burden

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass.: "Unlike in Detroit and Chicago, where the Catholic Church closed churches primarily in poor areas, the Archdiocese of Boston is distributing the cuts more evenly, in affluent and low-income areas. What the parishes that are closing have in common is relatively lower attendance at Mass, and fewer baptisms, marriages, and Communion celebrations, the essence of parish life. Parishes without schools were far more likely to be closed than those with schools.

The archdiocese is closing or merging 27 percent of churches in urban areas, 18 percent in suburbs, and 10 percent in small towns. The rate of closings is higher in nonwhite neighborhoods. The typical parish being closed or merged is in a neighborhood that is 16 percent nonwhite, while the typical parish being spared is 9 percent nonwhite. And parishes with a non-English Mass had a 27 percent chance of being affected, compared to 19 percent for the rest.

Churches that serve immigrant populations and offer non-English Masses set to be closed include the only parish with German and Latin Masses (Holy Trinity in Boston). Spared are all the churches with a Mass specifically for the Cambodian, Cantonese, Cape Verdean, Creole, Korean, Mandarin, Nigerian, or Vietnamese communities."