CONCORD, Mass.--Parishioners at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in West Concord learned their church was one of many recently added to the list of parishes that will be closed. But according to the Concord Journal the church doesn't fit the dead or dying church profile.

Our Lady will close and form a new parish with another area church. But parishioners say closing will kill a vibrant community where attendance has tripled in the last 10 years.

"You go to Mass and it's not just to check it off the list," said Elise Stone, who started attending Our Lady's 10 years ago. "You get something out of it. People are there because they want to be, not because they have to be."

"If you want to be spiritually fit, this is the place to come because every week you're challenged to be a better person -- you're made to think," said Alice Connors, the former parish secretary.

Last spring, workers finished constructing a new $1.3 million parish center. And many Catholics from neighboring towns like Maynard and Acton have bypassed their local parish to flock to Our Lady's.

According to the Journal, much of Our Lady's growth can be attributed to Father Austin Fleming. He has been outspoken on many political issues facing the Catholic Church. He was one of the first priests to call for the resignation of former embattled Cardinal Bernard Law. For two weeks after the priest abuse scandal broke in late 2000, Fleming transformed his homilies into question-and-answer sessions to foster communication within the parish.

"From day one, I pledged to myself I would be frank about all this with the parish because it seemed to me in addition to abuse of children, the next greatest failure had been a failure to speak about it for decades," Fleming said.

Announcing the closures, Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley said declining church attendance and priest shortages are to blame for the church closings, not the financial woes caused by the $85 million legal settlement in the clergy sex abuse scandal, according to the Metro West Daily News.

Before receiving the final ruling to close the church, Fleming said, "It's kind of like waiting for a biopsy report, when you look healthy and you feel healthy."