The Associated Press: Parishioners ended their brief vigil at a Roman Catholic parish in Natick, Mass., yesterday after police threatened to arrest anyone who refused to leave, a move critics say represents a bolder stance by church officials against sit-ins.
About a dozen parishioners filed out of Sacred Heart Church into the snow about 1:15 p.m. after the church's final Mass, the day the 114-year-old church was scheduled to close as part of the Archdiocese of Boston's restructuring plan.
Brendan Melchiorri, 14, left the church weeping with his family and the other evicted parishioners.
"I was baptized in this church, and I've grown up in this church," he said. "It's wrong. It's horrible. This shouldn't be happening. I can't believe I'm never going to see the inside of my church ever again."
Eight other parishes are holding round-the clock vigils, and have loosely organized into a lay group called the Council of Parishes to fight the closures.
