The Massachusetts town of Scituate is ordering the Archdiocese of Boston to pay $42,000 in property tax since it is planning on shuttering one of its churches in town.  The town claims that since the property isn’t being used for religious services, and hasn’t been for 9 months, it no longer falls under the church’s tax exempt status.

The church claims that since parishioners have been holding a candle light vigil in the church since October in protest of the closing that it is still a house of worship.  To quote the Archdiocese’s representative:

"We certainly disagree with the position" of the Scituate tax board,
archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said. "It is still a blessed
church. People are still in vigil there."

Three things occur to me here:

1. At least the church isn’t claiming that the building is a "blessed church" in and of itself.
2. If the Archdiocese is going to use the parishioners holding vigil as a $42,000 crutch couldn’t they at least provide a priest to celebrate Mass if not the other services the Church normally provides?
3. Would the Archdiocese be getting this treatment if they hadn’t created the current aura of mistrust with their mishandling of the pedophile-priest scandal?

The Archdioces plans on shutting 80 churches out of 357 (over 60 have already been closed), and there are six other parishes that have parishioners sitting vigil.  The Archdiocese claims that the vigils are making it harder for them to close the churches, but they may want to re-think their position if they win their appeal of the Scituate ruling.  It could amount to quite a bit of money saved until they can dispense of the property.

Not bad for just keeping the lights on.