In a move that stunned parishioners, the Boston Archdiocese shut down a Quincy church last weekend, five years after it was allowed to remain open as a chapel.
Star of the Sea Church was one of dozens of parishes closed in a broad and fiercely protested consolidation that the archdiocese announced in 2004. But the next year, the archdiocese said the church could stay open as a chapel affiliated with a nearby church.
In a statement Monday, the archdiocese said it had agreed to let Star of the Sea operate as a chapel with weekly Mass until the appeals of its closure were exhausted. The archdiocese said that happened earlier this year when the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest court, rejected appeals from 10 closed parishes, including Star of the Sea.
But parishioner Sean Glennon said the church's decision to keep the church open was not originally tied to its appeals. And he said his church still has appeals left, including one which claims the decision by the Vatican high court was not made by the full panel of court, but should have been.
"We are optimistic that the Mass will be reinstated next Sunday at noon just because of this miscommunication which we hope we can clear up within the next week," he said.
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UK minister jailed for 4 years over sham marriages
LONDON (AP) — A British judge sentenced a Church of England minister to four years in jail on Monday for his part in a sham-marriage scam which saw hundreds of African men marry European women so they could stay in Britain.
The Rev. Alex Brown was convicted in July of conspiring to facilitate the commission of breaches of immigration laws. Two others were also convicted in the scam, where men who had exhausted their immigration options married eastern European women — who were to be paid as much as 3,000 pounds ($4,600).
The marriage register of Brown's church St. Leonards-on-Sea, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of London, was shown to jurors during the trial. Of 383 weddings between 2005 and 2009, 360 involved couples where the brides were from Europe and the grooms were African.
The two other men who were convicted — lawyer Michael Adelasoye and Vladymyr Buchak, a Ukrainian in Britain illegally_ were also sentenced to four years for the conspiracy.
Brown and Adelasoye testified that they did not know the marriages were false. Brown said he sometimes forgot to check the passports of couples to ensure they were entitled to be in Britain. His motive for participating in the scam is unclear, and he has said he was not in it for financial gain.
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Muslims say Egypt's Coptic Church abducted convert
CAIRO (AP) — Around 200 Muslim protesters have accused Egypt's Coptic Church of abducting the wife of a Coptic priest who they say voluntarily converted to Islam.
The Coptic Church denies the accusation, saying only that the woman disappeared during a dispute with her husband and later returned. The husband said she was forced to convert to Islam.
Accusations of forced conversion surface regularly between Egypt's Christians and Muslims. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 70 million. Copts and Muslims generally live in peace, though tension and violence occasionally flares.
After last Friday's prayers at a mosque in downtown Cairo, Muslim worshippers accused to church of hiding Camellia Zakhir.
Protesters shouted, "Allahu akbar," or "God is Great," and waved Qurans. "Camellia was kidnapped during Ramadan," they said.
One protester, Mohammed Manei, said he believes there are many women who converted from Christianity to Islam and who are kept in undisclosed locations in Egyptian monasteries.
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Early Nation of Islam documents found in Detroit
DETROIT (AP) — A lawyer says more than 1,000 documents dating back to the beginning of the Nation of Islam have been found in the attic of a home in Detroit, the city where the movement started.
Gregory Reed unveiled some artifacts last Thursday at a Detroit mosque, including a rare 1933 signature of Nation of Islam founder W.D. Fard.
Reed says the documents reveal internal workings of the group founded on the ideals of black nationalism.
He says the boxes were discovered by an unidentified man whose family members were Nation of Islam "pioneers."
Reed says officials with the Chicago-based organization are aware of the documents and Reed's plans to display them at a proposed center.
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Phoenix rejects church's bid for cell phone tower
PHOENIX (AP) — A northeast Phoenix church has lost its bid to rent out part of its property for a cell phone tower.
A city hearing officer denied the application by the Paradise Hills Assembly of God for a tower at the back of its property near 26th Street and Northern Avenue near State Route 51.
The Arizona Republic reports that the tower was opposed by a number of neighborhood residents and by parents at the adjacent Mercury Mine Elementary School.
The church adjusted its plan to respond to neighbors' concerns, but opponents claimed the church already had towers on its roof and that the new tower would be redundant.
Copyright 2010 AP News
