LINK:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/06vigil.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
In this article “In a Quiet Rebellion, Parishioners Keep the Faith”, by Abby Goodnough, we learn of vigils taking place in Roman Catholic churches, that were supposed to close, in Massachusetts . The main church focused on is the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate Mass. St. Frances is a church that was supposed to close over one thousand days ago, but due to constant vigils and an appeal by the former parishioners to the Vatican , the church has yet to be sold by the archdiocese. Goodnough explores the deeper meaning on the vigils, and how, “They call it a vigil, but by now it is more of a lifestyle.” The journalist does a very good job of collecting all of the facts and information on what is exactly going on, while still incorporating some of the parishioner’s back stories and motivations. Goodnough incorporates details such as, “Bobbie Sullivan, 57 …planned her weeks around a sign-up sheet by the door. Her husband died in 2006, and sleeping alone in the reconciliation room, under an electric blanket, does not bother her.” These details help add human interest to the story, pull at the heart strings a bit and demonstrate the parishioner’s motivations for holding on to this vigil.
Moving aside from the way the article is written to its actual content, at first I was a bit confused and did not agree with what these people were doing. Turning a church into a “living room” with things such as, “…houseplants on the altar and finished jigsaw puzzles on a back pew…” seems very odd to me. Why people would choose to basically campout in a church that is supposed to be closed seems not only strange, but a bit disrespectful to me. Churches are supposed to be places of worship, not places to come sleep and live twenty-four seven. Moving through the article however the journalist mentions a deeper meaning to the vigils, “Parishioners also hold suppers in the vestibule and meet Tuesdays to say the rosary. They raise money as a nonprofit group, donate to charities and open the church to outsiders seeking comfort or repose.” With that detail the vigil seems a little more plausible and makes a bit more sense to me, though I can not fully understand the motivations behind holding onto a church that is no longer functioning.
Overall, this was an excellent article. It is an interesting topic, and it has enough fact and quoted opinion that it balances out. The writing style flows smoothly, and I as a reader was interested the whole time while reading. Goodnough captures the plight of the parishioners at St. Frances and tells their story in an informative and unbiased way.
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I thought this article was very well written too. It takes an interesting topic that many people may not have heard of and turns it into, as you said, a human interest story. Considering that the churches were originally closed four years ago, I wonder if the NY Times wrote an article on the subject back then. I was also impressed by how balanced the article was. With a subject like this that is so personal to many people, it is easy to sympathize with the parishoners who have been keeping that vigil for a few years. I thought the journalist did a nice job at pointing out the various reasons for needing to close the church and how the diocese has been very patient by not turning off the heat or electricity. Both sides were reported fairly
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