Little Souls - Another broken promise by the Archdiocese of Boston

You know that our young son Javier is approaching school age. He’s started two days of preschool at the lovely and convenient Little Souls Center on Lyman street in Waltham…it’s in one of the outbuildings of the now-closed St. Joseph’s parish.

Fortunately, the school has a lease through October 31, so the several hundred children that attend various stages of day care there weren’t thrown out in the street when the church closed. However, that put them under the gun to find a new home.

Some months ago, the director of the daycare started negotiating, via the Archdiocese of Boston, a new lease at the Saint Charles Borromeo parish on Hall Street in Waltham. In fact, back when the powers-that-be were determining which churches to close, Rev. Rodney J. Copp of St. Charles convinced the diocese not to close his church, specifically because the school was coming, and he expected an inflow of cash and new families to the small parish.

Unfortunately, things didn’t play out as the school had planned. Once the church was skipped by the closure committee, Fr. Copp started playing hardball, hemming and hawing over the lease negotiations, and finally calling the school on Memorial Day weekend to let them know that the deal was off, they had decided to sell the building instead. And do you know WHY Fr. Copp reneged on the deal? There’s a rumor afoot that still more churches are to be closed by the diocese. St. Charles has an outstanding debt of approximately $500,000 that has been on the books for OVER 100 YEARS, and Fr. Copp thinks that by selling the building and paying off the debt, it will convince the Archdiocese not to close his church.

I’ll say that again, in case you missed it. Fr. Copp dodged a bullet last year by telling Archbishop O’Malley that the preschool was coming with its families and money. Fr. Copp now hopes to dodge a bullet next year by telling Archbishop O’Malley that the buildings are sold and the church is out of debt…including the building that was to be used by the school that he promised was coming to save the church LAST YEAR.

Is this the biggest, nastiest sack of liquid crap you’ve ever heard about, or what?

There are some things you can do.

1. Call the Saint Charles Borromeo Parish at 781-893-0330 and let them know what you think of their real estate dealings
2. Call the Boston Archdiocese at 617-254-0100 and tell them what you think of the way they take care of the most vulnerable and unprotected in society (re: children)
3. Call Mayor McCarthy at 781-314-3100 at express your concerns over the now-homeless school and daycare
4. Call or email the Little Souls school at 781-893-5880 and litsouls@msn.com with messages of support
5. Tell everyone you know – especially practicing catholics – about what has transpired here.

There’s going to be plenty more in this space. The school promised us a list of contacts and phone numbers in our mailboxes today…there will be some letters posted in this space soon.