By Patrick Gerard Healy  

  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT   

     Parishioners of the Infant Jesus-St. Lawrence church in Chestnut Hill have begun a sit-in to stand up for what they believe is an unfair and financially motivated closing of their church by the Archdiocese of Boston.

     Echoing the views of many parishioners, Warren Hutchison, a member of the finance council for the parish, said he thinks the church has been targeted because its location makes it valuable, and its sale will help the archdiocese recover financially from the clergy sex abuse crisis.

     "I think they're trying to take from parishioners the money that they haven't had the courage to ask the parishioners for," he said.

     Parish council member Carlos Ferre agreed.

     "The majority of us on the council feel strongly that the underlying and singular reason that the archdiocese has acted on us is because of the wealth that this parish holds in its bank account and the potential upside gain that the archdiocese stands to gain with the sale of its three acres in the heart of Chestnut Hill and on the well-traveled Route 9," he said.

     The parish is made up of members from the original St. Lawrence Church and the former congregation of the Infant Jesus Church in South Brookline.

     Parishioner Tom Corcoran said the $3.75 million sale price of the Infant Jesus Church last October was "money in our bank account. But if we were allowed the opportunity to have any sort of dialogue with the archdiocese, we would have offered them the proceeds from the sale of Infant Jesus Church in exchange for a promise to allow us to continue to operate as a viable parish. No dialogue ever took place. I guess the combination of our bank account and the value of the Saint Lawrence real estate had the combined effect of putting a bull's-eye on our back."

     Representatives of the archdiocese deny that the church was targeted for its wealth.

     "That's just inconsistent with what's gone on," said archdiocese spokesperson Larry Rasky. "There have been a variety of different parishes that have been slated for closing and some are less value, some are more. Reconfiguration is a process that takes into account both the limitations that the archdiocese is confronting in terms of the number of priests that are available for assignment, and financial resources available to provide service throughout the archdiocese."

     But many of the pararishioners aren't buying it. "If a church is able to function financially on its own accord, that is not a detriment to the overall organization," said one, Victor Pitzi, on the first morning of the sit-in vigil last weekend. "What is a detriment is the fact that you've got a valuable piece of property, and they want to sell a valuable piece of property."

     The church's pastor, the Rev. James G. Burke packed his belongings the day before the closing. With no assignment, he moved out of the rectory to stay with a former classmate who preaches at a Weston church. He said he was disappointed with the archdiocese's decision to close the parish.

    "My concern right now is that this process is getting very hot and it's not the work of the church," he said.

     "They keep telling us that the church will be a stronger church when we finish the reconfiguration, but they don't tell us how we're going to do that."

     Burke, who has a degree in canonical law, drafted an appeal to Archbishop Sean P. OMalley.

     "We need to see some concessions from the archdiocese, and we're not seeing anything," he said.

     Betty Murphy, a parishioner participating in the vigil, said the actions of the archdiocese haven't weakened her faith, but she is not happy with its decision.

     "I think I view them as human beings who can be stubborn and make mistakes," she said.

     Burke stressed that he thinks O'Malley is a kind man, but that he has not made a strong enough case for the church closings. "I know this is tremendously difficult," he said. "What he needs are new faces and voices around him."

     The church is a spacious structure built in the late 1800s, sitting atop a grassy hill on Boylston Street, better known as Route 9. Burke said the property on which the church stands has more than financial value. Noting that Women's Health Services, which performs abortions and offers women gynecological care, is headquartered diagonally across the street, he said he has often counseled young women as they were exiting the center about their reproductive choices.

     "This is where the church needs to be," he said. "To lose this site is like the church closing up its mission."