We have a story to tell...
The Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in 2004 to save the St. Frances X. Cabrini Scituate parish, which was officially closed by the Archdiocese on October 26, 2004.
Every Friday night, an hour after their usual 8 o'clock bedtime, [7-year-old triplets] Sean, Scott, and Christian Arnold arrive at church, clad in Disney, motorcycle, and Shrek pajamas, respectively. The triplets patter down the aisle in slippers or bare feet, dragging sleeping bags behind them. Sometimes they remember to genuflect before turning left at the altar and -- trying not to run -- laying claim to the bouncy air mattresses that fill the sacristy.
The boys are among the dozens of people who are maintaining a 24-hour vigil at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. They take turns on mattresses...put together thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles, and pass time quilting, crocheting, or praying, as part of a campaign to save the church, which was closed by the Archdiocese of Boston [in 2004].
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On May 24, 2004, St. Frances received a letter from Archbishop Sean O’ Malley, stating it would be one of the 85 churches slated to close in the reconfiguration process.
It was determined that the church would remain open till Friday October 29th. However, on Monday October 25th - four days early - the locks were changed at night.
The next day a parishioner found a door open that had not been closed properly, other parishioners were alerted and the vigil began. To be in vigil is to maintain a 24-hour watch at the church.
On July 23, 2007, the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Inc. marked 1,000 days and nights of vigil. Because of the dedication and faith of its parishioners, the church has been manned 24-hours a day for more than three years, while we negotiate with the Archdiocese to reopen and once again serve the Catholics of Scituate as a fully functioning parish.
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