Church sale raises ire

BOSTON -- The recent sale of a former Catholic church in East Boston to a Pentecostal church has a group of local Catholics accusing the Boston archdiocese of having "deserted its pastoral and evangelical duties."

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God bought what was formerly the St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in early December for a reported $2.65 million. Three weeks prior, the archdiocese had sold the property to MEE Development LLC for $850,000.

The apparent "flipping" of the property outraged the Council of Parishes, an association of 15 local congregations that are resisting the closure of local parishes.

The archdiocese "has deserted its pastoral and evangelical duties in an area of Boston full of Hispanic immigrants [who] are the focus of aggressive evangelizing efforts by other denominations," wrote Peter Borre, co-chair of the Council of Parishes, in a Jan. 8 letter.

A statement from the archdiocese said it "had no idea MEE was already talking with Universal when [the developer] closed with us."

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