Parishioners in Massachusetts church standoff to make case in court

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[July 22, 2015]  BOSTON (Reuters) - Parishioners of a Massachusetts Roman Catholic church who have staged a decade-long vigil intended to stop the Boston archdiocese from closing it are due to argue their case in a state appeals court on Wednesday.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is the last of a half-dozen Boston-area churches that parishioners have occupied 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since 2004 when the archdiocese listed it among some 70 parishes to be closed in a restructuring.

The Boston Archdiocese ordered the closure of the church, located on a 30-acre (12-hectare) plot of land on the waterfront in Scituate, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Boston, in a round of cost-cutting dating to the early days of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

A Massachusetts Superior Court judge in June ordered an end to the long occupation, saying the remaining parishioners have shown "a stubborn refusal to accept the reality of final decisions of the courts."

Other groups that had occupied parishes have since abandoned their vigils or lost in the courts.

The parishioners' group, The Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini Inc, immediately appealed the June decision, setting the stage for Wednesday's hearing, where lawyers for both sides are expected to make their cases to a three-judge panel.

No immediate ruling is expected.

The decision to shutter the church and others like it dates to the early days of the sex abuse scandal, when investigations showed that Roman Catholic Church leaders had covered up charges of priests sexually abusing children, moving ministers into new positions when accusations were made.

The scandal prompted dozens of lawsuits by abuse survivors, which cost the U.S. church billions of dollars and drove some prominent dioceses into bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott)

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