EVERETT, Mass. - The thermometer inside St. Therese Church reads a toe-numbing 36 degrees. A pail of water used for hand-washing has frozen under a sink that, like the heating system, hasn’t worked in months. In the sanctuary, four women in coats, hats and gloves huddle as they pray the rosary, their breath visible in the cold.

“We don’t have faith in the archdiocese. I think we have faith in God,” said Sheila O’Brien, 63.

She and the others have been occupying St. Therese as part of a string of sit-ins going on round-the-clock for more than four years at five Roman Catholic churches closed by the Boston Archdiocese. The protesters are hoping to force the archdiocese — or the Vatican — to reopen the churches.

Read the full article | Print this article