LYNN — The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston sold its Sacred Heart Parish convent, located at 585 Boston St. in Lynn, to a women’s sober home for $1.3 million Wednesday.
In January, the Saint Mary’s of the Sacred Heart announced its plans to sell the convent to Chelsea’s House, a sober home for women in recovery. The decision was met with backlash from Sacred Heart Elementary parents and West Lynners because of the convent’s close proximity to the Sacred Heart Elementary School.
Some parents, like Chris Willis, the father of a fourth-grade Sacred Heart student, said that parents were left in the dark until plans for the sale were already underway in January.
“I’m not opposed to the business, I’m opposed to the location of the business,” Willis said in January. “This was definitely under the rug. They had to know what they were doing. That’s the reason they have all these meetings, don’t say anything, and then tell everybody after the fact, when it’s too late.”
Last Friday, St. Mary’s Head of School John Dolan sent an email to parents at Sacred Heart announcing that the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees intends to vacate the school and transfer the elementary school students to St. Mary’s Tremont Street property.
Dolan said that the decision was made to avoid the risk of the school being denied accreditation from the state.
“No matter your personal views about the compatibility of the missions of adult sobriety and early childhood education, the school has concerns about achieving the Department of Early Education and Care accreditation,” Dolan wrote. “The fact that their formal ruling will not arrive until after the school would have invested substantial resources made this an obvious decision by the board.”
City Council President Jay Walsh strongly opposed the convent sale, and has called it a “money grab” for the church. Last Tuesday, the City Council passed Walsh’s motion to write to the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, requesting that he attend a public hearing on the sale with city councilors present.
“People are voicing concerns and there’s no answers,” Walsh said last Tuesday. “They said they’re working very close, and they’re not. They’re not answering the questions and they’re trying to force this sale even faster so that they don’t have to answer to it.”
After the sale was finalized, Walsh said that he was disappointed by the Archdiocese’s lack of communication with the city.
“Not one person from the Archdiocese of Boston has ever reached out to the city after we sent a letter and an email,” Walsh said. “Crickets, that’s all we heard.”
Between Friday, when Dolan announced Sacred Heart Elementary’s move to St. Mary’s Tremont Street campus, and Wednesday, when the sale was complete, some parents continued to distribute “stop the sale” petitions, concerned that the school’s pre-school program would fall behind.
Some Lynners, like Ward 3 resident and nurse Kathleen McCarthy, think that the city could use another sober home.
“They’re just women trying to get their lives together,” McCarthy said. “I think there’s a lot of mothers and parents out there who are grateful for these places, and would like to see more of them in Lynn.”
