Trying to find a way to keep a parish open

Some former parishioners of the shuttered St. Francis Xavier Church in downtown Nashua believed they had created the perfect plan to reopen their church: The cash-strapped Manchester Diocese could sell the building to a foundation they formed, which could financially manage the parish under the jurisdiction of the diocese.

Members of the St. Francis Xavier Church Foundation are not necessarily seeking to have a priest assigned to their church, although they would like to have a Roman Catholic Mass said there once a weekend. Rather, they would like to keep it open as a place of worship, where Roman Catholics could pray the rosary, say the Stations of the Cross, hold Bible studies, and the like. They also would like to restore some of the community service programs once offered, such as day care, health clinics, and classes in English as a second language for the neighborhood’s growing Latino population, who embraced the church in its latter years.

But foundation members say the diocese has repeatedly rebuffed their yearlong effort, which culminated in February with a formal offer to buy the church for an undisclosed sum. Out of frustration, the foundation and other former parishioners filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County Superior Court last week, seeking to either have the diocese reopen the church or force it to deed the property over to the foundation.