NEWTON, Mass. -- A Newton priest said that he was stunned when Cardinal Bernard Law sent out an indict banning all church agencies from holding meetings at his parish.

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Priest Discusses Law E-Mail

NewsCenter 5's Jim Boyd reported that in an e-mail sent to agency heads, Law said that no meetings of archdiocesan agencies could be held at Our Lady Help of Christians church.

The Rev. Walter Cuenin, who did not receive the e-mail himself, said that he believes the move came because he invited more than 100 priests to the church to discuss the archdiocese's annual fund-raising drive.

"We didn't say in the letter that we wanted to end the campaign or that we were opposed to it. In fact, we said we support it," Cuenin said. "But we want to talk about how can we realistically do it without it seeming to be a slap in the face to Catholics who are hurting."

Cuenin said that his church has often been used by the archdiocese as a place to hold special events.

"We've hosted everything here [including] Mother Teresa's visit," Cuenin said. "All kinds of meetings with the cardinal and the pastors, with the cardinal and wealthy donors."

Cuenin said the parish has often functioned as "the unofficial archdiocesan pastoral center."

There was no explanation from the cardinal why archdiocesan meetings are being banned at Our Lady's. Other priests who support Cuenin said they want to discuss ways to effectively raise money in difficult times for the Catholic Church, when the ongoing sexual abuse crisis has negatively affected donations.

"So everyone involved gets shaky about this in a very shaky time," said the Rev. Robert Bullock. "This banning makes things even shakier."

Cuenin said the edict is one more reason for parishioners to question their church, not support it.