What's Doin' in Newton?

The Post-Cuenin fallout continues....

A report released late last month has blasted the Archdiocese of Boston for removing the Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, the popular pastor of a Newton parish, from his post in September over allegations of financial improprieties.

The report, written by the parish's Finance Council after it reviewed private archdiocesan records, said that Cuenin's removal ''lacked due process."

''And that leaves its motives open to question," the report said.

But even if that were the case, it was still a valid, licit exercise of authority. Lo siento, guys, that's just the way it is. Nobody said the vaunted Boston Stupid Committee (which managed all through 2002 and beyond to figure out the worst possible church story to end up on the following day's front pages, then made it happen) was possessed of savvy.

But, for better or worse, they do hold the keys.

And how's the Successor of Walter doing?

''We've got a young, vibrant, exciting, talented priest in there now who is doing a great job," Donilon said of the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, a former spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston.

Who knows for how long?

The parish report, however, notes that because of Cuenin's resignation, ''large numbers of parishioners have left, collections are down, and the financial strength and stability Father Cuenin worked so hard to develop and maintain have been compromised."

All because of a Honda.

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