For the second time in 15 months, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy has overturned St. John's Archbishop Peter Hundt’s 2022 decision to close Holy Rosary Parish in Portugal Cove-St. Philips, Nfld., and merge it with Holy Trinity Parish in Torbay, Nfld.

Ed Martin, the parishioner who served as procurator of this canonical challenge, said he is waiting to learn if Hundt plans to file an appeal within the 60-day window from learning of the decision (Martin received confirmation of the ruling June 7).

Assuming Hundt also opened the letter the same day, the 68-year-old cleric would be obliged to make a move by Aug. 7 (no such move was made by the Register's press deadline). Two of the potential ways forward is to again challenge the decision and then, once more, state his intention to merge Holy Rosary and Holy Trinity, or initiate the process to reopen the house of worship.

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Hundt confirmed in an email that he received the order revoking the Decree of Merger. He wrote that “presently the archdiocese is seeking legal counsel on how best to proceed. Any further comment regarding this situation will depend on the legal counsel received.”

In the first canon law victory for Martin in February 2024, the Dicastery for the Clergy noted the archdiocese did not follow the proper canonical procedure in closing a parish. And the Holy See also declared that the bishopric cannot “usurp the finances of Holy Rosary Parish to take care of their financial problems.”

Holy Rosary, established in 1833, was among a dozen parishes liquidated throughout 2022 and 2023 to help the St. John’s archdiocese pay claimants who were abused at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s or by archdiocesan clergy.

Hundt did meet on May 7, 2024, with, reportedly, over 100 Holy Rosary congregants. The strong consensus among parishioners was there was no desire to amalgamate with Holy Trinity.

“In that meeting, one individual asked Hundt if we would have an opportunity to speak with him again about the future of Holy Rosary Parish,” said Martin. “He said he had to meet with the Presbyteral Council. All of a sudden, on May 24, he issued another decree once again merging our parish with Holy Trinity. So that started all the wheels again and appealing that.”

Martin said Hundt has not yet communicated with him or any other Holy Rosary congregant since the Dicastery of the Clergy, headed by Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, issued its new pronouncement.

Martin reflected upon the winding journey to this juncture. It has been nearly three-and-a-half years since the court-appointed monitor of the archdiocesan bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring process, Ernst & Young, launched a tender process for property assets in March 2022.

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Various congregations, including Holy Rosary, sprang into action with fundraising campaigns to save their parish. Various individuals throughout the archdiocese reportedly heard Hundt say at the start of the process that he would not interfere with parishioners mounting competitive ownership bids.

However, on May 18 that year, Hundt emailed Holy Rosary to state that even if the community went forward with its fundraising, there would be no guarantee he would assign a priest to Portugal Cove-St. Philips.

Martin, who owns Caritatis Wealth Management, said he was undeterred.

“I'm a businessperson and I own my own business,” said Martin. “If somebody tells me that there's no guarantee of a priest, what does that mean to me? There's a possibility of one. So that doesn't scare me away. All these wheels were turning my head as a businessperson. I'm saying, ‘okay, well, not every parish is going to be remaining open. Not every parish is going to be able to pull off what we're pulling off here. So, he's got to point a priest somewhere, right? So, we'll get one of them.' ”

Holy Rosary was informed in June 2022 that its bid was successful. The parish was then encouraged to establish a corporation and apply for charitable status. Still, the archdiocese said it would not provide a priest.

Many parishioners, feeling “betrayed” by the archdiocese, boycotted the closing Mass on Oct. 16 of that year, and a number have not attended a church service since.

“Some of the people said, ‘if I can't have my parish, I'm just not going to go to Mass any more,' ” said Martin. “There were a few of them, both young and old.”

There is “disillusionment” over Holy Rosary, expressly among the older parishioners, said Martin, because they have been through a lot as a parish community. The parish was considered “ground zero” of the clerical abuse scandal that broke in the late 1980s.

Fr. James Hickey, pastor of Holy Rosary for much of the decade, pleaded guilty in September 1988 to 20 charges of sexual assault, gross indecency and indecent assault involving young boys.

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Martin stated that given what it has gone through for decades now, “you would have hoped by this point in time that the archdiocese would be a lot more transparent.” He concluded the interview by underscoring that this canonical challenge does matter to churchgoers across the country.

“People in the pew have to be aware of their rights,” said Martin. “If we are not successful here, you know what? More than likely, every bishop in this country is going to do the same thing when they're faced with a situation,” he said.