LYNN — St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish agreed to sell its 585 Boston St. convent building to Chelsea’s House, a halfway house program for women in addiction recovery, next week— a sale that City Council President Jay Walsh said was secretive and inappropriate.
The purchase marks Chelsea’s House’s fifth recovery house in Lynn, and its eleventh one in total. Walsh said that while he understands that there’s a need for addiction recovery centers in Lynn, he does not think that opening one within 25 feet of an elementary school is a good idea.
“There’s a need for these facilities, I have people in my own family that have gone through these problems, and they can’t get beds in places and I recognize that — I don’t believe there should be one so close to an elementary school,” Walsh said. “These facilities are going to have people who are going through the toughest part of their lives — they’re going to relapse, there’s going to be moments that people are using drugs. I would not want my child in that proximity to it.”
On Monday, Walsh said that he received a call from the Rev. Brian Flynn, a pastor at St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish, informing him of the sale.
In 2015, Flynn told WCVB reporters that St. Mary’s Chapel had to close its basement food pantry because it posed a security risk to nearby high school students.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that the carrying out of one mission does not have a negative impact on others, albeit unintended,” Flynn said.
Walsh said that given Flynn’s reasoning behind closing a food pantry, it does not make sense to him that the pastor would sell a school-adjacent facility to an addiction recovery center.
“ If there was a concern from Father Brian for the food pantry, how is this not a concern? That’s what I would have to say — He (Flynn) didn’t really have an answer for that,” Walsh said. “ It’s very contradictory to what he said about St. Mary and I find it extremely disingenuous that he feels this is okay.”
Ward 7 resident Chris Willis is the father of a fourth-grade student at Sacred Heart. He said that in August, his friend put in a bid to purchase the property with the goal of transforming it into veteran housing. A representative from the realty company Eclipse Group, Willis said, told the prospective buyer that they were already in a sale agreement.
“We are now in late January finding out about it, but yet it was under agreement way back in August. Why are we hearing about it now in January? Don’t you think Veteran housing would have been much better than what they got?” Willis asked.
An unnamed Parishioner at Sacred Heart said that she, too, was disappointed by how little Flynn and the Archdiocese of Boston told parents and community members about the sale.
“I’m disappointed at how it was handled. From what I understand there was no communication to anyone,” she said. “When you have a piece of property that goes up for sale in close proximity to a school and it’s an RFP, there are proposals that have been put forward. What were your other proposals? How did you come to the decision that a sober living facility was the right choice to a school, knowing that there had to be backlash?”
Flynn defended the sale in a written statement, adding that Chelsea’s House is consistent with the church’s mission to help those in need.
“The plan for the building is for it be renovated into housing for approximately 25 recovering women, a use that is consistent with the mission of the Church to provide for those in need. The result will be a long-vacant building being put to productive use,” Flynn wrote.
In a written statement, the head of school at St. Mary’s John Dolan acknowledged the sale, but did not comment further.
“We are aware of the agreement to sell the former Sacred Heart convent building to Chelsea’s House, which plans to provide housing for women in recovery. The sale was conducted by the parish with the final approval of the Archdiocese of Boston. St. Mary’s School has operated independent of the parish and Archdiocese since it was incorporated in 2006,” Dolan wrote.
Walsh said he thinks the sale was made purely for the catholic church’s financial gain.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate — I don’t see how doing that is going to help the school. I don’t see how it helps the church other than the fact that it’s a money grab,” Walsh said.
