If it comes as little surprise, it's nonetheless a shame the doors likely will be closing on the old Holy Trinity German Church in the South End that has been home to Boston's Latin Mass community (and this magnificent altar).

A correspondent with ties to the local Latin Mass and Anglican-use congregations writes:

I'd love to see the Tridentines and the Athanasians (and what's left of the Germans) sharing what would otherwise become a closed parish, e.g. Presentation or Trinity or Philip Neri. I think Aidan's is already too far gone. Something on transportation, sufficiently dignified, with parking, and maintainable. Keep praying.

Also on the recommended closure list: Tip O'Neill's church, St. John's, once the anchor of the North Cambridge neighborhood, as John Farrell writes in this O'Neill bio excerpt. Another vestige of the ties that once existed between Massachusetts Democrats and Catholicism, gone.

The church where JFK was baptized, St. Aidan's in Brookline, was closed a few years back, and preservationists have been trying to save what they can of the building, which is targeted for condos.

The local Anglican-use congregation used to worship at St. Aidan's before it was closed, and it was a beautiful old church that hadn't been wrecked. It will be now, even if the exterior doesn't fall to the wreckers' ball.

On the preservation front, much as I am for saving beautiful and historic old buildings, I don't like what has been done to a former church that is touted as a showpiece of adaptive reuse, Sacred Heart in Augusta, Ga., a holy place now used as a venue for catered parties.