Parishioners to leave closed church after 11-year protest

Parishioner Joanmarie Gorman, of Scituate, Mass., center, places her hands together during a planned final service at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church, Sunday, May 29, 2016, in Scituate. For more than 11 years, a core group of about 100 die-hard parishioners at the church have kept their parish open by maintaining an around-the-clock vigil in protest of a decision by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to close it following the clergy sex abuse crisis. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (The Associated Press)

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Parishioner Christine Kane, of Pembroke, Mass., front, cries during a planned final service at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church, Sunday, May 29, 2016, in Scituate. For more than 11 years, a core group of about 100 die-hard parishioners at the church have kept their parish open by maintaining an around-the-clock vigil in protest of a decision by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to close it following the clergy sex abuse crisis. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (The Associated Press)

Nancy Shilts, of Scitutate, Mass., right, hugs a fellow parishioner before a planned final service at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church, Sunday, May 29, 2016, in Scituate. For more than 11 years, a core group of about 100 die-hard parishioners at the church have kept their parish open by maintaining an around-the-clock vigil in protest of a decision by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to close it following the clergy sex abuse crisis. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (The Associated Press)

SCITUATE, Mass. – Parishioners of a church closed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston plan to hold a final service before leaving the church they've occupied in an around-the-clock vigil since 2004.

The service set for Sunday at St. Frances X. Cabrini in Scituate — a suburb of Boston — is being called a "celebration of faith and transition."

The parishioners agreed to leave after the Supreme Court refused to hear their final appeal earlier this month. They say they will form an independent Catholic church outside of archdiocese control.

For more than 11 years, a die-hard group of parishioners kept a constant vigil in the church building in hopes of reversing an archdiocese decision to close it as part of a broad restructuring plan that closed dozens of other parishes.