STOUGHTON, Mass. (AP) – The priest of a Stoughton parish scheduled to close during the Boston archdiocese’s ongoing consolidation said his church will now remain open, but a different church in Stoughton will close.

The Rev. John Kelly told parishioners at St. James Church on Saturday that it would remain open and Our Lady of the Rosary Church will close instead, The Enterprise of Brockton reported.

But a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said the church’s fate had not been decided.

“The Archbishop is still in the process of reviewing the recommendation by the local parishes and will make a final decision in January,” spokeswoman Kelly Lynch said.

Bishop Richard Lennon told parishioners in a letter that Archbishop Sean O’Malley had given conditional approval to close Our Lady of the Rosary after a unanimous recommendation by a committee of people from both churches who cited maintenance problems at that church.

“I’m 98 percent sure that we are going to maintain here at St. James,” Kelley told parishioners.

The Boston archdiocese is closing more than 80 of its 357 parishes in a consolidation needed because of tight finances and declining numbers of priests.

In May, the archdiocese announced St. James would close, but learned later that Our Lady of the Rosary needed $500,000 in repairs.

At Lennon’s suggestion, parishioners formed a committee about two weeks ago to analyze the situation. In a letter to parishioners, the committee members wrote, “Some of the facility problems in these buildings (at Our Lady of the Rosary) go beyond the scope of repair and cost of replacement.”

Earlier this week, the archdiocese reversed its decision to close Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Parish in Plymouth. It also said it would re-evaluate a decision to close St. Bernard’s in Newton. Eight churches slated to shut down which have held round-the-clock vigils in protest.

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Information from: The Enterprise, http://www.enterprisenews.com