The article reflects a misunderstanding of Cardinal O'Malley's "Disciples in Mission" program. DiM is a standard clustering strategy. It foresees that eventually all but one parish in each cluster will close. The winnowing process is already underway. 

The situation in Boston, however, is not due to a shortage of priests, but to a shortage of Catholics.  Mass attendance in Boston is approximately equal to mass attendance in Montreal and Dublin; on an average Sunday in ordinary time, fewer than ten percent of Bostonian Catholics attend mass.