This paper examines the intersection of neighborhood change and parish reconfiguration in Charlestown, MA. The merger of two Roman Catholic churches has unsettled the congregational cultures, just as gentrification is unsettling broader neighborhood dynamics. Based on findings from 28 in–depth interviews and participant–observation, I examine the spatial reproduction of neighborhood segregation in the sanctuary of St. Mary's church. Affluent newcomers and “Townies”–stalwart residents who have weathered earlier waves of neighborhood upscaling–form power alliances that result in the exclusion of the poorest residents in the shared space of this urban church. By paying attention to the seating arrangements and other social interactions of churchgoers, I discover that the new parish vision of the merged church–albeit one that purported to celebrate the diverse residents of the neighborhood–resulted in the cultural exclusion of Latinos. Institutional decisions, the desire to maintain ethnic enclaves, and tacit messages of group exclusion reify the race and class divisions of the neighborhood within the walls of the church. I conclude with an exploration of the strategies of resilience to gentrification and merger evident in this case by attending to the actions of the disadvantaged in relation to the changing institution.

中文翻译：

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升级机构中的排斥：城市教会中邻里隔离的再现

本文研究了马萨诸塞州查尔斯敦的街区变化和教区重新配置的交叉点。两个罗马天主教堂的合并扰乱了公理会文化，正如绅士化正在扰乱更广泛的社区动态。基于 28 次深度访谈和参与者观察的结果，我研究了圣玛丽教堂圣所中邻里隔离的空间再现。富裕的新来者和“镇民”——经受住了早期社区升级浪潮的坚定居民——形成了权力联盟，导致这个城市教堂的共享空间中最贫穷的居民被排斥在外。通过关注去教堂的人的座位安排和其他社交互动，我发现合并教堂的新教区愿景——尽管旨在庆祝附近的多元化居民——导致了拉丁裔的文化排斥。制度决定、维持种族飞地的愿望以及群体排斥的隐含信息在教堂的围墙内具体化了社区的种族和阶级划分。最后，我通过关注弱势群体与不断变化的机构相关的行动，探索了在这种情况下明显的中产阶级化和合并的弹性策略。