Come out to the 'burbs... no building renovation, but a lot of interior renovation that seems to be at the whim of the parish priest. Could I tell you stories (spoken with a yiddish accent there).
If you can make it some Sunday, do try to make the 10:00 a.m. at Gate of Heaven (at I and 4th streets, South Boston); that's the choir Mass -- my sister is in choir, and though she has reservations about the music director (or whatever his title is), he does choose good music and the church itself is lovely. (Maybe your father would like to come, too. You said he always liked Southie.)
My sister told me just today, though, the pastor is being transferred in a couple of months -- who knows what they'll get next? (He's being transferred to Cambridge; but I reminded her that Howie Carr said that in Cambridge -- as opposed to Brookline -- once you get a couple of blocks away from Harvard in any direction, you're back in the USA!)