By Elizabeth Roman
The Republican
August 31, 2009
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/church_closings_rile_parishion.html
SPRINGFIELD - In less than a year Justin Wilson, 13, of Springfield, has lost his school and now his church.
"It makes me mad," said Wilson after finding out Sunday that Our Lady of Hope on Carew Street is one of the parishes being closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
"The school was everything to me and they took it away. All I had left was the church and now they are taking that away, too, and I have nothing," he said.
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| Carol A. Bowler, left, and Laura M. Leger of Springfield speak following the 10:30 Mass Sunday at Our Lady of Hope Church on Armory St. Our Lady of Hope is on the list of Catholic churches to be closed issued by the Springfield Diocese Saturday Photo by Michael S. Gordon |
Our Lady of Hope School is now home to the Alfred G. Zanetti Montessori Magnet School. It was sold to the city for $7.75 million along with Our Lady of Sacred Heart School on Rosewell Street.
Our Lady of Hope is one of 14 parishes in Springfield, Northampton, Chicopee, Palmer and Ludlow that will have to close by the end of the year.
Monsignor David J. Joyce announced the closing to a partially filled church on Sunday.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions and I ask for your patience in the weeks ahead," he said.
Joyce read a letter from the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, bishop of the diocese, who said he understands that for many parishioners some of their most important life experiences happened in the church.
"A building is not the repository of those memories; they exist in our minds and our hearts," he wrote.
Standing outside the church, Carol A. Bowler and Laura M. Leger, both of Springfield, lamented the closing of the parish that has been their home for more than 50 years. Bowler has attended the church for 69 years since she was a baby.
"My family has been through baptisms here, first communions here, weddings, burials. There are a lot of memories in this place," Bowler said. "We buried my mother and my father here and, somehow, I thought I would be buried here, too," she said.
Both women acknowledged that a dwindling congregation and the cost to maintain an old and large building were factors in the closing.
Veronica Navarrete, of Springfield, joined the church three years ago. She attends Mass daily.
"I grew up around the world, and every couple of years, we would move again. It was not until I came here to Our Lady of Hope that I felt like I had found a home and now I'm losing my home again," she said.
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