By Dan Crowley
Daily Hampshire Gazete
November 10, 2009
http://www.gazettenet.com/2009/11/10/ax-falls-different-northampton-church-diocese-will-close-st-mary
NORTHAMPTON - Amid calls from parishioners to think twice about its plans, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has pulled a switcheroo. The diocese now plans to close St. Mary of the Assumption Church and spare Sacred Heart Church on King Street, which had been marked for closure.
The news has stunned many St. Mary's parishioners, who learned of the diocese's plans at services over the weekend.
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| Father William J. Hamiliton performs noon Mass at St. Mary's Church. Photo by Gordon Daniels |
"Parishioners are very upset," said Sheila Curtin of Easthampton. "Very upset."
"The bishop is listening to a few people who want to keep their church open," said Curtin, who grew up in Northampton and was baptized and married at St. Mary's. "To give up that piece of property in Northampton is ludicrous. St. Mary's can be repaired, but never replaced."
The announced change in Northampton's church closings was prompted by concerns about parking and accessibility for the elderly at St. Mary's, on Elm Street, as well as a recent internal report that projected the costs of church repairs and maintenance at $1.3 million over the next few years, according to the diocese.
"The bishop (Timothy A. McDonnell), in putting these two factors together, decided there had to be a change of course here," said Mark E. Dupont, a diocese spokesman. "He is only revisiting decisions where there is some evidence brought to him that a change of direction is warranted."
"It's a very heavy-hearted decision, but one made with the openness of the bishop in hearing the community," he added.
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| Madeleine Pack, Ian Circle, Easthampton. Photo by Gordon Daniels |
Northampton's pastors were told of the changes in writing late last week and they in turn informed parishioners at services this weekend. As Madeleine Pack, a 36-year parishioner at St. Mary's put it, the news during Mass came as "a thunderbolt."
"After being assured (St. Mary's) would remain open, it is a blow," said Pack, of Easthampton. "Somehow, I think this new decision reveals a total lack of vision and the lack of pastoral sense."
Pack said St. Mary's is the most visible symbol of the Catholic faith in the heart of secular Northampton, which she believes is vitally important to maintain.
"This church means something, and it's totally irreplaceable," Pack said. "At this point, one way or another, we are all going to lose something. That is clear to us."
Earlier decision
In August, the Springfield diocese announced plans to close 19 churches in the lower part of the Valley as part of an ongoing reorganization. In Northampton, the plans called for closing St. John Cantius on Hawley Street, Sacred Heart on King Street and Blessed Sacrament on Elm Street by the end of November.
St. Mary of the Assumption Church, by the gateway of Smith College, was to serve as home to a newly created parish for area Catholics along with Our Lady of the Annunciation in Florence. The latter church would remain open as a chapel, according to the diocese's plans.
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| The Rev. William J. Hamilton conducts Mass at noon Monday at St. Mary's of the Assumption Church. Photo by Gordon Daniels |
Established in 1866, St. Mary's is the county's oldest Catholic parish. The church was dedicated in 1885. It is now scheduled to close Jan 3, along with St. John Cantius and, so far, Blessed Sacrament.
After revisiting the future of St. Mary's, Dupont said, the bishop is weighing whether to keep open Our Lady of the Annunciation in Florence or Blessed Sacrament, which is next to the high school on Elm Street.
"A similar analysis is taking place between Our Lady of Annunciation and Blessed Sacrament," Dupont said.
In the end, the diocese's reorganization plan calls for a newly created parish under a new name and with a new pastor who is expected to be named within the next week, according to Dupont. The new pastor will come from outside Northampton "so everyone is engaging in this new endeavor together," he said.
A similarly imminent, yet less defined, reorganization is under way in neighboring Easthampton and Hatfield.
For many parishioners, news of church closings and consolidations did not come as a surprise this summer. In Northampton, a lay group had been communicating with the diocese, identifying the needs of the city's practicing Catholics, though the group did not specify which churches should or should not close.
"There was a great deal of reluctance of the group to identify a place of worship," Dupont said.
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| Officials with the Springfield Diocese announced this weekend that St. Mary's of the Assumption Church in Northampton, above, will be closed. Photo by Gordon Daniels |
One diocese observer who has been critical of its lack of communication and responsivesness noted that the St. Mary's decision may be a sign the diocese is listening anew to area Catholics.
"If they reconsidered it because people were speaking out with valid questions and concerns, then that's a hopeful sign," said John F. Sheehan, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Easthampton and chapter leader of Voice of the Faithful.
But, Sheehan added, "That's a big 'if'. All the evidence up to now paints a different picture."
'Too prominent' to close
Two months ago, Monsignor John J. Bonzagni, director of pastoral planning at the diocese, said the decision to keep St. Mary's open was reached because it was the city's largest church and too prominent a piece of property to abandon. He told a Gazette reporter that the parking problem at St. Mary's would be "solved down the road."
Many practicing Catholics bemoaned the diocese's decision to make St. Mary's the city's home or mother church in August, citing parking issues and a difficult climb up the hill and steep steps leading to the church.
But others, particularly some St. Mary's parishioners, say the parking and accessibility issues are a smokescreen and that those issues have been blown out of proportion.
"People have been climbing up that hill for years and nobody's dropped dead yet," said Pack, a longtime parishioner. "It's sort of the easy way out to say there is no parking. There is parking. You just have to look for it."
Curtin, the Easthampton parishioner, said this of the approach to St. Mary's: "I've been walking up that hill for years, and I'm 78 years old."
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