BURLINGTON'S Immaculate Conception, Once a Cathedral, to Be Sold

By Dan D'Ambrosio
Burlington Free Press
October 11, 2018

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2018/10/11/immaculate-conception-church-burlington-sold/1604892002/

Long since drained of parishioners, Burlington's Immaculate Conception Church on Pine Street will be sold, with the proceeds going to nearby St. Joseph's Parish, a church official said Thursday.

St. Joseph's Parish is deciding now on a commercial real estate broker to market the property, but has not yet settled on a selling price. The City of Burlington values the property at $4.47 million.

Parishioners moved, property desanctified

Monsignor John McDermott said Immaculate Conception has fewer than 100 parishioners, and that all masses were transferred to St. Joseph's, just two blocks away on Allen Street. The sale of Immaculate Conception has been a topic of "conversation on a regular basis" within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington since the early 2000s, according to McDermott.

Construction on the original church on the Immaculate Conception site began in 1862 and was completed in 1867. Immaculate Conception served for a long time as a Roman Catholic Cathedral, and then co-cathedral.

After an arsonist set a fire that destroyed the church building in 1972, parishioners decided to rebuild on a much smaller scale. Even then, urban renewal was contributing to the decline of the congregation.

"The population that sustained the Immaculate Conception Parish continued to decline," McDermott said. "The neighborhoods that used to surround the church are no longer there."

The process to sell the church began last year with the transfer of the title to St. Joseph's and the merging of the two parishes. Several weeks ago, Bishop Christopher Coyne issued a decree relegating the property to secular use so it could be used for something other than a church, a necessary step to make it salable.

"By doing that you desanctify the property," McDermott said.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Pine Street in Burlington on is up for sale according to Bishop Christopher Coyne of the Diocese of Burlington, seen on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)

No connection to St. Joseph's Orphanage case

McDermott said it was important to emphasize that the sale of the church has nothing to do with St. Joseph's Orphanage where allegations of child abuse recently resurfaced in a BuzzFeed News story. The Burlington Free Press had originally covered abuse survivors' stories in the 1990s.

"The money belongs to the parish, it's parish property," McDermott said.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Pine Street in Burlington on is up for sale according to Bishop Christopher Coyne of the Diocese of Burlington, seen on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)

The millions of dollars St. Joseph's Parish is likely to realize from the sale will be put to good use, according to McDermott. The steeple on St. Joseph's Cathedral was taken down several years ago because of wind damage. The front steps of the church, built in the latter part of the 19th century, are in rough shape.

"They have significant needs," McDermott said.