Bishop blesses statues given by religious sisters whose convent is sold to veteran non-profit

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press​

Sharing and repurposing was celebrated at separate, but related, events May 29.

At St. Bernard Elementary School in Fitchburg, Bishop McManus blessed a new altar made by a grandfather, and statues donated by religious sisters.

The statues came from a convent sold that day to serve veterans.

The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary gave the school the statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Lourdes from their former motherhouse, Presentation Convent in Leominster, said the principal, Deborah Welch Wright.  

In a May 29 press release, the sisters announced that they had sold Presentation Convent to Clear Path for Veterans, “a non-profit organization dedicated to helping military veterans transition to civilian life with dignity and support.” The building will house the organization’s expanded programs, “offering a safe haven for veterans and their families as they navigate challenges related to mental health, reintegration and career development.”  

Submitted photo
Convent in Leominster is sold to Clear Path for Veterans. From left, Donna Bulger (president of the board of Clear Path), Jay Hartman (housing project officer), Gary Soldato (Army veteran/staff), Sister Mary Catherine Redmond, (congregation president), Vincent Pusiteri (attorney), Claire Freda (realtor) and Don Frigolleto (realtor)
The sale is part of the sisters’ efforts to “align their resources” with community needs, ensuring that their legacy continues, the press release said.

Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary came from New York to Fitchburg in 1886, responding to a request to staff St. Bernard Parish’s school. In 1920, they founded St. Bernard’s High School and in 1966 the present St. Bernard Elementary School building opened.  

The statues the sisters gave the elementary school had originally been at Holy Family Convent in Fitchburg, once the sisters’ motherhouse, said Sister Dorothy Scesny, a member of their leadership team who serves in Worcester, and, like other active sisters, in New York.  

She said their foundress, Nano Nagle, passed on to the sisters her deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By also giving the school the statue of Mary, the sisters pass on to the students “our devotion to our Blessed Mother,” she said.

In 1922, sisters moved to a house near St. Leo Church in Leominster, where they had been teaching children religious education, according to information from Sister Dorothy. St. Leo Elementary School opened in 1926 and a new convent opened in the 1930s. In 1987 the sisters bought St. Leo’s Convent for their new motherhouse. They named it Presentation Convent.In 2023 the sisters at Presentation Convent moved to Notre Dame du Lac assisted living residence in Worcester. Because of dwindling numbers of sisters and their healthcare needs, it was decided that their Leominster convent, which housed 13 and had a capacity of about 21, was too large, and needed more updating than costs would warrant. (The congregation’s other sisters in Massachusetts were already living in nursing homes.)

“We are here today because the sisters said ‘yes’” to a call, St. Bernard’s principal said at the statue blessing, attended by students, school staff, parents, sisters and their associates. “Sisters, thank you, thank you, thank you.” Those gathered applauded.

She said the statues, placed outside the front of the building, connect the school with its Presentation history and “testify to our Catholic identity.”

Before blessing the statues, Bishop McManus celebrated Ascension Day Mass in the school’s multi-purpose room, where he blessed a new altar and students participated in a May crowning.

The indoor statue of Mary that first Communion students crowned and brought flowers to came from a chapel in the old St. Bernard’s Church, Ms. Wright told The Catholic Free Press. She said the parish gave it to the school after being merged with St. Camillus de Lellis Parish in 2010. (The resulting parish, called St. Bernard’s, uses St. Camillus’ church building.)  

The school also got an altar from that chapel in St. Bernard’s Church, and used it for years, but it had grown old and was hard to move, she said. She said Gary Crochetiere, grandfather of two St. Bernard’s students, built the school a new altar that can be separated into four pieces to move, and he is building matching side tables. He donated his time and talent, and the school paid for the materials.  

Having the bishop celebrate the first school Mass since the second-graders made their first Communion, with the May crowning and blessings of altar and statues, “was a really big event for us,” Ms. Wright said.

“The sisters [and their associates] are still connected with us,” she said. The school tries to carry on the Presentation charism of education and doing charitable outreach in the community, she said; “it’s our history and it informs who we are.”