Sacred items being removed from Mount Carmel

By Margaret M. Russell

The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – Those who worshipped at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Mulberry Street soon will begin to see familiar sacred objects in Our Lady of Loreto Church on Massasoit Road, and in other churches around the diocese.     

Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish at Our Lady of Loreto Church, said that the Mount Carmel Trinity window that faced Interstate 290 will find a new home in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto. His plan is to remove and refurbish the window and have it hung and backlit above the altar. 

The process of selling the Mount Carmel property has not yet been completed, Msgr. Pedone said Wednesday. However, demolition is expected to begin in about a week and a half, he said.

Bishop McManus closed Mount Carmel Church in May 2016 after it was deemed unsafe. He merged Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Anne and Our Lady of Loreto parishes in February 2017. 

Statues that are connected to various parish groups, such as St. Vitaliano, Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Anthony, will also find their way to Loreto, Msgr. Pedone said. The statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is being moved to the sanctuary at Loreto.

A number of pews have been removed and given to parishioners, he Community College, which was the former Assumption Preparatory School, has requested some pews for the old chapel there.

"We are trying to keep as much as we can locally," Msgr. Pedone said Tuesday.

The altar, tabernacle and pulpit have been removed from the old church and the altar will be put into the chapel in the Loreto parish center on Massasoit Road, he said. 

Father Peter Tam M. Bui, pastor of Our Lady of Vilna Parish, was to take Marian statues from Mount Carmel and said he also could use the lights for his parish church, Msgr. Pedone said. Some objects are going to Our Lady of Providence Parish at St. Bernard's Church because of its territorial connection with the former St. Anne Parish which had been merged with Mount Carmel. 

The removal of the sacred items this week means that the demolition phase at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church began before the expiration of the city-issued demolition permit, Msgr. Pedone said, so there is no need for a new permit. 

The stained glass windows, in the church that was built in 1928 to serve the Italian-American community, will be removed and crated next week by Adrian Hamers Inc. of New York and put in storage until buyers from another church can be found, he said. The parish has catalogued all the sacred objects and will note where every piece goes, he said, giving thanks to the committee that has been taking pictures of each piece.

The parish will pay for the demolition of the church and F&D Truck Company of Millbury has been hired for the job, Msgr. Pedone said. 

All appeals to the Vatican to stop the demolition of the church, that was closed in May 2016 for safety reasons, have been exhausted, Msgr. Pedone said. Several weeks ago the diocese was told that the canonical process Bishop McManus followed to close the church, merge the two parishes and relegate Our Lady of Mount Carmel to profane but not sordid use has been upheld. 

A group of former Mount Carmel parishioners and others that formed the Mount Carmel Preservation Society had appealed all of the bishop's actions to the Vatican. Their first appeal, to the Congregation of the Clergy, was rejected. They then appealed to the Signatora and were turned down again. Their final appeal was to the Congresso, a group of senior officials from the Signatora. 

"It's been an unjust closing.É We think the bishop could have handled it better," Mauro DePasquale, Preservation Society president, told The Catholic Free Press Wednesday. "You see these guys coming out with all this stuff," retrieving it from the church without hard hats, but "we weren't allowed to go in with a certified structural engineer. 

"So we're really upset about it. It's shaken the faith of a lot of people. We're strong Catholics; we played by the rules" going to the Vatican. 

"It's not over; we're looking at some possible legal actions," he said, but declined to give details. 

A property committee, made up of parishioners who originate from the Mulberry Street and Massasoit Road parishes, has been working on finding a buyer for the property that spans 24-28 Mulberry Street and includes the church building, rectory, the Gene J. Defeudis Italian-American Cultural Center, parking area and a Little League baseball field. They made a choice, Msgr. Pedone said, from a field of 11 interested parties. The parish finance committee and parish council have approved the property committee's choice, which has not been made public. Their choice was submitted to Bishop McManus, who brings it to the diocesan college of consultors and the diocesan finance committee for approval. Because the asking price on the property is above $3 million, the transaction must then be submitted to the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican, Msgr. Pedone said.

Potential buyers were assessed based on their plans for the use of the property.

"They had to understand that it had to used in a way that does not go against the teaching of the church," Msgr. Pedone explained. "We want the Catholic community to be proud of how it is being used."

Money from the sale will pay off the parish debt to the Diocese of Worcester, which includes the cost of stabilizing the building then razing it. The remainder will go to the parish.

The buyer will be responsible for any repair or razing of the parish center, which, according to Msgr. Pedone, is in need of more than $1 million in renovations. 

"It's very sad, but we have to move on," Msgr. Pedone said. "I knew when I was a kid how beautiful this church was." He said that many parishioners who now attend Our Lady of Loreto have told him, "I've moved on and am very happy here."