Stories of Success Keep Hope Alive!

posted May 25, 2016, 1:25 PM by Saint George Church Preservation Society [ updated May 25, 2016, 1:58 PM ]

While we wait for a decision on the appeal to reopen the former St. George Church (St. John Vianney), we will share some stories about reopened Catholic churches around the Country.

In the last decade, dozens of closed churches in other dioceses have been ordered reopened by the Vatican. Although there are different situations for each church, it is important to note that there are success stories out there. The appeal process is the one very important factor that separates the reopened churches from hundreds churches that were closed.

St. Patrick Church, Chicopee, Massachusetts

Since 2000, 69 churches or parishes had been closed in Western Massachusetts. St. Patrick Church was closed in 2009. After parishioners filed an appeal, the Vatican ordered the church reopened in 2011. The following article was from “The Republican” in Springfield, MA

St. Patrick's Church in Chicopee to open again for one weekly Mass

By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com The Republican
on November 14, 2012 at 2:08 PM, updated November 15, 2012 at 1:24 PM

CHICOPEE – St. Patrick’s Church will re-open for one weekly Mass after being closed for nearly three years.
The church was closed in an effort to combine parishes across Western Massachusetts for financial reasons. When the building was closed, St. Patrick Parish was joined with Holy Name of Jesus Church.
Pastor Rev. Dariusz P. Wudarski announced there will be a single Mass held at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays starting Dec. 1, which coincides with the first Sunday of Advent. The building will also be open for funerals, weddings and baptisms with his permission.

The reopening of the building comes more than a year after the Vatican delivered a split decision when St. Patrick parishioners appealed Springfield Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell’s ruling to close the church.

Two other churches, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Adams, where parish members occupied the building for three years in protest of its closing, and North American Martyrs, which also received the split decision, have been reopened for limited Masses as well.

The Vatican decision upheld McDonnell’s right to dissolve the parishes, or the organization of church members, but said he cannot close and deconsecrate St. Patrick Church. While the church doors will be reopened, Wudarski was careful to explain the parish itself will not return. Instead St. Patrick will be considered a chapel or subsidiary location to the Holy Name parish.

But Wudarski said the Vatican decision is not the only or the most important reason for offering a Mass at St. Patrick Church. “It is to reach out to former parishioners of St. Patrick’s who cannot find their way,” he said. “It is important we should focus on others. We would not focus our comfort as our neighbors are adrift on stormy seas.”
Other parish members have explained there is a group of people who haven’t attended church since St. Patrick’s closure and he said it is important to tend to those people spiritually. “The community does not exist for our own pleasure but to serve as God’s instrument of rescue and hope for the lonely,” Wudarski said.

Margaret Page, one of the St. Patrick Church members who filed the appeal, said she was baptized at the church and she and other members are happy they will be able to attend Mass there again. “It is a joyous day that former St. Patrick’s worshipers will be able to worship in their beloved church again,” she said.

Financially it will be a struggle for the parish to reopen St. Patrick. Wudarski said he will be taking a weekly census to see how many former St. Patrick members return. At least 100 members consistently will have to attend services to keep the church open. He said he will review the numbers in March to see if the Saturday Mass should continue.

Holy Name parish also has been studying the complex problem of how to handle the four churches, including Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. George, that came into its parish with widespread closings in Chicopee.
It had to reopen the Assumption building when severe structural problems were found at the Holy Name church, making it unsafe and forcing it to close. It also has to decide how to handle the large St. George Church, which received the same decision on appeal, so the building cannot be deconsecrated. Wudarski said he has only been pastor at Holy Name for two months and is still working with a task force from the parish to decide how to handle all the churches.
“We are taking baby steps,” he said.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/st_patricks_church_in_chicopee_1.html