Below are some articles about the demolition of an Italian Catholic Church in Worcester, MA. The Bishop wants to sell the Church and pocket his millions. Close to $5 million+ some are saying. The community wants to rebuild it and has already raised the money to do so. Imagine hundreds of Italian Americans standing together arm in arm with their hands raised to the heavens in solidarity to fight the Bishop that no longer cares for the community. The Bishop has blocked every path of the preservation society's attempt to save the church including having it named a historic landmark, which would stop any type of demolition.
It is the center of a massive Italian community in central Massachusetts. The Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus has no interest in preserving this community, well lets just say it, hes IRISH, he does not care or understand what this means to the Italian community! He want his money. What happened to the Church? Not even the Vatican will help, they have rejected the appeal. At what point did the Vatican completely abandon the catholic church? They own 177 Million acres of land and they have to sell this one. Keep Fighting! Take back the church!
Demolition application pulled for Mount Carmel church
The Diocese of Worcester is taking a step toward demolishing the historic Our Lady of Mount Carmel church, pulling an application to demolish the building this morning.
“It’s sad. I grew up in that parish,” said Monsignor Stephen Pedone. “It’s sad for me to be the pastor who has to overseen the end of the church.”
The application has not been filed with the city yet, as the firm contracted to demolish the building is still waiting on letters from utility companies, said Pedone. Once the application is filed with the city, the Building Department has 30 days to approve or deny. If approved, the permit is good for six months.
The building is in terrible shape, Pedone said, and temporary measures to maintain the structure have become expensive. He estimated the church has spent $360,000 between the building and the campus since closing the church.
“We’re just bleeding money and to what end. Mass is not gong to return there and the building is in really terrible shape,” he said.
The decision to move ahead with demolition has rankled preservationists fighting to save the building.
“We’re very disappointed,” said Mauro DePasquale, president of the Mount Carmel Preservation Society. “It’s a historical landmark for the Italian immigrant community.”
DePasquale criticized the diocese for pulling a demolition permit while the group has two active appeals filed in the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatural, the highest court of the Roman Catholic Church, in the Vatican.
One appeal contests the Diocese of Worcester’s move to desanctify the church, making it available for sale to the public. The other contests the merger or the Mount Carmel congregation with the the Our Lady of Loreto parish.
But the church doesn’t plan on acting on the demolition permit before the appeals are resolved, said Pedone. The reason the diocese is applying for the permit now, he said, is a looming May 19 deadline. On that day, a one-year demolition delay order from the Historical Commission would come into effect.
“We have to get the permit before may 19 or the whole process starts over again,” said Pedone.
Mount Carmel was closed in May, 2016 amid structural problems resulting from rising maintenance costs and declining revenues. Since, the Mount Carmel Preservation Society has raised funds to fix the church and succeeding in getting the Historical Commission to prevent the Diocese of Worcester from ordering demolition until May, 2017.
Last October, the Congregation for the Clergy of the Holy See denied an appeal requesting a reversal of Bishop Robert McManus’s decision to close the 89-year-old church.
Last December, the group hired a canon lawyer in Rome to aid in the fight, and made plans to create a shrine within the 89-year-old church to preserve it as a sacred Catholic space.
http://www.worcestermag.com/2018/04/05/demolition-application-pulled-for-mount-carmel-church
WORCESTER – A last-ditch effort to save Our Lady of Mount Carmel, an appeal made to the Vatican, has failed.
The Mount Carmel Preservation Society made its appeal to the Vatican Signatura, the Holy See’s highest court.
Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus was told of the Signatura’s decision to reject appeals last month during a visit to the Vatican, said Raymond Delisle, spokesman for diocese.
The bishop closed the church in 2016 and merged Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto parishes last year. He also relegated the Mount Carmel Church building from “sacred to profane but not sordid use.”
The Mount Carmel Preservation Society first had appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Congregation of the Clergy. Now the group has appealed the Signatura’s rejection to the Congresso, a group of senior officials from the Signatura, Mr. Delisle said.
https://www.telegram.com/news/20181029/vatican-court-rejects-appeal-to-save-mount-carmel-church-in-worcester