Parishioners at Indian Orchard's Immaculate Conception Church are not alone in their grief over news that their church has been scheduled for closing. This summer, the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese, which includes the four western counties, announced that 14 churches in the area will close by the end of the year, while several others will merge, in response to declining numbers of both priests and practicing Catholics.
Reeling from the news, parishioners at a number of churches began mobilizing to try to reverse the decision. Perhaps the most visible campaign has been at Immaculate Conception, a 100-year-old historically Polish parish on Indian Orchard's Parker Street. Parishioners there quickly began preparing to file an appeal with the diocese. They also formed a "Save Immaculate Conception" committee, put together a website (www.saveioicc.com), and organized weekly vigils after the Saturday evening mass and peaceful protests every Sunday morning at the diocese's St. Michael's Cathedral.
Their goal is simple: to persuade church leaders to reverse the decision to close Immaculate Conception and merge the parish with Christ the King church in neighboring Ludlow. Although supporters remain committed to the fight, it clearly won't be an easy one to win.
But it's not the only fight being waged over the future of Immaculate Conception. Should the parishioners fail in their efforts to win a reprieve from the diocese, they have also launched a more political fight focused on the fate of the church building. Along with the appeal to the diocese, they're seeking a city zoning change to protect the church buildings, and have applied to have the Immaculate Conception campus declared a historic district.
If successful, those efforts would have profound effects on the future of a prominent piece of Indian Orchard real estate—and on the diocese's ability to dispose of unused church properties. They could also set a precedent for the many other communities struggling to find a future for their soon-to-be-vacated churches.
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The church closings, announced in late August, are detailed in a lengthy report prepared by the diocese's Pastoral Planning Committee, with the aid of a study commissioned by the diocese from the UMass Center for Economic Development. In broad terms, the report came as no surprise; the diocese had already closed a number of churches in recent years, and made it clear that more, major changes would be coming, in response to its dwindling numbers.
According to the report, a state-wide study found the number of Catholics in Massachusetts dropped by 15 percent between 1990 and 2008. The diocese counts about 220,000 Catholics among its 101 parishes—a third the number there was 50 years ago.
"There are two concerns driving the planning effort," the Pastoral Planning Committee wrote in its report. Right now, there are about 90 priests in the Springfield Diocese, committee members wrote, but with expected retirements, that number could drop to as few as 65 between 2010 and 2012.
"The second concern is that the number of active Catholics regularly attending Mass is declining," the report continued. "At the same time our buildings, in which we conduct much of our ministry, are aging and so maintenance is an increasing need. The diocese has, as a result, more church buildings than the number of active Catholics can support."
The planning committee held a number of public "listening sessions" while planning the report; at one, members wrote, "[T]here was widspread [sic] feeling that Christ the King in Ludlow and Immaculate Conception in Springfield might be merged. It was pointed out that at present, or recently at least, they shared some parts of their religious education programs."
But as at many individual parishes, news that Immaculate Conception would close came as a shock to its members, who describe the church as a thriving community. Unlike many other parishes in the diocese, Immaculate Conception carries no debt, and in recent years it's spent considerable sums upgrading its church buildings, including a $400,000 renovation just last year.
Mark Dupont, co-secretary for communications for the Springfield Diocese, told the Advocate that parishes do have the right to appeal the decision. Appeals must be filed within 10 days of the issuance of an official degree of closing by Bishop Timothy McDonnell, which Dupont said will happen within the next few weeks. (While the rules call for appeals to be filed within that 10-day window, Dupont added, the diocese will allow appeals to be submitted prior to that period, or after it ends, "within reason.")
The bishop then has 30 days to respond to any appeal. If he does not respond within that time frame, Dupont said, "the appeal is assumed to be denied." In such cases, the parish can then bring its appeal to the Vatican.
It's rare, however, for such appeals to succeed at the Vatican level; Dupont said he only knows of one such case, in Great Britain. "As long as a diocese can prove they followed proper church law in making these decisions, the Vatican is usually reluctant to intercede," he said.
Closure decisions could, in fact, be reversed on the local level, Dupont said. "There is always a chance—which is why the Church has an appeal process. But parishioners who are appealing should be realistic about the very pressing situation we are facing & and the fact that there is an indisputable need to make some very painful changes," he said. "Those appeals which take these matters into account would be given consideration."
In previous cases of church closures and mergers, Dupont added, the Bishop has made "some minor changes and concessions."
The Advocate made a number of unsuccessful attempts over the past two weeks to reach Kelly Tracy, spokeswoman for the Save Immaculate Conception campaign. Tracy left a phone message in response to one call, but then failed to return several subsequent calls, or provide the name of an alternate spokesperson for the group. Immaculate Conception's pastor, the Rev. Dariusz Wudarski, did not respond to an interview request from the Advocate.
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At this point, supporters of the Save Immaculate Conception campaign are loath to talk about the "what-if" questions that will inevitably arise if the diocese does not reverse its decision: what will happen to the building, a handsome Tudor-style church, and its adjacent rectory and school building? Will the property be sold by the diocese, and to whom?
But a reluctance to talk about those questions doesn't mean they're not on the minds of plenty of people in the community, both parishioners and their neighbors. Much of the anxiety centers around rumors that a major retailer—CVS is the name most bandied about—is eyeing the property for a new store. Rumors that the diocese has already begun making plans for a multi-million dollar sale to a chain store have been repeated at public meetings about the church's future; according to an article in the Springfield Republican, at one such meeting one parishioner declared, to cheers from the audience, that if those rumors were true, "[T]he bishop should be carried out in a wheelbarrow and taken to the dumpster."
The diocese has repeatedly denied that any such plans are in the works. "Let me say emphatically—there are no plans at this time for any of the sites scheduled to be closed," Dupont told the Advocate. "This is an unfortunate rumor which has only served to further the anger and sadness of the Immaculate Conception community.
"In fact, the Bishop specifically forbids any such advance planning, at least until after the actual closing and sometimes until appeals have been satisfied," Dupont continued. "When and if any of these properties become available, it is only after the diocese has determined it has no future use for that property, and then our independent real estate consultant steps in to prepare a market value and begin speaking with any interested parties.
"We make every effort to work with local communities to see if there is a use that is compatible with that city or town," Dupont added. For instance, he said, the diocese has been involved in negotiations for a closed church in Williamstown to be developed as affordable housing.
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Such assurances, however, do not appear to ease the worries of many parishioners, particularly those who feel their church was unfairly marked for closure. In Indian Orchard, parishioners and others in the neighborhood have taken some pre-emptive action: they're seeking to change the zoning on the church building to ensure that it can't be turned into a business.
Currently, the property is zoned to allow mixed use, including multi-unit housing and certain kinds of businesses. The parishioners want to change that to "Residential A" zoning, which would restrict its use to single-family housing. Their proposal has the backing of the Indian Orchard Citizens' Council, which last week voted in support of the zoning change.
The proposal was due to come before the city's Planning Board at its Oct. 21 meeting (after the Advocate went to press). That board will make its recommendations to the City Council, which will decide its fate. Phil Dromey, the city's deputy director of planning, told the Advocate he expects the matter will come before the Council at its Nov. 30 meeting.
The Immaculate Conception request could set an important precedent. If that group is successful, other parishes might follow suit, in the hope of controlling what happens to their closed buildings. It remains to be seen, of course, whether city councilors will be willing to rezone property owned by the diocese—which, its current woes notwithstanding, remains a powerful regional institution—effectively tying its hands as it seeks to dispose of its closed church buildings.
At least one city councilor is on board with the zoning change: Kateri Walsh told a meeting of the Indian Orchard Citizens Council that she supports it. Meanwhile, the two candidates vying for the newly created Ward 8 council seat told the Advocate they support it, too—although, unless the vote is delayed, the winner of that election will not yet be in office when the matter is decided.
Neither of the ward candidates, John Lysak and Orlando Ramos, is an Immaculate Conception parishioner. But both said their preference would be to see the church remain open.
"I think that it's unfortunate what they're going through," Ramos said of the church's members. "They're putting up a good fight….
"I support a zone change not just because I want to keep the church open, but because I want to keep the building," added Ramos, who sits on the Indian Orchard Citizens' Council. But he declined to suggest possible reuses of the building should the parish shut down. "I really wouldn't want to say, because I think the first choice is to keep it open, and then we'll see what happens next."
Lysak said he was surprised to see Immaculate Conception on the closures list, given its strong sense of community and its importance in the neighborhood. "It would be very detrimental for them to lose that church," he said.
Lysak, who described himself as "Mr. Business Friendly," said he'd love to see a CVS or similar business come to that part of Indian Orchard, to serve local seniors, for instance—just not at the Immaculate Conception site. "Maybe on Main Street, but not here," he said.
Instead, he said, if the parish does close, he'd like to see a new use that preserves its beautiful building and that has a community purpose, like an art or music school, or even housing or a restaurant. While the proposed zoning change seeks to restrict the property to single-residence use only, Lysak sees that as a temporary measure to prevent a quick takeover for commercial use. Down the road, he said, he could see another zoning change to allow an appropriate business use—"ideally, something that would generate tax dollars."
Any zoning change, of course, would directly affect the diocese, which is the legal owner of parish properties—and which, it's no secret, has struggled in recent years with financial problems, some of them tied to the legal battles and settlements resulting from the priest sex-abuse scandals.
Dupont, the diocese spokesman, said the diocese has no comment at this time on the proposed zoning change for Immaculate Conception.
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While Immaculate Conception supporters wonder about the fate of the zoning application, another preservation effort is moving forward on a parallel track—one that some in the neighborhood are more optimistic will succeed.
In September, a group of Immaculate Conception parishioners came to a meeting of the Springfield Historical Commission to request that the board create a historic district for the church campus. That status would give the property certain protections under state law; most significant, the owner of a property within a historic district needs the approval of the Historical Commission to demolish a building or make any exterior changes, noted Ralph Slate, chairman of the commission.
Immaculate Conception was not the first church to approach the Historical Commission. A few weeks earlier, just days after the church closings were announced, state Rep. Sean Curran came to a commission meeting to discuss a similar plan for Our Lady of Hope parish on Armory Street, which is to be merged with St. Mary's. (A third Springfield parish, Holy Family, on Eastern Avenue, is to be closed.)
At the meeting, Slate told the Advocate, members discussed whether to begin the process for all three affected churches in the city, but decided in the end to start with Our Lady of Hope only, since that was the parish about which Curran had approached them. In addition, Slate said, Our Lady of Hope appeared "most immediately threatened, since it was in a prime location for a retail business. …
"We discussed that maybe Immaculate Conception had a pretty good chance of remaining open, and that the Holy Family property is not in immediate danger since its location isn't prime and the diocese typically doesn't demolish the buildings themselves. [T]hey instead sell to developers who demolish them," Slate added.
Immaculate Conception's application came a few weeks after Our Lady of Hope's. So far, Slate said, the commission hasn't heard anything from the Holy Family parish.
Last month, after reviewing a report prepared by member Bob McCarroll about the Our Lady of Hope application, the Springfield Historical Commission voted unanimously to send it on to the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The MHC, Slate explained, now has 60 days to review the report and return its recommendations to the city. In the meantime, the Springfield Historical Commission will hold a public hearing—Slate expects it to be sometime in November—about the application. At the end of the process, the request goes to the City Council, where a two-thirds vote is needed to create a new historic district. The Council is not bound to follow the commission's recommendations, Slate noted.
Slate said he expects the Our Lady of Hope application to reach the City Council before the end of the year (meaning it would be decided by the current Council, not the new Council that will be elected on Nov. 3). Because the process for Immaculate Conception began a few weeks later, that vote will likely take place under the new Council.
Dupont, the diocese spokesman, said he wishes such interest would be shown in protecting existing church buildings. "Sadly, historic groups always seem to show up after the fact," he told the Advocate. "It would be so much more helpful if they might not assist the remaining parishes and other faith communities to maintain their existing buildings.
"We take great exception to these 'after the fact' criticisms, as our parishes and the diocese have made great financial investments into our buildings as long as we were assured we have the congregation to support these buildings going forward," he continued. He pointed, for example, to recent major renovation work done at St. Michael's Cathedral and to Sacred Heart Church on Chestnut Street in Springfield, "all without any word of support or financial assistance from any historic groups."
