November 14, 2018

West Springfield nuns in need of donations to address water, structural damage

REGIONAL
Staff report

 

WEST SPRINGFIELD – “There’s water in St. Catherine’s Hall again.” 

That was the message that was relayed to Dominican Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, prioress of the Dominican Nuns’ Mother of God Monastery in West Springfield, and, she said, “That was definitely not good news.”

Sister Immaculate Heart asked Dominican Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart to look into the problem. Sister Sacred Heart had recently been put in charge of coordinating and assessing the maintenance in the monastery. She had been focusing on giving the monastery a thorough cleaning and had been quite successful. However, this problem, she and the prioress learned, was much bigger.

The leaking water problem made St. Catherine’s Hall unusable and an inspection showed serious structural damage to the foundation. In addition, there were problems with mold and they learned asbestos tiles needed to be removed and replaced as soon as possible. 

Sister Immaculate Heart said, “We were relieved to know that a new drainage system should take care of the water problem – yet at quite an expense!”

The estimated cost of fixing the foundation and the other repair work was $80,000. That was a huge bill for the cloistered nuns, who rely on donations to their community.

The Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, St. Joseph Province, know the Dominican Nuns well. They meet at the monastery every month. They are known as Third Order Dominicans and used St. Catherine’s Hall for meetings. They decided they wanted to help the religious community in a very modern way.

 “When the water issues at St. Catherine’s Hall became noticeably apparent, we had to remove all our books, supplies and archives, and clean all the items before putting them into storage,” said Ellen Doyle, president of the Mother of God Chapter 103. “Realizing that the cost of mold remediation was very expensive, I wondered how the nuns would be able to afford the high costs of remediation and renovation.  

“On the feast day of St. Dominic, August 8, after Mass, the Dominican laity get to meet and greet the nuns in the parlor. I was talking to one of the nuns about perhaps starting a GoFundMe page,” said Doyle. “I then spoke with the prioress explaining the laity could sponsor a GoFundMe page to raise funds towards the repair and renovation.”

Sister Immaculate Heart said she was pleased with their kind effort. “I cannot thank the Dominican Laity enough for their kind help in setting up and overseeing a GoFundMe account. And, on behalf of my community, we are most grateful for any and all donations towards what we dub an extraordinary maintenance project,” she said.

Doyle said that the nuns “do not ask for money but rely on Divine Providence and private donations that support their ministry of prayer, so the GoFundMe page seemed like the perfect solution.

“We believe that there are many people out there who would want to help the nuns in their time of need,” she continued. “How many times have people received a beautiful, handmade spiritual bouquet from the nuns at the monastery when there has been a death in the family or a birthday remembrance or a Mass card? Now the nuns need our help. Donations will be a wonderful way of thanking them for the gift they are to us,” she said.

To date, 15 donors have given $930. The initial estimate was $80,000 but other inspections revealed problems with the bell tower and some other important maintenance needs, according to Sister Sacred Heart. The overall goal listed on the GoFundMe page is $145,000.

“Currently Kent Brothers are working on the water drainage. We felt it was urgent to do this part, otherwise the water would continue to undermine and weaken the foundation. Also St. Catherine’s Hall can no longer be used due to the mold, which is not a healthy atmosphere,” said Sister Sacred Heart.

For more information about the fundraising efforts go to https://www.gofundme.com/dominican-nuns-ws-renovation or write to the Dominican Nuns, 1430 Riverdale St, West Springfield, MA 01089.