January 6, 2011

Diocese sells closed Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Chicopee

 

REGIONAL

(Iobserve file photo/Terence Hegarty)

Staff report

CHICOPEE – The Springfield Diocese has sold the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, located at 780 Chicopee St., here, to the Church of New Covenant for $750,000.

Nativity Parish was one of 19 Catholic parishes, five of them in Chicopee, that were closed in western Massachusetts in recent years. The last Mass was held at the church in November of 2009.

This is the first of the Chicopee churches to be sold.  Diocesan officials indicated that it attracted a number of interested parties.

The proceeds from the sale will be shared by the remaining parishes in Chicopee after all debts to the diocese have been repaid, according to diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont.

The official real estate closing on the church was held on Dec. 21.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish was established in 1897 and the present Nativity Church building was constructed in the 1970s. Contrary to a published report in a local newspaper, the Springfield Diocese did not spend $200,000 preparing the building for the sale, Dupont said.

“Our work in preparation for this sale was limited to removing stained-glass windows, replacing them with simple clear protective glass, and the removal of a fuel tank, in total a far cry from the speculated expense,” he said.

Father William A. Pomerleau, diocesan patrimony director, also told iobserve that the removal of stained-glass windows from the Nativity Church building was a modest but necessary expense.

“Since the buyer in this case was an Evangelical church, they did not feel comfortable having a series of stained-glass window depicting the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary surrounding their worship space,” Father Pomerleau said. “We have placed the windows in temporary storage and will eventually relocate them elsewhere. Since there are no plans to build entirely new churches in our area, it’s likely that they will eventually be acquired by a Catholic church outside the diocese.”

Father Pomerleau also noted that many non-religious items, such as tables, chairs and kitchen equipment from the parish hall, have been relocated in other Chicopee parishes. “We were also happy to give a few items to Lorraine’s Kitchen (in Chicopee),” he said.

As is the case with all local church property sales, and in keeping with diocesan policies and canonical dictates, Dupont said, the sale of any church property requires a “third party” market appraisal of the property.

“This ensures we get the benefit of an impartial analysis, which provides an accurate understanding of the potential sale price of any given property, something that has enabled the diocese to maximize return on these sales in recent years,” said Dupont.

He went on to state that the sale price of Nativity was consistent with the local real estate market.