April 1, 2012

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Adams reopens for first Mass in more than three years

 

REGIONAL

Story and photos by Terence Hegarty

ADAMS – The doors are now open – officially. For the first time in more than three years, Mass was celebrated at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church here April 1 as a standing-room-only crowd of approximately 750 prayed and rejoiced.

A contingent of the approximately 200 that kept vigil in the church since December 28, 2008 when it was closed, processed in as the choir and congregation sang “Let There be Peace on Earth” to begin the 8 a.m. liturgy.

“I’m just thrilled to have this place back again,” said Joan Morawiec Dario, a resident of Dalton. As her voice cracked with emotion, Morawiec Dario said she felt that the reopening of the church was a miracle. “There are no words to express…to be able to see my 86-year-old aunt be able to come in and be here, it meant so much.”

Father Daniel J. Boyle, pastor of Blessed John Paul the Great Parish in Adams, was the celebrant for the hour and a half long Palm Sunday liturgy. Immediately following the Mass, the crowd broke into sustained, spontaneous applause. Following the liturgy, Father Boyle addressed the crowd gathered in the church’s Kolbe Hall. “It’s a great day, a proud day, a historic day and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

While the church itself has been re-opened, the parish has not been re-established. St. Stanislaus Church is now a chapel, or worship site, of the merged parish in town that was established in January of 2009 as part of the diocesan-wide pastoral planning process.

The pastoral plan for Adams, approved in 2008, called for the two parishes in town (the merged Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs and St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, and St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish) to be merged into one. The new parish, now known as Blessed John Paul the Great, was formed as of Jan. 1, 2009 and utilizes the Notre Dame Church facilities.

But many former St. Stanislaus parishioners protested the closure of both the parish and the church. They appealed the diocesan decisions, awaiting rulings from the Vatican, a process that typically takes many years. In the meantime, many of the St. Stan’s faithful conducted a 24-hour, seven day a week vigil in the Hoosac Street church. A recent reply from the Vatican said that the church must remain open, but that Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell did have the authority to merge the parishes of Adams.

While the mandate that the church remain in use came all the way from the Vatican, local cooperation between Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, Father Boyle and the faithful is what resulted in the implementation of a having one weekly Mass celebrated at the church once again.

“It means a tremendous amount to me that the bishop was so generous in following through with what the Vatican had suggested,” Father Boyle told iobserve. The ruling from the Vatican mandated only that the church must remain available for worship, it did not provide any stipulations as to what constitutes worship or how frequently such worship was to take place.

“He (Bishop McDonnell) was extremely kind and extremely generous in allowing the status quo to remain here,” Father Boyle said.

Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont said that, from a diocesan perspective, there is no ill will regarding how things have worked out in Adams. “I would defend the actions undertaken by our Pastoral Planning Committee as trying to assess our situation and create a plan of viable parish communities across the diocese,” Dupont told iobserve.

“It was, no doubt, a thankless task. Their actions, and that of Bishop McDonnell, were undertaken with the well-being of future generations and (were) based on what had been consistent understandings of the application of Canon Law in these matters.”

He said that the faithful who appealed the closings, “benefited from what we now understand to be a new interpretation on the circumstances under which a church may be removed from all sacramental purpose.” He noted that, diocesan-wide, there had been, “four similar situations, and only one in which a vigil was taking place (St. Stanislaus). I think it’s safe to conclude the actual vigils had no real impact on these decisions.”

Nicolas Malloy, a lifelong resident of Adams, attended the April 1 Mass with his mother. “It’s amazing,” Malloy said of the reopening liturgy. “It was just a really special moment to hear the bells again and come to Mass on Sunday morning.”

Malloy said he remembers huddling around a heater in the church on many cold days as he kept vigil, every Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m.

“Everyone that pitched in has brought this unbelievable result,” said Morawiec Dario who grew up attending the traditionally Polish parish and helped with the appeals process. She said could hardly believe it when she heard this past February that the church would be opened for one Mass each week starting April 1.

When asked if she thought that the reopening of St. Stanislaus Church would help to reunify the parish of Blessed John Paul, she said, “It’s been a unified parish, it just was heartbreaking to have the doors closed here.” She said that the April 1 Mass showed that unity.

Both Morawiec Dario, and Malloy say that they will continue to come to the 8 a.m. weekly liturgy at their beloved church. “Eight a.m. is not that big of a deal, it’s a great way to end the weekend. We just have to keep moving forward and stay focused,” said Malloy.

“No one more than the bishop will be happy if, in a few years, we look to Adams and see a sustainable, vibrant and financially sound Catholic community,” Dupont said. “We wish Father Boyle and the Catholic community there our prayers and best wishes for success.”

Father Boyle told iobserve that there is plenty to look forward to beyond this reopening. “We will work together and hopefully be able to strengthen both churches,” he said. “Ideally, we will all come together and work together for the building up of the church and greater honor and glory of God.”