Massachusetts diocese files permit application to demolish church

The Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts plans to file an application to demolish the 89-year-old Our Lady of Mount Carmel church in Worcester, a report by Worcester Magazine says. The application will be filed after the selected contractor receives the necessary letters from utility companies.

After the application is filed, the Building Department has 30 days to approve or deny the application. If approved, the permit will last for six months. Monsignor Stephen Pedone says in the report the building is dilapidated and temporary measures have been taken to maintain the structure, but those measures have become expensive.

Pedone estimated in the report the church spent $360,000 between the building and campus since the church closed in May 2016.

The decision to demolish the building has been met with opposition from preservationists in Worcester. Mauro DePasquale, president of the Mount Carmel Preservation Society, calls the church a “historical landmark for the Italian immigrant community” in the report. The group has two active appeals filed in the Tribunal of Apostolic Signatural and the Vatican. The first appeal contests the Diocese of Worcestor’s request to desanctify the church, so it can be available for sale to the public. The second appeal contests the merger of the Mount Carmel congregation with the Our Lady of Loreto parish.

Pedone says in the report that the diocese is applying for the permit to beat a May 19 deadline. After May 19, a one-year demolition delay order from the Historical Commission would come into effect. The church doesn’t plan on demolishing the building until the appeals are resolved.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel was closed because of structural problems from rising maintenance costs and declining revenues, the report says.