City continues talks with Diocese on reuse of closed churches

Date: 12/8/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE -- Mayor Michael Bissonnette said city officials are having "continual meetings" with the real estate representatives of the Diocese of Springfield on how the five churches to be closed in Chicopee will be re-developed.

"We don't want vacant buildings," Bissonnette told Reminder Publications.

He said his administration has "reached out and spoken with the bishop" and wants to be "proactive partners in re-developing the parcels whether for secular or religious use."

He said the city should be closing on the sale of the former St. Patrick's School on Dec. 15. The school is being purchased for $2.78 million and will be the replacement building for the Belcher School. The city has also bought four used modular classrooms from the Springfield school system to augment the new location.

Bissonnette said he would like to see the five churches preserved, but acknowledged that goal could be difficult, especially in light of Catholic law that stipulates a new use foar the building cannot be at odds with the teachings of the church.

The preservation of Assumption Church would be high on his list because of its location in the city's "Catholic Education Corridor." There has been some effort by parishioners to place a French-Canadian historical and cultural center there.

He said the rectory at St. Patrick's might make that property interesting to developers. The building was once a large home built in the Victorian era.

Nativity Church has recently undergone renovations and has a parish hall with a large kitchen.

"There's a real opportunity there," he said.

St. Mary's Church is "more difficult" because of the smaller size of the property. He added that St. George's Church has been used by the diocese as a conference center and may have a continual use for the church.

Bissonnette expressed concern about the impact on the Willamansett and Chicopee Falls neighborhoods as each of those areas have lost two churches.