Cross Removed from Notre Dame
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| Steeplejacks David Galipeau and John Bergeron bring the cross down from Notre Dame's steeple.View Slide Show |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A teary-eyed Mary Cook photographed the removal of the cross atop Notre Dame Church's steeple early Wednesday afternoon.
Her mother had attended the parish school as a child, and worshiped in the church. She was still alive when the parish began its slow dissolution, which ended two years ago with its merger into St. Francis' Church. "But this, this would have broken her heart," said Cook, as the copper cross was lowered earthward by a large crane.
Wednesday's removal was the latest in the effort to strip the church, school and rectory of religious paraphernalia in preparation for its sale. The city took out a $10,000 option to purchase the property for $510,000 back in January. Mayor John Barrett III had urged to the City Council to authorize the purchase option as a way to control the use of the property and to save the church's steeple, a distinctive part of the city's skyline.
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The city has been reviewing several development proposals received in July; the Diocese of Springfield, which owns the property, has extended the city's option until the end of September. The proposals are from developers with backgrounds in housing, assisted-living facilities and the arts.
Notre Dame Church closed in 2005 and the then 130-year-old parish's sacred objects and relics ceremoniously moved to St. Francis' Church. The long-closed school, which was leased by the city back in the 1960s and early '70s for its fifth and sixth grades, had more recently been home to the Church Outreach to Youth Center program.
Over the past few months, the church and school's interiors have been stripped of pews and other items. Some items are being used locally, such as the school tabernacle which is now at St. John Bosco Church in Stamford, Vt., while others have traveled farther, said parish custodian Charles "Chuck" Stevenson, Cook's brother. He said he hoped to be able to display the Notre Dame cross at St. Anthony's Church, but that that would be up to the Rev. William Cyr.
 Galipeau, left, of J&D Painting and Restoration and Charles 'Chuck' Stevenson, church custodian, look over the copper cross. |
"We are nearing the end of the removal of sacred and sacramental items [at the property]," said Mark E. Dupont, director of public affairs for the diocese on Wednesday. "We are still in discussion with the buyer regarding the stained-glass windows."
Steeplejacks David Galipeau and John Bergeron, owners of J&D Painting and Restoration of North Adams, disassembled the nearly nine-foot cross into two sections to bring it down. It was the third one they had removed this year after Our Lady of Incarnation Church and the Notre Dame School, which had the cross removed from the cupola on its roof several weeks ago.
Tammy Daniels can be reached at tdaniels@iberkshires.com.
