Bishop Visits St. Francis Demo Site, Thanks Safety Officials
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski visited the truncated St. Francis of Assisi Church on Friday to thank the city for its cooperation in the emergency demolition actions.
"I came here today to see the progress that had been done so far this week but also to personally thank our police officers, our firemen and the people of the town of North Adams for all they did in cooperating to help alleviate this issue as fast as possible," Rozanski said.
"It is sad. It's a piece of history, it's a piece of North Adams' history; it's part of the history of the Diocese of Springfield, the bishop of the Diocese of Springfield continued. "It's a sad, sad day. We never want to see a church taken down ... but when it is a life-threatening issue, we have to act as soon as possible."
The nearly 150-year-old church has been a landmark at the "splendidly situated" corner of Eagle and Union streets, and one of the city's distinctive steeples that soared above its downtown buildings.
But the structure has been deteriorating for some time, and that factored into the decision to close it in 2008 when the parishes of North Adams were consolidated. The church's condition came to a head last Thursday when bricks from the south side of the bell tower fell onto the lawn and the roadway. After engineers sent by the diocese assessed the building, roads around the structure were closed and an emergency demolition began.
Bob Kirchherr, life safety consultant for the Diocese of Springfield, has been working with the engineers, the demolition crew and the city as the structure is slowly "peeled like an onion."
"This is not a demolition, it's a deconstruction," he said. "We're really trying to do it sensitively and in a controlled manner and safely."
That's meant adjusting the process regularly, sometimes several times a day. Since Monday, a two-man crew from Charlie Arment Trucking, using two cranes, has been pulling away the exterior sheathing on the steeple and cutting off sections to be lowered by crane.
Once the emergency portion of the removal is completed, regular permits will be pulled to begin the demolition of the church proper. Kirchherr said what's going on now is "clean" but there are replacement boilers, piping, a fuel tank and other issues that will have to be addressed.
The diocese has already been in contact with state environmental officials, he said. "They're aware of what we're facing here, what our time issues are."
The goal is to get the green-sided section of the steeple down over the weekend and begin working on the bell tower early next week. Removing the bells is going to be a delicate process because of structural concerns.
"They look like original bells ... the problem is the way the structure is crumbling around them," said Kirchherr. " We don't even know the weight."
An attempt will be made to the remove the bells — one very large one in the center surrounded by eight smaller ones — for use elsewhere.
"The bishop has talked about recycling and repurposing," he said. "If the bricks are good, whatever can be salvaged will be; the metal will be recycled."
Other than the steeple cross and the bells, what is still in the church is largely structural materials: bricks, wood, metal. Much of the stained glass was donated to a church in Alabama; pews, altar, other elements found their way to other parishes.
Rozanski said he had last been in the church several months ago and that there was nothing left inside of value.
"I can assure you I looked all around and in every nook and cranny, and there was nothing left in the church that was of any ecclesiastical value," he said. "Everything had been taken out and repurposed."
There had been hope that the entire church itself might be recycled whole — not taken apart piece by piece. The 15,000 square foot church and its nearly 14,000 square-foot rectory have been on the market since it closed. While two other Catholic churches in North Berkshire found reuse — both as housing — the massive and historical St. Francis did not, despite local efforts to drum up interest in preserving it.
"The diocese had been working at least three different times when there were offers for it and those offers fell through for one reason or another," Rozanski said. "We had been working on it, we had not given up on it."
He could not say at this time what will happen to the property or how much the demolition is costing the diocese.
The future of St. Francis had caused some tension between the diocese and the city. Mayor Richard Alcombright, a former St. Francis parishioner, did not support one of the most public offers that would have seen the church razed for a pharmacy. The property was also being taxed, with the bill falling to the new parish at St. Elizabeth of Hungary, adding to its significant debt.
"I've been at odds with the diocese in going back and forth over what's happened over the last six years," said Alcombright. "We've all had the same mutual concern, we wanted to see the best outcome of this situation. ...
"I'm not saying this is the best, but the diocese and parish had their priorities, I had mine. I don't think there's any animosity here. ... He's a great a guy."
St. Francis is a problem inherited by Rozanski, who was installed in the Springfield bishopric in late 2014. But crumbling infrastructure is a situation many parishes are dealing with.
"There are many, many structures that are as old as or older than St. Francis and it takes much, much money to maintain them," Rozanski said. "Once a church building is not used, there is always some deterioration."
Just keeping up rudimentary maintenance for such large buildings costs a lot of money, said the bishop, and it becomes difficult when the church is also trying to serve its parishioners.
"We're here to serve people and I know that we have to keep up our buildings, we try to do the best we can ... but our first mission in responding to the Gospel is not to serve buildings, it's to serve our people."
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