Church opening: St. Mary's safe for worshipper's return Saturday

St. Mary's Church in Northampton Wednesday afternoon.">

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - St. Mary's Church will reopen Saturday, exactly one month
after loose slate shingles on the church's spires forced church
officials to close the building temporarily and send parishioners to
churches around the region.

Services at the Elm Street church, which have been canceled since early June, are set to resume Saturday at 3 p.m. and will follow their regular daily schedule after that, including daily Masses, said Mark E. Dupont, a spokesman for the Diocese of Springfield.

"The front doors will be opened, and through our conversations with the building commissioner we learned that the scaffoldings we have put up will suffice for any safety concerns," Dupont said. "Given the age of the church, we wanted take a good look to make sure that the problem wasn't something more serious."

The good news, building commissioner Anthony Patillo said, is that a thorough inspection by O'Reilly Talbot & Okun Associates and Engineering Design Associates, both of Springfield, showed that the damage to the nearly 150-year-old church is far less extensive than "the worst-case scenario" they initially feared.

"We sent a structural engineer into the spires, and I went in, too, and what we found is that they are very sound," Patillo said.

"We were all amazed at the structural integrity of the timber framing inside the spires," he said. "At one time, we thought we were going to have to take the spires down, and now we know that is clearly not the case."

According to Patillo, repairing the spires will require some slate replacement and some brick point work, a project Dupont expects will take several months to complete.

Rainy weather throughout June contributed to the lengthy closure, Dupont said, as workers tried to erect scaffolds along the front of the church so that services could be held.

"It was delayed by the weather, but the workers have now finally accomplished that part of the project," he said.

The Rev. William Hamilton, pastor of the church, expressed his gratitude to church parishioners and to other churches that opened their doors during the closure.

"I am grateful to my parish community, which has been patient and understanding throughout this ordeal, as well as to our neighboring Catholic parishes who have been so welcoming," he said in a statement.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.