They might have waited for the almost-certain decree from the Diocese of Worcester before they shut down their churches.Instead, parishioners at Holy Angels Church in Upton and St. Michael the Archangel parish in Mendon are doing the closing themselves.
Knowing that both congregations were quickly outgrowing their buildings - and suspecting a priest shortage would eventually force one pastor to cover both parishes - members of the churches overwhelmingly voted in 2006 to erect a new building and unite as a single parish.
The diocese signed off on the move, and church officials hope to break ground on a new church this fall.
"The decision to move on this has really come from the people up," said the Rev. Laurence Brault, pastor of the Upton church. "This was not from the diocese down."
Unlike in large cities like Worcester and Boston, where dwindling attendance has forced parish closures, the Catholic churches in Upton and Mendon are growing. About 850 families belong to the Upton parish, Brault said, while Mendon's parish has about 750 families. Both parishes need a new building, primarily to create more space for religious education programs, Brault said.
Last year, the churches paid $1.2 million for 47 acres on Mendon Street in Upton, about a mile and a half from the Mendon border.
Plans for the new, 27,000-square-foot church, dubbed St. Gabriel the Archangel and expected to cost about $8 million, call for a 650-seat main hall, a smaller chapel, a religious education center, and a separate event hall.
The parishes have raised $2.3 million through a capital campaign, Brault said, and the rest will be covered by the proceeds from the sale of the two existing churches and loans from the diocese.
People tend to have highly personal connections to their churches, finding there a sense of community, but the merger of these two parishes is made smoother because the two towns already share a regional school system, said Art Bartlett, 53, who said he has been a parishioner at Holy Angels his whole life.
"The kids have been going to school together for many years," Bartlett said. "When you mention the subject of merging the two parishes to the kids, they say, 'Of course you should.' "
For some church members, though, the move may be more bitter than sweet, said Daniel Lambert, cochairman of the inter-congregation group Catholics Working Together. Parishioners who were baptized and married at Holy Angels may have an emotional attachment to the building in Upton's town center, he said.
"As we go forward, it will be a bigger parish," he said. "It'll be a little less cozy. I'm sure there are some individuals out there who continue to be heartbroken, or it isn't something they would personally choose."
In an attempt to retain a close-knit, intimate setting, pews at the new church will be arranged in a semicircle, Lambert said. He noted that nearly 80 percent of parishioners at the churches voted to make the move, and that no one has openly protested the decision.
"People understood the needs and were very supportive," he said.
The Rev. Thomas Mahoney, pastor at the Mendon church, said the transition is easier for parishioners because they had a say in the process.
"That's what makes the difference, I think," he said. "The fact that this particular merger came from the people up rather than the bishop down."
Brault said he hopes St. Gabriel the Archangel will serve as a model for other parishes looking to take control of their own destiny.
Raymond Delisle, a spokesman for the Worcester diocese, said none of its other parishes are slated to merge. He credited the joining of the Upton and Mendon churches in part to a diocese plan that lumped the two parishes into a "cluster," but he said parishioners "absolutely" had a voice in the process.
Parish officials are to go before Upton's Planning Board for the first time on Tuesday, and hope to complete their new building by late next year. In the meantime, members are getting to know each other through periodic combined events. The parishes have held several joint Masses, Brault said, and they will team later this month to stage a harvest festival.
Parishioners were asked to bring rocks from their own property, decorated to represent their families, to a ceremony to bless the land where the new church will sit. Those rocks will be poured into the foundation of the new building, Lambert said.
Lambert said the rocks illustrate a metaphor - that the people from both parishes will form the foundation of the new church.
But, Lambert said, more than anything, it is the parishioners' faith that will bind them. He noted Catholicism has rituals and core beliefs that remain standard across different churches.
"That makes it easy to go from place to place and feel like you're at home," Lambert said. "My primary identity is not a particular parish. My primary identity is Catholic."+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: boston.com)