"I can't get over it," said Anthony Cymes, 84, who said he had come to the church his whole life. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Easthampton.EASTHAMPTON – While Christians worldwide gathered Friday to commemorate the sacrifice of their savior, more than 100 people came together in Easthampton to mourn the loss of their church.
The congregation of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield closed last year, held a Good Friday prayer service outside the 101-year-old parish. Some cried and others stood solemnly as the Rev. James Sipitkowski led them in traditional Catholic prayers in Polish and English.
Last year, the diocese announced it would consolidate three Easthampton churches, Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception and Notre Dame de Bon Conseil, into one, Our Lady of the Valley Parish on Adams Street. The Diocesan Pastoral Planning Committee had recommended the consolidation as a way to address a shortage of priests and congregants.
“I can’t get over it,” said Anthony Cymes, 84, who said he had come to the church his whole life. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Cymes said he rides his bicycle every morning from his home on Holyoke Street and says a prayer in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary outside. He stopped going to church when Sacred Heart closed, but watches Mass on television, he said.
His parents helped found the church, he said, and he felt their spirits every time he sat through a service. He said the church was more than a building in the same way that his house is really his home.
“All my sacraments were here,” said Cymes. “It’s hard for me to break away.”
“We are here because there is probably a lingering dismay,” Sipitkowski said during the service. “We mourn for the loss of our Lord Jesus and we mourn for the loss of Sacred Heart Church, too.”
Sipitkowski stood at the foot of the front steps, which were covered in elaborate bouquets, a few feet away from the statue of the Virgin, which had been similarly decorated by the parishioners.
He declined to be interviewed after the service.
Florence Droy said the church had played an integral role in her life and the upbringing of her children, all three of whom had their christenings, first communions and confirmations there.
“I was married in this church in 1954,” said Droy. “We were the most vibrant church around here. There was always something going on.”
Droy said the service left her “elated” and she was pleased with the turnout.
Several congregants said they were unsatisfied with or unaware of the diocese’s reasons for closing the church. The diocesan office was closed Friday, and no one from the diocese could not be reached for comment.
“I’m mad at (Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell),” said Stella Polonis, 92, who attended Friday’s service with her son and her great-grandchildren. Like Cymes, she had been a member of Sacred Heart her whole life and stopped going to church last year, she said.
“Our mothers would turn over in their graves,” Polonis said.
But whether or not they have a building, they still have a church.
“Our bonds are inseparable,” Sipitkowski told the congregation. “I journey with you in spirit no matter which way or which direction you’re going.”