Workers removed front steps from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, dumped gravel in front of the church and brought cement barriers into the parking lot Tuesday morning (Aug. 20).
“We’re protecting the 16-inch gas main,” a worker with the demolition crew, F & D Truck Co., Inc., who wouldn’t give his name, said of the dumping of gravel along the Mulberry Street side of the building. “Six feet of pad’s going on top of the main.”
A few people came and left, watching the goings-on. A man who identified himself only as an Italian named Anthony stayed.
“I was baptized here,” he said. “My parents were married here. “We used to go to St. Ann’s. These same guys (F & D Truck Co.) knocked down St. Ann’s. That’s where I met them. I’d go watch them. … I watched them knock down Notre Dame.”
He said Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is a lot more beautiful than Our Lady of Loreto, where people who joined the merged parish now worship.
Asked if he goes there, Anthony said, “I stopped going to church when they had the priest scandal.”
He continued talking about Our Lady of Mount Carmel, saying his mother’s father donated to it when the church was being built and his name is on a large plaque with many other names.
“I wonder what they’re going to do with it,” he mused. “That plaque should be put up somewhere.”
His parents names are on a small marble plaque in the gym in the parish center, he said, adding that people were told a couple years ago that they could buy their family’s plaques for $50, which he didn’t seem to think was fair.
He also reminisced about playing in the ball field behind the center.
Michael Beaudry also came to see what was going on. He said he’d attended some Masses at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, belonged to Christ the King Parish, and attends various churches now that he’s moved to a different neighborhood.
“I just think it’s a sad day,” he said. “And I believe the Church is losing a lot of money because … the young people aren’t attending Church like we did when we were young. They just don’t feel connected with the Church. …
“I think there’s a good portion that is the Church’s fault … because they have not moved forward. I think because of that and the abuse (scandal) … it’s causing (people) to find other options.”
Asked what he meant by not moving forward he said, “How women are used in the Catholic Church. … Maybe women should be able to be priests or assistant priests or at least be able to state their opinions and have votes in certain situations.”