St. Casimir Church is Sold

St. Casimir Church is Sold

September 15, 2011, WORCESTER, MA – The Office of the Chancellor announced today that St. Casimir Church has been sold to The Church of the Pentecost USA, Inc. for $650,000. The sale involves the Church and attached rectory and three small house lots across from the church. The official closing was today Thursday, February 15, 2011. The last Mass was said in the Church in June 2009. St. Casimir Parish was merged into St. John Parish on July 1, 2008.

All of the net proceeds from the sale go to St. John Parish, Worcester. The Diocese has consistently followed the canonical principle that money from property sales remains with the parish with which the former parish had been merged. No portion of the net proceeds are retained by the Diocese of Worcester.

Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, chancellor for the Diocese of Worcester, contracted the sale with representatives of The Church of the Pentecost, a Massachusetts religious, charitable, nonprofit corporation which currently operates at 5 Blackstone River Road, Worcester.

In commenting on the process, Msgr. Sullivan said, “Despite this challenging economy, our goal was to assure that St. Casimir would be of use to a worship community. I am grateful to the representatives of The Church of the Pentecost for being able to conclude this sales agreement with the Diocese of Worcester with mutually beneficial results.”

The Catholic Church has canonical norms regulating the alienation (sale) of churches and other parochial properties. Particular norms, or local laws, are established by virtue of the population size of a diocese, which regulate the approval process for transactions over a certain dollar amount. Since the transaction was significant, votes had to be taken on the transaction by the Diocesan Board of Consultors and the Diocesan Finance Committee after the initial agreements were negotiated between The Church of the Pentecost, USA, Inc. and the Diocese of Worcester. Both diocesan groups unanimously supported the sale.

As with other churches which have been sold to non-Catholic groups, all consecrated items, including the altar, statuary, baptismal font, and tabernacle, have been removed. Many of these are now being used in other churches including at St. John. Some items are being kept in storage until an appropriate home is found in another Catholic Church.

Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, commented, “I am grateful that The Church of the Pentecost can utilize this property so that the church which served the Catholic community over many years can now be of service to the People of God served by this Christian community as a place of worship, of education and of community service.”

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