Millerton’s St. Patrick’s to shut its doors

MILLERTON — There are no other options. So said Father Kent Wilson about the Catholic archdiocese’s decision to close St. Patrick’s Church in the village of Millerton. 

“I feel very bad about it, and I hope the people know that I do feel very bad about it,” he said. “But it’s long overdue. It should have been done 10 or 15 years ago.”

That’s because times have changed, said Wilson, who pointed to shifting demographics, smaller parishes, fewer priests and mounting costs as part of why the decision was made to close St. Patrick’s.

“It’s getting so expensive to run these places we can’t afford to run all of them,” he said. 

Come Aug. 1 St. Patrick’s will no longer operate as a functioning church, though its cemetery will remain in operation.

Parishioners are being told they can instead go to either Immaculate Conception in Amenia or St. Anthony’s in Pine Plains. Between the two churches, three Masses will be held on weekends.

“If they spaced out services [among the three churches] it could work,” said St. Patrick’s parishioner Betty Morrison. “That would make everybody happy and people would be more accepting of the change. We feel like the lost sheep of St. Patrick’s. It was kind of sprung on us so we didn’t have any time to get things organized.”

In fact, Wilson said the decision was just finalized in May. Morrison said parishioners weren’t told the church would be closing until June 28. The last service was just held on Sunday, July 26. Yet it’s been at least five years in the planning, Wilson said.

“In the past five years there has been parish planning in the archdiocese in New York, which we are a part of, and parish planning has gone over all the different parishes and what needs to be done and changed … to best serve the needs of the people. We had a two-year process, submitted our proposals, the diocese submitted theirs. The arch bishop decided to merge Pine Plains with Amenia.”

Wilson will be the only priest to tend to the two churches. If St. Patrick’s were to remain open, he would have been responsible for that church as well.

“I can’t run three parishes, so I had to make a decision, and my decision was to close St. Patrick’s because I have the responsibility of providing services to Pine Plains and Amenia.”

Wilson said it was clear from the get go that Amenia’s Immaculate Conception would remain open. That’s where the Catholic Church has offices and the Vine and Branches food pantry is stationed. He also said the bishop told him St. Anthony’s was to remain open. That left St. Patrick’s remaining.

“I can’t run three churches,” he said. “It’s physically, mentally and financially impossible.”

But Morrison disagrees, and wrote a letter to the cardinal stating so. She said St. Patrick’s is smaller, easier to operate and more financially sound than St. Anthony’s.

“I just don’t feel there’s a valid reason,” she said. “I’m just asking them to reconsider … If we have to keep the church up here maintained in the interim period before they decide why not have services?”

Wilson, however, confirmed the decision as final.

That doesn’t mean those at St. Patrick’s will automatically continue to attend New York alternatives, said Morrison.

“I’ll probably go to St. Mary’s in Lakeville, Conn.,” she said. “It’s just four miles away versus 10. It’s close, and it seems like if they’re trying to do the thing that’s most convenient for them, we’re going to do the thing that’s most convenient for us. That probably sounds selfish, but if [Father Wilson] is deciding to keep this closed it’s because of his own interest.”

Morrison questioned how involved the archdiocese was in the decision. Wilson said it was a guiding force in the decision. He also said the Harlem Valley churches are not alone.

“This is happening archdiocese wide, not just here,” he said. “It’s happening in Poughkeepsie, in Red Hook — all over — and in New York City, too.”

In fact, out of roughly 400 parishes in New York, Wilson said about 100 will be closing.

“I am very sad about the situation but there’s not much to do about it,” he said. 

Latest News

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.

Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
history

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit

Matter and memory: The mixed media art of Sophie Eisner

Matter and memory: The mixed media art of Sophie Eisner

Sophie Eisner in her studio in Kingston, New York.

Hannah Vaughan

Sophie Eisner is a mixed media artist working in steel, fabric, concrete, silicone and other materials. Her solo show “Holding Patterns” at the Norfolk Library will be on view through July 1.

Thematically, “Holding Patterns” explores the energy of potential and how the human body holds emotional experience. Her work often depicts empty vessels and uses negative space to explore tension between objects.

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit