CRAFTSBURY – The last Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Craftsbury will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m., with the rosary beginning at 6:15 p.m..
Regular Masses have not been held at Our Lady of Fatima since 2022. With declining Mass attendance, the decision was made to close Our Lady of Fatima.
With the pending approval of the bishop, the property will be put up for sale in the coming months.
Longtime parishioner and chairman of the Parish Council, Jeannine Young, provided more details about the property, as well as its beloved statue feature. “There’s a shortage of priests. When we first stopped having regular summer masses there, it was when we were getting a new priest, and we weren’t sure if we were going to have full-time priests or visiting priests, so we didn’t plan any summer masses.”
She continued, “With the lowering attendance at St. Michael’s and St. Norbert’s as well, it wasn’t really feasible to keep Our Lady of Fatima open. Personally, it’s a pretty sad day, that was my childhood church.”
“I am quite attached to it, so it’s pretty hard for some of us. It’s a beautiful little church. But time changes. The first mass was November 11, 1951, and it’s had a rich history of being appreciated in town,” Young reflected.
In 1950, a census in the Craftsbury population found there were enough Catholics to justify the celebration of Mass there on a regular basis. The first Mass was held in the Craftsbury Academy auditorium, with about 100 in attendance. Masses were then celebrated in the Craftsbury Grange Hall. Land was purchased from the Emma Conant Estate in January 1951 to construct the church.
The new church dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima was built in the summer of 1951 and Bishop Edward Ryan, Bishop of Burlington, celebrated the first Mass.
Young says some are curious about the fate of the Our Lady of Fatima statue, “It’s going to be missed by everyone, not just the Catholics. I’ve had people, other denominations ask, well, what’s going to happen to the statue because it’s a central part of the village.”
The statue and part of the altar in front of it will remain within the parish, according to Young. However, they will be relocated to the flower garden at St. Norberts in Hardwick, on the hill where the old church used to be.
In 2009, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church joined with St. Norbert Church in Hardwick and St. Michael Church in Greensboro Bend to form the Mary Queen of All Saints Parish, where Craftsbury parishioners continue to worship.
“Anyone’s welcome to attend the last Mass, especially those who are former parishioners or anyone who has an interest in the church. It’s going to be a sad day for some of us.”
The pandemic marked a turning point for many churches, with pre-Covid-19 attendance never really recovering. Young was in agreement, “A lot of churches have struggled since Covid-19, when people didn’t go for a couple months, over a year and, they just got out of the habit of going to church and just don’t go anymore. It’s not just the Catholics. A lot of different churches have had that problem, Anyway, we’ll keep going. We don’t go to church for the building, we go to church for the Lord.”
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
