Diocese plans for St. Joseph to be restored as day chapel, columbarium

LACONIA — Almost exactly four years after parishioners were informed that St. Joseph Church would be demolished and subsequently sold, they received a new update: the church will be restored for use as a day chapel and columbarium, a place where urns are housed. With extensive repairs and renovations to the 1929 building needed, stakeholders must collaborate to meet a steep fundraising goal.

“This proposed use really encapsulates what we feel is the best use for both the living and the dead,” said Tara Bishop, communications director for the Diocese of Manchester, the head of the Catholic Church in New Hampshire and owner of the property. Bishop noted that, if the columbarium is realized, it will be the first freestanding one in the Diocese.

“It's really a win-win for us and the preservation side of the town — for the community,” she emphasized.

The proposal marks the beginning of a new chapter for the building and for its stakeholders. It comes after years of lobbying by the St. Joseph Church Preservation Society — formed in response to the demolition notice — to the Diocese of Manchester to cancel demolition plans and work together to “save” the church.

For the preservation society, the proposal is a win, if a fragile one. 

“This plan will achieve the Preservation Society's goal to both preserve this beautiful historic building and to keep the Church as a sacred place of worship in perpetuity,” read a written statement from society President Linda Normandin. The Preservation Society met last week and after “lengthy discussion” voted to “tentatively accept” the proposed plan.

While the preservation society has been unable to meet directly with the Diocese to discuss the future of the church despite multiple attempts to do so, the Diocese hopes to work cooperatively with the society to realize this plan, according to Bishop.

“We do hope to work with the St. Joseph Preservation Society,” Bishop said. “This is really a collaboration with the Diocese and the society and the town. Our goodwill is to work with everyone and make this a reality.”

For the Diocese, the plan fulfills its obligations toward a sacred space no longer in use. The building had been marked for demolition before its potential sale because canon law and church tradition limit what are suitable uses for such spaces.

“This combined purpose for the Church edifice will fulfill one of the corporal works of mercy, burying the dead. It is believed this will provide an appropriate and just use for this sacred building,” Father Marc Drouin of St. Andre Bessette Parish wrote in a March 23 letter to parishioners presenting the Diocese’s plan. 

Drouin said in an interview he “is very excited” about the plan, because it would both preserve the church and its continuity as a place of worship. Its additional use as a columbarium, he continued, would be fitting, as St. Joseph is known as the patron saint of the dying and of the grieving, among other things.

A major challenge to this plan is fundraising. The structure is in need of extensive and critical repairs. Over the past five years, the price tag for that work has ballooned to more than $1.5 million. Further funds will be needed to renovate it for use as a columbarium.

Notably, according to Bishop, the Diocese will not withdraw its demolition application for St. Joseph Church until the fundraising goal has been met and needed construction permissions from the city have been obtained.

Normandin said in an interview that she found this response from the Diocese, which she received through Drouin, to be “troubling.”

When asked if this meant demolition remained a potential outcome, Bishop said, “Our goal is the proposed use that we put forth.” 

Drouin expressed a similar focus, noting that the plan, for the first time, establishes a direction for the building’s future.

“I believe the community will rise to the occasion,” he said. “Whether they are parishioners or not.”

The society and Drouin are scheduled to meet at the end of April to discuss the organization’s fundraising role.