Renovations begin at St. John's Church

Renovations have begun at St. John the Evangelist Church of Spencerport. The daily masses are now being held in the basement of the prayer center and the Sunday masses are being held in the school building. Parishioners vary in their opinions about the changes.

Shirley Curatolo, St. John’s religious education administrator, said, "All the work is interior work. The only exterior work is to broaden the entrance and stoop on the Martha Street side." The steps of that stoop will also be more gradual.

"The inside of the building will be totally repaired or refurbished," Curatolo said. "The sanctuary will be a single level instead of three levels. We are establishing a reservation chapel for the Blessed Sacrament, visible to the assembly. The Stations of the Cross are being refurbished and a first floor restroom will be put in at the main entrance on Amity Street."

Mary Lou Clifford said that when the variance for outside changes to the church was rejected, it made "so many of us very happy. At least the lovely outside structure will not be modified."

But, Clifford noted, "Our group has been at a dead end to stop the inside modifications. Almost $400,000 was received in pledges and some $120,000 collected as of the last report. A parishioner died this spring and left over $500,000 to St. John’s. Not much can be stopped when the money is in hand."

"There was accountability requested by some of the parish council for names and amounts of the pledge monies. The response made at the time was that this could not be provided as it involved divulging names of people outside the parish that wished to remain anonymous. A question put to the parish bookkeeper since that time, indicates that only 27 percent of the parishioners have donated to this ‘destruction,’ " she said.

Clifford also said, "The attendance at weekend masses has dropped considerably; so much so that the summer schedule of one less mass is in place indefinitely. Many long-time parishioners now seem to be ‘roaming Catholics.’ "

"We have no indication that population has not grown. We go into summer schedule every year," Curatolo said. "We are anticipating continuing that schedule throughout the year, because the masses have never been a full church. This was a recommendation of the Diocese of Rochester to better utilize the priests’ time and the church."

Though the refurbishing involves the inside, some feel the changes go deep, but don't affect the religion's beliefs. "It has been apparent to me since the beginning of my involvement in this battle to keep our tabernacle centrally located in our church, that the mentality of those pro-renovators has been ‘the end justifies the means.’ However, having said all that, I remain a staunch Catholic; a believer in the truths of my faith," Clifford said. "The injustice to many here at St. John’s seems to be mirrored daily in the newspapers of the problem of Catholic laity not being given the ‘whole’ story. These troubled times will take their toll on the Catholic laity, but the immortal Church, the holy Church will overcome."

"We are really looking forward to this (renovation)," Curatolo said. "It will be wonderful to have a nice clean space—a new fresh space. Our building has not had attention in a long time. It was looking worn."