BRYANT – A final Mass will be celebrated outside the former St. Mary Church on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 4:30 p.m., weather permitting. All are welcome.
Attendees should bring a chair. The former church, located at 3983 148th St., will be open for viewing after Mass.
At a later date, the building will be torn down. The property has been sold to a developer who will turn it into a vineyard, said LuAnn Farrell, member of the finance committee at Ss. Mary & Joseph Parish in Sugar Creek.
That parish formed in 1993 after St. Mary’s in Bryant and St. Joseph Parish in Sugar Creek were suppressed.
In 2000, Bishop William Franklin agreed to give oratory status to St. Mary’s, meaning that only funerals could take place there in addition to a yearly celebration of the patronal feast or date of parish founding. In canon law, an oratory is a place, different than a parish church, which is set aside for worship by a specific group (such as a religious community) or for a particular need (such as a hospital chapel).
On Aug. 15, a decree signed by Bishop Martin Amos took effect, reducing the oratory and altar to profane use. As a result, the former St. Mary Church is no longer considered a sacred place and therefore may not be used for any liturgical worship.
The Bryant parish’s roots dated back to 1857, according to parish history.
