New Haven’s St. Brendan Catholic Church sold to rabbinic school St. Brendan Catholic Church building sold to rabbinic schools

Editor’s note: This story is part of a three-part series about changes made to Roman Catholic churches

By Ed Stannard

estannard@nhregister.com @EdStannardNHR on Twitter

NEW HAVEN >> If only the longtime parishioners of St. Brendan Roman Catholic Church could have had a last Mass to say goodbye to the stately building on Whalley Avenue, it would have eased the pain.

But when they attended Mass there on Jan. 1, the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, they didn’t realize that it would be the last time they’d see the inside of the church that had served much of western New Haven since 1924.

For many, the bonds went back decades and generations.

“I was born in this parish in 1934, so I’m 83 years old,” said Dorothy Gemmell of Orange. “I was baptized here, received all my sacraments here and I was married here. I had nine children — they all went to the school and six of my 14 grandchildren graduated from the school.”

Gemmell’s parents also were married at St. Brendan, and her grandparents donated the cross that sits on the peak high above St. Brendan’s front doors.

“I’ve got a long, wonderful, happy relationship with the church and the school,” Gemmell said.

But Gemmell and other parishioners of St. Brendan will no longer be able to worship in their longtime spiritual home. The property, including the rectory, school and convent, have been sold to Yeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo, a Chabad rabbinic school located for decades at 292 Norton St.

St. Brendan and St. Aedan Church on Fountain Street had been linked as parishes, with one pastor, since 2001. In August 2016, they were merged as the Parish of St. Aedan and St. Brendan, continuing to worship in both churches.

Norma Proto, 88, Dot Gemmell, 83, and Karen DeLaurentis Pallotto, 60, left to right, former parishioners at St. Brendan Church, are photographed July 1 at the church at 455 Whalley Ave. in New Haven. Norma Proto, 88, Dot Gemmell, 83, and Karen DeLaurentis Pallotto, 60, left to right, former parishioners at St. Brendan Church, are photographed July 1 at the church at 455 Whalley Ave. in New Haven. Photo: Catherine Avalone / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Catherine Avalone / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close New Haven’s St. Brendan Catholic Church sold to rabbinic school 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The merger was a prelude to the major consolidation of parishes in the Archdiocese of Hartford, which officially took effect June 29. As part of its pastoral planning process, the archdiocese merged 212 parishes in New Haven, Litchfield and Hartford counties into 127. Numerous priests were transferred or retired, and more than two dozen churches will no longer hold regular services.

But while the other closed churches — eight in New Haven County — may be available for occasional weddings and funerals, that won’t be possible at St. Brendan.

For those who had attended the church for decades, and whose children had attended St. Brendan School, hearing about the sale brought back memories of a once-strong community

“Your social life was with the people. Your children went to school together. They were friends,” said Norma Proto, who lives in the Westville section of New Haven and had attended St. Brendan for more than 45 years. “We had dances and fundraisers.”

But Proto has seen the decline in those attending Mass. “When I first started coming to this church, on Sunday morning you had to look for a seat” and there were three Masses a week, she said. “The last year or so there weren’t 100 people at Mass.”

“I came in the parish in 1970 and I had five sons who went to the school and one granddaughter,” she said. “I wasn’t Catholic and I converted. I was in the church so much they didn’t even know I wasn’t Catholic.”

St. Brendan School was an integral part of the community, Proto said. But enrollment had declined and it merged with St. Aedan School in 2007. “When my son went to first grade there were over 40 in a class and they all went home to lunch and tuition was $10,” she said. This year’s class photo includes 11 eighth-grade graduates.

Proto has warm memories of the sisters who taught at St. Brendan School. “Our school was on the verge of closing in 1974 because the nuns that were here were being transferred,” Proto said.

But the Rev. Joseph Dilion, who served as pastor of St. Brendan for 25 years until retiring in 1996, brought in the Daughters of Our Lady of the Garden, Proto said, and the school won a blue ribbon of excellence from the U.S. Department of Education in 1990. The sisters left when the school closed but “We’re still in contact with them,” Proto said.

Karen DeLaurentis Pallotto of West Haven, a St. Brendan member since 1963, made all her sacraments at the church, including marrying there, and went to the school, as did her children. “My parents were very involved in the school … and I was young at the time and I kind of resented why my parents were always here. I didn’t understand why,” she said.

But when DeLaurentis Pallotto helped plan the school’s 60th reunion in October, “it all clicked. It gave me such a great feeling to go back to the school and be part of this reunion and get everybody together again. We had an unbelievable turnout.”

People came from all over the country, she said, including members of the first graduating class. “Father [Thomas] Shepard was amazed at the camaraderie that the school and the church had from way back when,” DeLaurentis Pallotto said.

Shepard, pastor of the two parishes since 2005, said that by 2016, St. Brendan simply could no longer afford to continue as a separate parish, given the reduced numbers of Catholics attending Mass — a national phenomenon — and the cost of maintaining its four buildings.

“We had only $450 left in the checking account. We call that insolvency,” he said. As part of the archdiocese’s parish-consolidation plan, Shepard was transferred to St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Oxford at the end of June.

Sheila Masterson, chairwoman of the merged parishes’ pastoral council, said the linking of the parishes helped prepare the members for the merger. “By the time we merged we were ready for it because the two parishes had done a tremendous amount of work to happily get to that point,” she said.

Both Shepard and Masterson said there were a number of forums, surveys and announcements about the closing of St. Brendan’s.

“This was not a surprise to the parishioners,” Shepard said.

But while they understand that the parish couldn’t maintain two campuses, the longtime parishioners feel that they should have been able to say goodbye to their former spiritual home.

For the last few years, St. Brendan had been closed during the winter months to save on heat, except for certain holy days. The last Mass was celebrated on Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary. But the parishioners didn’t realize it would be the last opportunity to gather at St. Brendan.

“I was upset over the fact that [Shepard] didn’t invite us to come to a final Mass,” said DeLaurentis Pallotto. While there were rumors that the church was being sold, “We couldn’t get a straight answer.”

“That church would have been filled if we were told we were going to have a last Mass in there,” she said.

“We were fully expecting that we’d open again in April,” said Gemmell. “We weren’t afforded the opportunity to have one last Mass, see the stained glass, see the pews, take our names.”

Gemmell said that for an anniversary celebration, parishioners donated $75 to have a nameplate placed on a pew of their choice. Before the sale of the church, the nameplates, as well as plaques honoring parishioners, were removed and brought to the parish office. The plaques will be hung in a special area on the St. Aedan and St. Brendan campus, Gemmell said.

“There wasn’t a last Mass because we didn’t know if we were going to be able to sell the place,” Shepard said. “We knew we had to, because it’s difficult to maintain all those buildings.”

According to Shepard’s message in the June 25 parish bulletin, St. Brendan had already been desacralized — it no longer has the status of a Christian worship space — and its Christian symbols had been removed. The parish donated “most of the vestments, sacred books, chalices, ciboria, and other items” to Catholic churches in Zambia, whose members were “extremely grateful,” Shepard wrote.

According to city records, the property, appraised at $11.85 million, was sold for $1.525 million.

While there was no celebratory final Mass, Masterson said, “Our special Mass was the Mass we celebrated a couple of years ago when St. Brendan’s turned 100. … There probably were eight or nine priests on the altar and, after, there was a luncheon to celebrate our diversity.”

She said the parish is home to people from all over the world, including Senegal, Barbados, Nigeria, India, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic and Ghana.

Masterson, who also heads the Whalley Avenue Special Services District, said the sale of St. Brendan to the yeshiva was a positive development, because “St. Brendan’s campus is significant. I was delighted because it made perfect sense that they would be a suitable buyer.”

While she’s sad that she didn’t get to say a final goodbye to St. Brendan Church, Gemmell said, “I hope it’s going to be a learning experience for other churches that are closing or being sold that we can have a last Mass or have the last hurrah. We’re being left with feelings of sadness.”

Call Ed Stannard at 203-680-9382.