St. Gregory's First Catholic Mass was held in the Maccabee Hall in 1908 in Marion, New York. The church was erected and dedicated in 1914. St. Gregory's rectory was sold and Mass was no longer in the church a while back. A few years ago St. Gregory's was re-opened as a Mission of Our Lady Guadalupe and the Mass here is in Spanish. Picture three shows the grotto of Our Lady. St. Gregory's Catholic Church is a small, cozy church where if you don't know anyone when you walk in - you will before you walk out.
8 comments:
A very nice church! So it re-opened as another Catholic Church but with the mass in Spanish? Marion has that many Spanish speaking residents? I don't think that I've ever heard of a Catholic Church re-opening as a Catholic Church again, at least not since the mass closure of so many in recent years.
Doreen
Good Morning Marilyn,
I can't count the number of times that I go through Marion and never knew that there was a Catholic Church on that small side street. There are many Mexican farmworker in this area. In the past the border agents would sit outside the Catholic Church in Sodus and arrest illegal workers as they left the church. A Christian act?
Tom The Backroads Traveller
The mass is in Spanish. I didn't know there were that many Spanish speaking people in Marion either. I think some of the people are coming from Sodus and there are a lot of people over that speak Spanish and the church they went to was closed about when St. Gregory's was. I don't know how the people did it, but they got it re-opened.
In Rochester Diocese they closed 13 Catholic Schools one year, but they had to re-open one. They had more children than they had schools.
Marilyn
Hi Tom,
I remember when the border agents did that. The Catholic Church where the Mexican people went to in Sodus was closed, so maybe that is how St. Gregory's was opened again.
Don't feel bad, I didn't know there was a Catholic Church in Marion until I had to go there for a meeting. Someone had to tell me how to get there. That was before they closed it and re-opened it.
Marilyn
I had no idea this beautiful little church had been reopened – now that’s a miracle! I attended Saint Gregory‘s as a child growing up in Marion and was saddened to see that it had closed as so many other beautiful Catholic churches have. I am so very glad that it is open and serving members of surrounding communities who have the opportunity to worship there.
Professor Tina May,Syracuse, NY
I don't think the Diocese owns it, but they have a Priest who says the Mass in Spanish every Sunday. I went in there and do not understand Spanish, but I wanted to go to Mass and their Mass is the latest on Sunday. Some of the people thought it was a bit humorous that I went there, but I don't understand Spanish. I told them I remember when the Mass was in Latin. It is still a beautiful church. If you get over in this area, you are more than welcome there.
Misión Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is an official mission of the Diocese of Rochester.
https://www.dor.org/about/office-ministry-directory/hispanic-ministry/
You can read a bit about the history here. You'll have to scroll to about 3/4 of the way down to find it in English. http://cruz-ando-comun.blogspot.com
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