Historic Montclair church built by Italian immigrants is struggling to restore Sunday Mass

On Nov. 27, for the first time in two years, the pews at Montclair's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church were packed, and voices joined in prayer and song.

"It was such an important occasion, and so beautiful," said Marielena Marzullo, a longtime parishioner who grew up on Pine Street two doors down from the church, and attended its elementary school, now condominiums, on Baldwin Street.

The Mass was a hard-won victory for Marzullo and her brother Raffaele, who have fought for the reopening since the Archdiocese of Newark combined the church with Immaculate Conception parish in 2016 and it seemed destined for closure.

With a group of longtime parishioners called Save OLMC, the siblings have protested in Newark, raised money for repairs, and, finally, petitioned the College of Cardinals in Rome.

So far, it is a Pyrrhic victory. There is only one Mass each week, on Saturday evening, a difficult time for many in the 4th Ward where the church is located.

"This is a blue-collar, hardworking neighborhood," said Raffaele Marzullo, who explained that many parishioners work on Saturdays and seniors are afraid to drive in the dark. "And Sunday is a holy day of obligation. We need Sunday Mass."

He and his sister worry that low attendance on Saturday will provide an excuse for the church leadership to close the doors for good. The church is located just a block from the Bay Street train station, and they estimate the land it sits on is worth about $6 million. It was last assessed by the town in 2018 for $2.64 million.

Changing neighborhood

The first Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church was a wooden structure built in 1907 by Italian immigrants who broke off from the predominantly Irish American Immaculate Conception Church up the road, where "Italians were considered second-class citizens," Raffaele Marzullo said. With the merger and subsequent neglect and closures, he said, "It's like déjà vu all over again."

Our Lady of Mount Carmel was named after the church in the port of Naples, where poor stonemasons and carpenters promised to build churches in the New World if they survived the journey.

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Rebuilt in brick by parishioners in 1937, Mount Carmel's church and rectory are on the national and local historic registers.

As the demographics in the neighborhood shifted — from predominantly Italian American to Black in the late '60s, and to younger and wealthier after the train station was built in 1980 — the parish has shrunk. When the merger was announced, church officials cited the decline in baptisms, first communions, confirmations, weddings, and a "lack of faith life" in the parish.

The Rev. Amilcar Benito Prado, the pastor of the combined parishes, declined to be interviewed for this story.

The Marzullos acknowledge that only about 150 original Mount Carmel families remain, but say the group is large in faith. Raffaele estimates that their Community Outreach Program fed more than 100,000 people during the pandemic through donations to Toni's Kitchen, The Human Needs Food Pantry, First Montclair House and first responders. The group raised $27,000 during the summer carnival in 2018, culminating in the traditional parade where the statue of the patron saint of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is paraded through the streets of the 4th Ward, held aloft by members of the church's three societies: Sts. Sebastian, Vito and Donato, which date to 1926.

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Raffaele Marzullo said Prado, known as "Father Benny," pulled the plug on the carnival in 2019.

"The amount of outreach we do is astounding," said Marielena Marzullo. "That comes from what we were taught in those church walls. The 4th Ward has always been an open door. Our family emigrated from Italy, others from other places. We were welcomed and we in turn welcomed and took care of those who came after."

Historic church neglected

The church was closed for long stretches in 2018 and 2019 due to maintenance issues, including a broken air conditioning unit. In 2020, it was closed during the pandemic but failed to reopen in the summer like other local houses of worship.

According to the Marzullos, there is plenty of money to maintain the church, thanks to a large donation from a parishioner earmarked for repairs, along with fundraising proceeds. So they question why Immaculate Conception got new marble floors in the sacristy and other upgrades during the pandemic, while maintenance at Mount Carmel was neglected. Offers to the pastor to pay directly for repairs with fundraising proceeds were turned down, they say.

Most painful of all, the siblings say, is that there is only one Mass a week at their beloved neighborhood church and nine at Immaculate.

"Under canon law, we are supposed to be two equal churches," said Marielena Marzullo.

The group's first appeal to reopen the church went to Newark Archbishop Meyers in 2016. In 2020, another appeal was sent to Archbishop Cardinal Tobin and then to the College of Cardinals.

In June of 2021, parishioners got a letter from the Vatican stating that there was nothing to appeal, as there had been no formal decree to close the church. The air conditioning and lighting were fixed and the church painted.

"We were very excited that Cardinal Tobin and Pope Francis saw the importance of this church being reopened," said Raffaele Marzullo.

His sister said the parishioners will not give up until Sunday Mass is reinstated. "You might try to close the doors, but that is not going to stop us. We are a force to be reckoned with."

Julia Martin is the 2021 recipient of the New Jersey Society for Professional Journalists' David Carr award for her coverage of Montclair for NorthJersey.com.

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Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

Twitter: @TheWriteJulia

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair parishioners fight to reopen Catholic church