A long closed Catholic parish in Revere to hold annual summer Mass

Nearly 20 years after a little Catholic parish in Revere was closed by the Archdiocese of Boston, its faithful former parishioners will meet again for an annual summer Mass.

They will gather at The Grotto Park of Our Lady of Lourdes, named for the shuttered parish in Beachmont, for 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. The park is on Endicott Avenue, across from the church that welcomed Catholics for nearly 100 years.

“For the people of Beachmont that lost their church, it’s nice to know that the presence is still there, even if it’s only once a year,” said John Verrengia, a longtime parishioner who helps to organize the reunion Mass.

Like other parishes in the archdiocese, Our Lady of Lourdes launched a long effort to save their church from closing, as part of the archdiocese’s massive consolidation plan.

In 2013, after nine years of appealing to church officials in Boston and Rome to change its mind, Our Lady parishioners accepted their fate. Instead, a shady park near the beloved church has become as a gathering spot for the faithful, Verrengia said.

Parishioners also joined other Catholic parishes in Revere, including Immaculate Conception Church. In 2014, the church building was sold to an Ethiopian church.

Still, every year since its official closing, the OLL community has gathered at least once a year to worship together, according to Verrengia.

For about seven years, from 2005 to 2012, Jesuit priests said the reunion Mass. A winter Mass was sometimes held at the Beachmont VFW.

Since 2014, a priest Immaculate Conception has said the Mass. Turnout is strong every year, and even some of older former parishioners plan to come every year, Verrengia said.

The church building is now owned by an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Verrengia said, adding that some of that church’s representatives went to the collation after the Mass last year and some even plan on going this year.

“It’s open to anyone who wants to come,” he said.

During the Mass, the priest usually blesses parishioners on their marriages and remembers those who have died — and reminds everyone to come back the following year.

Sunday’s Mass will be held rain or shine, with refreshments to follow. The gathering will be special, Verrengia said.

“Particularly, the background of having the church right behind us — you still get that feeling that we got when we used to go there,” Verrengia said.