St Vincent de Paul Parish

On January 3rd, 1904, Fr. William Grace, pastor of St. Ann’s, met with a large contingent of Lenox Dale Catholics, who expressed the need for a village church. At that meeting, $1,500 was pledged for the building of the church.

Fr. Grace obtained approval from Bishop Thomas P. Beavan, hired an architect, John W. Donohue (who designed over 100 structures for the Diocese of Springfield, including St. Teresa of Calcutta Church in Housatonic and St. Thomas in West Springfield), purchased the site for the church from Luke A. Huban at a price of $650 and dug the first sod on May 3rd, 1904. The next day, construction began under contractor Constant DeLoye, who completed the work five months later. The church was dedicated by Bishop Beavan, assisted by a large delegation of Berkshire priests, on Sunday, November 27, 1904. Thus, the no-nonsense, get it done character of the parish was set from its inception.

The 102 families were of Irish and French descent, and people of modest means. As Fr. Timothy Champoux tells the story, the, was asked to design a church “that would be, first of all, sturdy, - as sturdy as the faith of the people who would worship in it – secondly, a truly artistic church which would reflect the beauty of the God Who would dwell therein and finally, a church that would be within financial range of working people. Sturdy, artistic, economical these were and still are the attributes of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul at Lenox Dale.”

St. Vincent de Paul was still considered a mission church until 1910, when it became a parish in its own right with the appointment of its first pastor, Fr. John Fitzgerald. The rectory was built that year. The parish was responsible for the mission of St. Francis Church in South Lee, formerly a mission of St. Mary’s.

In 1941, Fr. Lawrence O’Toole hired Antonio D’Ambrosio, who founded D’Ambrosio Ecclesiastical Art Studios, to completely redecorate the interior. This design held until the liturgical reforms of Vatican II called for a simpler design with the altar in front of the priest.

The statue of Our Lady of Fatima was installed in 1954, the jubilee year of the parish. It is made of Carrara marble and imported from Italy.

Creative fundraisers in conjunction with the Lenox Dale Fire Company have included the block dance, low country boil, and cornhole tournament. The parish is a stop on the Lenox Dale Memorial Day parade, perhaps the only occurrence nationwide where the parade marches into a church and Mass is offered, before the parade resumes.

The centennial of the parish was celebrated in 2004, highlighted by an entry in the Pittsfield 4th of July parade, in which a replica of the church was created. In 2015, a capital campaign was conducted to finance replacement of the cedar shingles with a pre-painted composite. The $98,000 needed to complete the project was raised ahead of schedule.

A demographic crisis was brewing from the overall dwindling of the Catholic population, combined with a decline in the number of diocesan priests. The parishes of St. Ann and St. Vincent de Paul were one of  the first to experiment with a shared pastor, Fr. Daniel Brunton. The parishes were to be yoked, not merged, each maintaining autonomy. Fr. Christopher J. Waitekus succeeded Fr. Brunton upon his retirement (he would eventually be responsible for St. Patrick Parish as well). Both pastors were assisted by Msgr. John Bonzagni, the priest in residence at the rectory of St. Vincent de Paul until he
was named pastor in 2015.
 

Pastors of St. Vincent de Paul:

Rev. John A. FitzGerald 1910-1922

Rev. James B. Donahue 1922-1933

Rev. John D. Sullivan 1933-1936

Rev. Laurence F. O’Toole 1936-1943

Rev. Timothy F. O’Connor 1943-1948

Rev. Donald Mullen 1948-1951

Rev. Timothy J. Champoux 1951-1968

Rev. Francis X. Boyle 1968-1970

Rev. William J. O’Shea 1970-1971

Rev. James McKenna 1971-1988

Rev. John P. Lucey, administrator 1988-1989

Rev. Daniel B. Brunton 1989-2001

Rev. Christopher J. Waitekus 2001-2015

Msgr. John J. Bonzagni 2015-