Over the course of the past month, a long-standing church in Fishtown has been inching ever so close to potentially seeing its final days. St. Laurentius (1608 E. Berks Street) was the first Polish-American Church built in Philadelphia. Constructed more than 129 years ago, the church has been closed since March 31, 2014 and decertified due to the findings of an engineering report commissioned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and completed by structural engineering firm O’Donnell & Naccarato. Now, in the wake of an announcement by Father John Sibel of Holy Name of Jesus  (701 Gaul Street), St. Laurentius is facing demolition as soon as December of this year.

The demolition of the church is only one portion of a multifaceted debate that has engulfed the community. The discourse is happening between three groups: The Archdiocese who is responsible for issuing a “decree of relegation” to the church and commissioning the report but who has no say in the eventual fate of the building; the parish, now headed by Father Sibel, who is responsible for the decision of what happens to the building and the land; and a group of concerned former-parishioners of St. Laurentius who are fighting for repairs to the church.

Whether the church should be demolished or repaired; what the land will be used for in the event of demolition; and even whether the archdiocese was right to strip the church of it’s sacred qualities are all in debate.

Kevin Gavin, Director of Communication for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said that the O’Donnell & Naccarato engineering report revealed numerous structural damages to the building including major cracks in the church’s facade and towers.

“Those are the damages we are really concerned about that would lead to an imminent collapse,” Gavin said. “The Catholic Church is about more than a building– it’s about something bigger than that and this is not a community that would be left without a church building. It’s a really unfortunate and sad situation but what it comes down to is you have to put your faith ahead of the building.”

Following the results of the engineering report, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput issued a decree of relegation on Sun., September 28, 2014. In essence, the decree removes all sacred qualities of the church and prevents it from being used for purposes of a holy nature, be it Sunday mass or any other religious reasons.  It also allows for “profane but not sordid use” of the land and building. This, according to Gavin, means that the property would not be allowed to be used for purposes “contrary to Catholic teachings.”

“We would not want to see anything happen that would be counter to the sacred nature of that space. So we are not going to turn a former church into a bar, and we are not going to sell a former church building to someone who is going to turn it into a nightclub,” Gavin said.

The report specifically laid out four possible options for dealing with the St. Laurentius building. Three of those options involve various methods of structural repair with the fourth option being the demolition of the church.

The decision on what option to choose as stated by Gavin is one “that will come from the local level of the parish and not the Archdiocese, and that has not been officially determined one way or another.”

“But I can say that fiscal components of this decision are going to weigh very heavily because the pastor does have to take into consideration the whole life of the community and the longstanding future of the church,” Gavin said.

After St. Laurentius was closed down, its parish was merged with that of Holy Name of Jesus, another church in Fishtown. The merger places the fate of St. Laurentius in the hands of Father Sibel of Holy Name. At mass on September 28, 2014, Father Sibel announced that the parish has decided to move forward with having the building demolished sometime in December 2014.

Former parishioners of St. Laurentius have taken up strong words of condemnation against the recent decisions regarding the church and are taking steps toward what they see as progressive action. The group of impassioned community members have started the Save St. Laurentius Church Committee and are focused on making sure the church continues on. The group has hired a canon lawyer who has assisted them in submitting an appeal of the relegation filed to the Congregation for the Clergy within the Vatican in order to save the church from possible demolition.

“We appealed to Rome to the Congregation for Clergy and argued that the [Archbishop] has no grave reasons [within canon law] to make such a change in the consecrated status of the church building,” the group’s canon lawyer Sister Kate Kuenstler said.

The church cannot be demolished during the appeal to relegation process, according to the Archdiocese, the canon lawyer and community members. All sides must wait until there is a response from the Vatican regarding the ruling on the case.

The question at hand is what can potentially happen to the property if the demolition goes through as planned. Gavin believes that what is going to happen with this church and property is really a matter of speculation right now. But when questioned further as to what specifically any potential future use of the building and or property would look like, the Archdiocese spokesman was at this time unable to state with full confidence that any use limited by “Contrary to the Catholic Teachings” would also prohibit any kind of commercial or residential development on the property.

“As long as its not going to be something really contrary to Catholic Teachings and you know [Father Sibel] gets appropriate zoning considerations, then all those things are in play,” Gavin said. “Realistically Father Sibel has to keep every option at his disposal when thinking about what might happen to it [the church] down the line.”

The arguments of whether to save the St. Laurentius church or not and for what reason represent a vibrant debate that rages on passionately for both sides.

Members of the Save St. Laurentius Committee believe that the Archdiocese’s estimates take different factors into account that go beyond what is immediately needed to fix the building’s most required and urgent structural needs. In the community organization’s view this arbitrarily inflates the cost of fixing the church to an amount that misleads the public and isn’t necessary at this point in time.

The Save St. Laurentius Committee and their independent engineering consultants estimate that fixing the church totals $700,000. Their plan would be brought out in phases: the first phase would cost between $100,000 to $200,000 dollars and would “structurally secure” the church. On the other hand, the total stated by the Archdiocese based on the report they commissioned from their engineering group O’Donnell & Naccarato, to fix the church is upwards of $3.4 to $3.5 million.

The Save St. Laurentius Church Committee states that they have $38,000 toward fixing the building and have in total close to $500,000 in pledges from parishioners, businesses and community members.

“We can fix the church for less then it would cost to knock it down,” John Wisniewski, a member of the Save St. Laurentius Church Committee, said.

Meanwhile, Gavin calls the community members’ plan to fix the church as “a Band-Aid.”

“If you pursue the Band-Aid fix, within five to ten years we are probably going to be back at the same place we are at today where the building is going to have to be closed again. And has that money been used prudently? The $3.5 million dollar figure is the one that addresses all the structural concerns that are there, and makes the building structurally sound way into the future,” Gavin said.

Representatives from O’Donnell & Naccarato could not give comment on the matter, stating that they could not discuss matters affecting their clients to the press.

The notion of demolishing the church is one much maligned in the eyes of some members of the former St. Laurentius Parish. A.J. Thomson, member of the Save St. Laurentius Church Committee, is willing to sleep outside for a year if that’s what it takes to keep his beloved place of worship from being torn down to the ground, while rejecting the idea of the church being an imminent threat to the community.

“Me, my four daughters and my wife will sleep outside the church underneath [the scaffolding]. If we are not struck by falling debris, because no one has been struck by falling debris, then we get to fix the church and the Archdiocese has to pay for it,” Thomson said.

Added Thomson: “If it was in that shape [the engineering report suggests] it would have be torn down already. There is no way the City of Philadelphia would allow it to still stand months later if it was in fact posing that kind of danger to the community.”

As the passions of residents and parishioners rise, Gavin urges the community to think critically about the finances of fixing the church properly and believes that attempting to save the church would kill the parish financially.  The Archdiocese, along with Gavin, question the sound and reliable nature of the community’s financial support over the long haul, along with how it will impact the church’s duties to serve the parish and its parishioners individually.

“It’s an unfortunate and sad situation, and this is a beautiful church building  that has been there for a really long time, but that’s the crux of the issue here,” Gavin said. “How are you going to keep the parish community alive, pay to repair the church and keep [the church] open at the same time?”

Keeping churches open has been an issue as of late for the Archdiocese and various parishes in the area. An article published by Philly.com on October 12, 2014 stated that fourteen more parishes in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties are being reviewed for possible mergers or closures over the next year. In Port Richmond alone, the parishes of St. Adalbert, St. George, Mother of Divine Grace, Nativity BVM, and Our Lady Help of Christians are being reviewed.

Thomson has one message to all parishes being reviewed for mergers and or closures by the Archdiocese:

“Let me tell you something– those people ought to get the Vatican on Speed Dial.”