St. Pat's is shaken up by rogue bolt
Published on September 12th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Rev. Bill Schmidt is glad, first and foremost, that no one was hurt.
That happiness is easily understood when the casual observer views the 119-year-old façade of the steeple at St. Patrick's Parish that was decimated and almost instantly incinerated by a freak lightning bolt at approximately 6:22 p.m. early Saturday evening.
There had been forecasts for rain in the area, but the lightning struck the church quickly and unexpectedly.
"This is probably the tallest structure in town and it has survived through 119 years of thunder and lightning storms, so I can't even calculate the odds of this happening now," said Schmidt.
The bolt struck during a particularly busy time at St. Pat's when they were hosting roughly 750 people for the Annual St. Patrick's block party and they had just ushered out people from the 5:30 Mass as they lingered just below the steeple.
"I remember looking out just after the lightning had struck and these incredibly heavy granite shingles were falling from the steeple like missiles, and then thinking that just 10 minutes before there had been a large group of people talking after Mass and walking to their cars," said Schmidt. "People could have been killed if it had happened just minutes earlier, so we're all extremely thankful it happened when it did and that no one was injured.
"It was a very scary situation," added Schmidt. "Ironically enough I was in the rectory checking the weather channel just as the lightning struck. It was like a bomb went off. The whole ground shook."
The sonic boom of lightning flash crashing against the highest structure in Stoneham created a titanic crash heard thousands of feet away and within three minutes Stoneham Police and Fire Department officials were on the scene to help rope off the area and clear debris.
"There wasn't any fire that followed the lightning strike, so for us it was a matter of clearing the area and taping off the street so that no one could get hurt by any more debris," said Stoneham Fire Chief Joe Rolli.
"119-year-old wood could have ignited very easily...we were very fortunate there was no fire," said Schmidt.
St. Pat's had already moved to an early week Mass at the First Congregational Church after Rev. Kim Hardy graciously offered their worship center to the St. Patrick's Parish in their time of need, as St. Pat's is still without electrical power and must replace the parish organ that was less than two years old.
"I didn't expect the organ to be something that would have been in danger in this situation, but it will need to be replaced," said Schmidt. "As far as the availability of the church goes, we're hoping we can open this weekend for our regular Mass schedule but that all depends on what [Building Inspector] Cheryl Noble decides on the structure.
"Her first concern is for the safety of the people in the church and she needs to sign off before we can re-open St. Pat's," added Schmidt. "We know we're in good hands with Cheryl, and we have a wedding and funeral coming up so we hope to available for both of them."
Schmidt advised that the church may ask Town Hall for usage of their auditorium if the church can't be opened in time for the weekend Masses, and Schmidt hopes that people heed any warnings at the points of egress within the church.
"We may need to sit down with Town Administrator Dave Ragucci if the church can't be opened this weekend, but we're holding out hope that we can secure the steeple for the weekend," said Schmidt. "We know we're the latest Mass in the area on the weekends, so we're hoping to get the word out to people before they come down.
"The good news is that structurally we're okay and it's more a matter of replacing the façade," added Schmidt.
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