St. Mary Parish working on fixing fallen bell tower

The bell tower at St. Mary’s Church

By Sarah Shurge – If you’ve driven down W Michigan Ave lately, you might have noticed something different on the corner of Third St.
Construction cones, caution tape, barricades, and a cherry picker are outside of St. Mary Parish, Wayne.
This is due to the fact that on Friday, July 12th, the bell tower collapsed.
“The high winds knocked it down,” said Albert Damitio, St. Mary Parish business manager. “The supports gave way, and when it fell, it pushed the bricks out, and was wedged between the bell. The bell stopped it from falling and supported it.”
The bell tower was built in 1923.
“It was over 100 years old. It didn’t owe us anything. It was old, so what do you expect,” said Damitio. “We were saved by the bell that we didn’t have any more damage or that anyone was hurt.”
Thankfully, no one was walking on the sidewalk outside the church when the event occurred.
The same day that the tower fell, St. Mary Parish had a construction company come out and do emergency reinforcement work to support the roof so it wouldn’t fall any further.
“We needed to do something quick. We wanted to take care of everything before the car cruise that was the next day,” said Damitio.
Many different departments from the City of Wayne showed up to help.
“We had a lot of support from the city,” said Damitio. “The city engineer, police department, fire department, and DPW [Department of Public Works] all gave a helping hand to prevent any further damage.”
The DPW brought the barricades, the fire department had a ladder truck come out, and the city engineer worked with the on-site engineer.
“We really appreciate the support the city gave us. We had suggestions and they provided expertise,” said Damitio. Midpoint Construction has been working on the bell tower to repair the brick work and put reinforcement in the tower.
The tower was estimated at 3,500-4,000 pounds, so for safety reasons, the team had to cut it up and take it down in pieces.
There was a cross on top of the tower. St. Mary Parish asked the construction team to bring it down in one piece, without cutting it up.
The cross is being displayed inside the church for the time being.
“We’re going to start working on a permanent fix, so we can put a roof back up and the cross back on top, firmly mounted on the tower,” said Damitio. “The goal is for people to not notice anything different from now versus before the fall happened.”
The timeframe for the project is three to four weeks for drawing a design, and then construction will last until September to early October for completion.
“We’ve got a lot going on,” said Damitio. “Unfortunately, we need some work done.”
On top of the bell tower needing repair, the church also has a leaking roof, and the barrier wall needs to be replaced with good landscaping at the outreach center.
Plymouth Community United Way provided a grant to replace the wall.
“We have many areas in need, but the most need is putting that bell tower back up there,” said Damitio.
If you would like to financially help with repairing the bell tower, you can donate at: stmarywayne.org/donate
“Just like people’s homes, we have issues also. With the church being over 100 years old, we really need people’s help to get it fixed up and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Damitio.
St. Mary Parish, Wayne is the oldest Catholic parish in western Wayne County, founded in 1862.
Damitio joined St. Mary Parish in 1974 and has been the business manager since 2017.
Throughout the years, Damitio has volunteered to help redo the inside of the church, with activities, and was on the church’s finance council. “My favorite part is the people,” said Damitio. “They’re very dedicated and good people that want to serve the community – especially with the outreach center. The volunteers that we have support it and help other people.”
The St. Mary Community Outreach Center (located at 34646 Sims St.) opened on September 3, 2003. The Outreach Center hosts the Food Depot and the Open Closet Clothing Bank.
The Food Depot is open 9 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Monday – Friday, where people can receive a basket of food.
The Open Closet Clothing Bank is open 10 a.m. – noon Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. There is a $1 entrance fee to get in and then you can pick clothing you want.
St. Mary’s hosts the Champions program during the summer, as well as sponsors a Diabetes Association in school. They offer free exercise classes: 10 – 11 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. St. Mary’s also hosts open basketball at 8 p.m. every Wednesday.
The second Friday of each month, St. Mary’s hosts a family movie night in the activity center. Pizza is provided at 6:30p.m. and the movie at 7:15 p.m. with popcorn and drinks. The event is free, but donations are appreciated.
St. Mary’s also hosts voting for two precincts in the activity center.
“We try to be a good supporter of the community,” said Damitio. “We got involved with the cruise and supported it.”
This year, St. Mary Parish hosted a pit stop during the annual car cruise. The stop had a french fry food truck, car show, indoor craft show, activities for kids, and pinewood derby races for kids and adults.
The church is also open during the week for anyone needing a place to stop by.
“People need a place to go, we’re open and welcome for them to come in,” said Damitio.
St. Mary Parish is located at 34530 W Michigan Ave.
Hymns and readings are: Sunday 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. (English), 2 p.m. (Spanish), Saturday 4 p.m. (English), and Monday and Friday 9 a.m. (English).
Parish office hours are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday (other times by appointment). Confessions are Saturday 3 – 3:30 p.m. (or can be scheduled). St. Mary Parish is planning on having a trivia night in October, so be sure to check the website for updates. If you appreciate all that St. Mary Parish, Wayne has done for the community and want to support them with getting the bell tower fixed, be sure to donate to the cause. “Every donation, no matter how small, matters so much to us to help keep our doors open,” said Damitio. “It’s not how much you give, it’s a matter of what’s in your heart when you give.”