Vermont
Judge greenlights demolition of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington
A judge in the environmental division of Vermont Superior Court gave the go-ahead Tuesday for demolition of the former Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Burlington, considered by some to be a masterpiece of modernist architecture.
The cathedral was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and the property was landscaped by Dan Kiley, whom the state architectural historian called “two of the foremost designers of the 20th century.” It closed in December 2018 after dwindling to fewer than 100 parishioners.
Judge Thomas Durkin ruled against a group of 10 Burlington residents who appealed the decision in January 2023 by the city’s Development Review Board to allow the demolition. Durkin rejected the residents’ argument that because it has been sold, and closed for four years, the cathedral is no longer a church and shouldn’t be given the “preferential treatment” a church is given. Ron Wanamaker, one of the 10 residents, said Wednesday his group will decide by the end of the week, or early next week, whether to appeal the decision to the Vermont Supreme Court.
“Our hopes and plans for the property were to save it,” Wanamaker said. “Judge Durkin disagreed with us. We’re disappointed.”
The group filed a similar argument against demolishing the cathedral in federal court, but lost that case in a decision in August 2023.
Neither state nor local governments can interfere with religious decisions
Attorney John Franco, who represented the Cathedral of the Immaculate Parish Charitable Trust, said the judge agreed with his argument that the demolition to deconsecrate the church was a religious decision by the Catholic Church, not subject to local or state jurisdiction.
“There’s been a doctrine for a long time called the church autonomy doctrine that is part of the First Amendment,” Franco said. “What it says is secular courts cannot second guess or interfere with matters of religious doctrine.”
The decision to deconsecrate a cathedral by demolishing it is a religious exercise, Franco explained.
Approval for the demolition ultimately came from the Vatican in a “very involved” process that started locally and took two years to complete, according to Franco. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops required the Trust to have a purchase and sale agreement on the property before agreeing to demolition.
More: What will we be losing if the Immaculate Conception cathedral is demolished?
Judge Durkin wrote in his decision that the Trust “underwent an ecclesiastical decision-making process that led it to ultimately deconsecrate the Property via demolition.”
“The Court is without authority to question this ecclesiastical process or decision,” Durkin concluded.
Attorney is unable to say who the buyer is or how much the buyer paid
Franco said he was not at liberty to disclose the buyer, or the purchase price for the cathedral. He said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops requires church properties selling for $3.5 million and above to be under contract, to protect against ill-considered decisions.
Several of the Burlington residents who appealed against the demolition, including Wanamaker, are members of Preservation Burlington, but Wanamaker said Preservation Burlington is not involved in the legal proceedings.
“Preservation Burlington has been helping with outreach and fundraising,” Wanamaker said. “We’re seeing a lot of community support, including ex-parishioners. We’re getting donations and a lot of comments from people who would love to see the building continue on as a community benefit.”
More: Former Cathedral of Immaculate Conception to be demolished
If the group of Burlington residents does decide to appeal, a decision from the Supreme Court likely wouldn’t come until March 2025, according to Franco.
“We would like to persuade (them) not to go forward with an appeal,” Franco said.
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DanDambrosioVT.
Page to Stage
Friday 24-Sunday 26
The Parish Players present Deaf Republic, a one-weekend-only staged reading of Ilya Kaminsky’s acclaimed poem cycle of the same name, at Thetford’s Eclipse Grange Theatre. Featuring puppetry and set work by Ria Blaas and a cast packed with local talent, the production tells the allegorical story of a town under a brutal occupation, where all the villagers lose their hearing after soldiers kill a deaf boy.
The Umpire Strikes Back
Saturday 25-Monday 27
The Vermont Lake Monsters are back for another season of balls, bats and boogying with Champ. Spectators at Burlington’s Centennial Field buy some peanuts and Cracker Jack to watch the Green Mountain State’s own Futures Collegiate Baseball League team face off against the Brockton Rox in three Memorial Day weekend games.
New Kid on the Flock
Saturday 25 & Sunday 26
People and sheep alike shed their winter coats at Family Sheep and Wool Weekend, a lamb-themed jamboree at Woodstock’s Billings Farm & Museum. The springtime fun includes weaving and spinning demonstrations, woolly fiber crafts, and an up-close look at the workaday lives of the herding border collies.
Don’t Rain on My Parade
Monday 27
Party people of all ages take a break from flipping burgers and eating hot dogs to line the streets for the annual Vergennes Memorial Day Parade. Kicking off the festivities at Vergennes Union Middle & High School, American Legion Post 14 hosts a patriotic march through downtown to honor Vermonters who have served in the armed forces, followed by a chicken barbecue.
American Ukrainian
Tuesday 28
Larissa Babij discusses her new, straight-from-the-headlines memoir, A Kind of Refugee: The Story of an American Who Refused to Leave Ukraine, with University of Vermont professor Adrian Ivakhiv at Richmond Free Library. Collected partially from Babij’s ongoing Substack dispatches, the book tells the story of the terrifying first days of war from the perspective of the Ukrainian American writer and translator.
Earth Day
Wednesday 29
Both cinephiles and environmentalists find something to love at SunCommon’s Climate Action Film Festival at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center Film House in Burlington. The annual screening soirée features stories of activism and resilience from around the world, and proceeds benefit 350Vermont.
Seasons of Love
Ongoing
Russian-born, Vermont-based artist Anna Yakubovskaya‘s newest solo show at Burlington’s Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery, “Embracing the Ephemeral,” celebrates the Vermont seasons in all their beauty and brevity. Painted on paper and silk, her watercolors capture sunrises over the mountains, mist over lakes and the moment the leaves begin to change.
The U.S. Postal Service has suspended its plan to relocate Vermont’s mail sorting to Connecticut — a move that many fear would only worsen delays in a troubled system.
“I am encouraged USPS listened to the concerns we raised from our constituents, and finally paused these misguided facility reviews,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said in a prepared statement after the suspension was announced last week.
“I will keep fighting to improve mail delivery in Vermont, which has been terribly deteriorated,” Welch added.
Postal Service Plans to Route Vermont Mail Through Connecticut
Postal Service Plans to Route Vermont Mail Through Connecticut
By Anne Wallace Allen
Business
The Postal Service has been looking to cut costs. It hasn’t been able to cover its expenses for more than 15 years, mostly because of declining demand for first-class mail, its most profitable product.
Long before the consolidation plan was announced, members of Congress were vowing to take action to improve service, particularly in rural areas, where complaints about missing and late mail are legion. Many rural post offices are open only a few hours a day, and they face severe staff shortages that cause unplanned closures.
“It made absolutely no sense to me on many levels, climate change being one of them,” said Joseph Gainza, a Marshfield activist who hosts “Gathering Peace,”
a social justice program on WGDR radio. “If you’re going to be delivering mail down to Hartford and bringing it all the way back up to Vermont by truck, your carbon footprint gets larger.”
Rural Mail Carriers Face Pay Cuts That Could Worsen Service Woes for Vermonters
Rural Mail Carriers Face Pay Cuts That Could Worsen Service Woes for Vermonters
By Rachel Hellman
Economy
The Postal Service has been hearing a chorus of complaints. Many concern late and missing mail, problems with package delivery, and rising costs. In April, the Postal Service announced a proposal to raise the price of a first-class Forever stamp from 68 cents to 73 cents, a change that would take effect July 14 if approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
The target of complaints is often Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed in June 2020 by the Postal Service’s 11-member Board of Governors, a panel selected by then-president Donald Trump.
In April, Welch and 25 other members of Congress from both sides of the aisle urged DeJoy to reconsider the consolidation plan. Welch also asked President Biden to nominate people to the USPS Board of Governors who would hold DeJoy accountable for the rural delivery problems.
Steve Hutkins, a retired professor who monitors the Postal Service from his home in Rhinebeck, N.Y. and runs a website called Save the Post Office, said he thinks the 26 lawmakers’ letter influenced DeJoy’s decision to halt the consolidation.
“You could sense momentum building when 26 senators all signed off on a letter asking for a pause,” Hutkins said Monday.
State Sen. Brian Campion, who helms the chamber’s education committee, is not running for reelection.
The Bennington County Democrat announced his departure from the Legislature, where he has served for the last 14 years, in a press release Monday. He was first elected to the Vermont House in 2010, and the Senate in 2014.
“Serving in the legislature for the last 14 years has been the honor of my life,” Campion said in a statement. “I’m proud to have made a real difference for the people from Bennington County and look forward to continuing to be involved in my community.”
A sea change is underway in the Vermont Senate. In the last election cycle, 10 senators opted not to run for reelection. And this year, Campion is the fifth longtime senator to announce his departure from the 30-member body.
Democratic Sens. Jane Kitchel, Dick Mazza, Bobby Starr and Dick McCormack have all recently announced they will not run for reelection. Like Campion, Kitchel, Mazza and Starr were all committee chairs, and generally considered to inhabit the more moderate wing of the party.
“Being an effective legislator requires working well with all of your colleagues, no matter their party, and I’m proud of having a reputation for doing this,” Campion wrote.
Campion took over the Senate Committee on Education in 2021, and in this role often clashed with public education advocates, particularly on matters relating to the state’s voucher system. He played a key role in the contentious confirmation process for now-interim Education Secretary Zoie Saunders — voting against most in his party to endorse her selection.
But he is also well known for his work on environmental issues. In a press release, Campion said he was particularly proud of his work on chemical contaminants, including addressing PFAs in Bennington’s drinking water. The lawmaker is also the architect of Vermont’s first-in-the-nation mandate to test every school for PCBs, another toxic chemical.
Sen. Phil Baruth, who leads the Senate as president pro tempore, in a statement highlighted Campion’s work on the environment.
“I happened to be with him when test results came back showing serious chemical contamination in Bennington’s drinking water,” Baruth wrote. “Brian rushed out of the room — and he and his district-mate Dick Sears didn’t slow down until the state of Vermont had helped connect affected well owners to the municipal water system. And mandated testing of private wells for contaminants. And pushed for the strictest lead standard for school drinking water in the nation — now Vermont law.”
Outside the Statehouse, Campion is the Director of Public Policy at the Elizabeth Coleman Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College and a trustee of the Bennington Museum.
Another well-known southern Vermont Democrat has already announced his intention to run for Campion’s seat. The Manchester Journal reported Monday that Rep. Seth Bongartz, of Manchester, had thrown his hat in the ring.
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