GREENVILLE—Weekend Masses will be held in the gym at St. Mary parish after a small fire broke out in the church’s basement boiler room on Jan. 28.
According to a statement released on social media by Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor at St. Mary, the fire did not damage the structure of the church but “did make a bit of a mess inside and our HVAC system is offline.” No one was injured by the fire and it did not spread to any other locations on the parish campus.
Firefighters from the city of Greenville responded quickly and extinguished the small blaze. Friday morning Masses at St. Mary were cancelled.
Father Newman said the gym will allow for plenty of social distancing for those who want to attend Mass this weekend. However, because of a lack of streaming capacity, the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Jan. 31, will not be livestreamed. Also, confessions will not be heard at St. Mary on Saturday, Jan. 30.
“By the weekend I will have more information about when we can return to the church, and I hope it will be only a few days,” Father Newman stated on the parish Facebook page. “But while the clean-up is underway, the church will be closed and no one may enter the building.”