The magnificence, dignity, vastness, and pitch-perfect acoustics of an abandoned church is in one of Boston's oldest neighborhoods, close to downtown, it proportionately kisses either cheek of Boston’s Kenmore Square and South End. A perfect venue for potential art exhibits, assemblies, the performing arts/live theatre, choirs, and orchestral groups, this 104-year-old church building is still a gem in the urban crown of Jamaica Plain...the former Blessed Sacrament Church. Its dome towers over the neighborhoods and businesses. You cannot miss it.
 

   But now this grande-dame has sat patiently for 30 years, anticipating its next incarnation—if any. No longer a church, will she possibly be converted into posh condos in a modest end of town, an indoor marketplace, affordable housing assembled with shoddy architecture, or will she end up a fatality in a rubble of bricks, peeling frescos, and crumbling marble? The church building’s fate has become the concern and consternation of the people of Jamaica Plain and its century-worth of parishioners who found solace, sanctity, and solidarity with their God inside.

   The ancestry behind and the countless narratives gathered over generations have evoked and revived much affection, which has multiplied with each generation of congregants. We cannot let it go or be disfigured by developers. My parents were married here in 1935; my siblings and I were baptized, confirmed, graduated, and married in this hallowed church we’ve loved all our lives. Likewise, the sentiments of thousands more of us.

   This building is now our history, architectural history, meant for future generations, and a design that cannot be duplicated.
 

   In a recent assessment of opinions, along with 1,000+ signatures, the call is for the church building to be repurposed as a Cultural Center for Jamaica Plain and Greater Boston. With an emphasis on families and youth, fine and performing arts, and local and Boston-based artists to unveil their talents, this is what is wanted and needed for the Blessed Sacrament building and community. With size, beauty, and acoustics, I’m moved to say, "Be still my heart!" when imagining Handel's Hallelujah Chorus echoing through that sacred and glorious space.

   We need the arts, and during this time of pandemic, people have been leaning deeper into that arena for much-needed diversion, laughter, entertainment, and pure escapism from the challenges of living through an epoch such as this. Yet, we have always needed the arts to escape, to enjoy, and especially to keep our heads on straight through good and troubling times. Blessed Sacrament is a perfect resource for the arts and the enrichment of the people.
 

   Yet, with this beautiful building, it begs the question: Where is the Archdiocese of Boston right now, and how did they have the audacity to let this 20,000-square-foot beauty fade into oblivion and possible extinction?  Yes, where is the Archdiocese in all this? They are the ones who should be duty-bound to revitalize this building—but won’t.

   Enter passionate volunteers, we, the Friends of Blessed Sacrament. With no money to save and repair the church ourselves, we do have the wherewithal to fight for it. We do it to preserve this building’s architectural integrity, its posterity, its history, and particularly, to continue enhancing the lives of the people in any other incarnation. Ask us, and we’ll tell you our fight is based on preservation, reverence, and respect for this revered building, which must be saved and preserved and is still, to this day, a Boston treasure and jewel in Jamaica Plain’s crown.

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Dorothy V. Malcolm is a writer, author, preservation advocate, and member of the Friends of Blessed Sacrament. 

BlessedSacramentFriends@gmail.com