Closed Catholic church sold to Pentecostal group.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Bronislaus B. Kush

WORCESTER - St. Margaret Mary Church - shuttered by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester last summer as part of a plan to cope with a shortage of priests - has been sold to a small Pentecostal congregation in search of a permanent home.

Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle said the Alvarado Avenue house of worship, along with its rectory, have been purchased for $555,000 by Upper Room Family International Church of Worcester, which has been meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment Center on Chandler Street.

St. Margaret Mary Church was one of five Catholic churches closed by Bishop Robert J. McManus last year. The parish's assets and liabilities were assumed by St. Anne Church in Shrewsbury.

Mr. Delisle said chancery officials struck a deal recently after months of negotiations with the Rev. Gerald Plange, Upper Room Family International Church's senior pastor. Proceeds of the sale will go to St. Anne Church.

"The beauty of the church lends itself to the fact that the Lord will continue to be worshipped there," said Bishop McManus.

"The Lord has deeply blessed all those who worshipped at St. Margaret Mary parish for nearly a century, and I know that he will continue to do so for the congregants of the Upper Room Family International Church."

Prior to the sale, 16 of the church's stained glass windows were sold to St. Mary Catholic Church in Mariettea, Ohio. The pulpit was moved to Our Lady of Vilna Church on Vernon Hill, which largely serves Worcester's Vietnamese Catholic community.

Other liturgical items were taken from the church and are...