Out & About: Perkinsville church resumes services following repairs
Published: 10-12-2024 4:01 PM
Modified: 10-14-2024 10:36 AM |
PERKINSVILLE — The Perkinsville Community Church will resume church services this Sunday for the first time since March 2022 when a plaster ceiling collapsed in the church’s sanctuary.
This Sunday at 5 p.m., the red brick church — located at 35 Church St. in the center of the village — will hold a service and refreshments will be served afterward in the finished basement.
The Rev. Michael Boy, who has been the pastor at nearby Ascutney Union Church, will lead the service and has committed to leading services in Perkinsville for two months to see if enough people want to continue to attend the church regularly. Boy welcomes congregants who practice all forms of Christianity, including those who want to explore their faith and beliefs.
While Boy expects there will be interest in the first few services in Perkinsville, he is eager to see if it will grow and continue as the weeks go on.
“To actually maintain a congregation is different so we’ll just have to wait to see,” Boy said in a phone interview.
That could be a challenge in Vermont: The state has one of the highest percentages of people — 47% — who say they “seldom or never” attend church, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey.
“As a pastor and minister, I think it’s something God has to be involved in, as it were, and move people to come. People have to have a certain sense of meaning and desire,” Boy said.
The church has been repaired in the year and a half since the ceiling fell in.
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During a tour of the church Tuesday afternoon, congregant Kathy Giurtino pointed out the new ceiling and carpets, and the piano that was filled with plaster dust when the ceiling came down. In the sanctuary, there is a balcony and bell tower. The basement boasts a full kitchen and ample space for community members to gather.
At the time of the collapse, a yoga class was meeting in the church basement, but no one was injured.
“The plaster dust just permeated everything,” said Giurtino, 78, of Chester, Vt. “Everything needed to be freshened up.”
She declined to disclose details about the restoration process, including the cost of repairs.
Yoga classes have not resumed at the church; Giurtino said the church is open to hosting community programs, particularly those that are offered at no cost to participants.
Giurtino, who grew up in Perkinsville and returned to Vermont around a decade ago, is one of a handful of congregants remaining at the church and is hoping that more people will join them to rebuild the church community.
“We just want to bring life back in to the church,” said Giurtino. “It’s too beautiful a church to not have a congregation.”
This is not the first time the church has recovered from disaster. It was originally built in 1832 and burned down roughly a century later, before being rebuilt.
The church was already struggling before the ceiling collapse in 2022, and did not hold services regularly due to declining attendance and difficulty finding a pastor.
“I’d just love to see it strong again,” said Giurtino. “This is a wonderful church waiting for a family.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
CORRECTION: The plaster ceiling in the sanctuary of the Perkinsville Community Church collapsed in March 2022. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated what part of the church collapsed.