It will be hard to ignore the giant stone building looming in the background. Indeed, for four days later this month, the thousands of people expected to flock to the Italian Festival at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church will likely give more than a passing thought to the now-closed church, which celebrated its last Mass on the first day of May.

The ongoing fight to save the church, and to open it once more to parishioners, certainly provides an interesting backdrop to the four-day festival, which returned to the Mulberry Street church grounds last year after a roughly 15-year absence. The drama surrounding the controversial decision by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester to close the church may well pop up in conversations throughout the festival – and that's OK, the way organizers see it.

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Source: http://worcestermag.com/