For the faithful of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, it is a crowning indignity. A sculpted relief of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that once graced the pediment of the historic church on Mulberry Street has lain in the parking lot, through snow and rain, since it was removed from the church a year ago.

“So sacrilegious,” says Amoret Zamarro Beiter of Worcester, a member of the Mount Carmel Preservation Society, which is trying to save the church from demolition. The frieze depicting Our Lady lay on the pavement uncovered all winter, said another member of the preservation group, Barbara Lucci, who lives up the street and was raised in the parish.