South Boston Church Closed Due To Crumbling Plaster
BOSTON (CBS) - A landmark catholic church in South Boston has a big problem. Falling chunks of plaster have made it unsafe, and forced the church to close.
St. Vincent de Paul church has stood since the late 1800s and from the outside it looks grand, but inside, pieces of old ox hair plaster are falling from the ceiling; some of them heavy enough to cause injury if they hit someone from that height.
The church put up a net to catch falling debris six years ago, but now Rev. Steve Madden says the problem is worse.
"This is the original plaster that was on the ceiling when the church was built in the late 1800's," he says.
"And its deteriorated in many pieces of the ceiling in many places the worst right above the altar so the correct decision was to do something to prevent an accident from happening"
Fixing the problem is now up to the archdiocese. In the meantime, parishioners will attend mass at other nearby churches.