Moorhead church accidentally canceled Mass; parishioners say it likely saved lives when the roof

[TexasTowelie]

Moorhead church accidentally canceled Mass; parishioners say it likely saved lives when the roof collapsed


MOORHEAD — Parishioners of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in north Moorhead couldn’t have imagined the Lenten burden this year’s penitential season would dump on them — or the miscommunication that possibly saved lives this spring.

Parish Management Coordinator Swede Stelzer was among the first to be contacted that bright morning of Sunday, March 10, with news that a central portion of the parish roof had collapsed under the weight of snow. It was the first in a series of roof collapses the area would see after a winter of frigidity and periods of unrelenting snowfall that piled up throughout the area.

Busily blowing snow out of his driveway in south Moorhead, Stelzer hadn’t noticed his phone “blowing up” with texts until well after the disaster was discovered at 601 15th Ave. N. He said their parish priest, the Rev. Raúl Pérez-Cobo, was first notified; from there, the maintenance crew and fire department received word of the event.

“The church was full of natural gas,” Stelzer said. “They evacuated the gas out of the building.”

Read more: https://www.inforum.com/news/accidents/1003413-Moorhead-church-accidentally-canceled-Mass-parishioners-say-it-likely-saved-lives-when-the-roof-collapsed1

[Qanisqineq]

1. Moorhead is in Minnesota

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're correct.

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted this article, so I'm just going to let it stand.