The doors of St. Mary's Church in Jamesville opened for a special Mass this morning to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. It is the first time a service has been held in the building since the Diocese decided to merge this parish with Holy Cross in 2007. Our Iris St. Meran reports.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Today is the Feast of the Assumption, which is the day Mary was accepted body and soul into heaven.

This is the first time in five years that a service has been held in the building.

In 2007, the Syracuse Diocese decided to merge St. Mary's parish with Holy Cross parish in DeWitt. Parishioners fought for a long time to try and keep their church open. Their appeals went to the Vatican, but the Vatican upheld the decision to merge.

Although there's no longer a parish here, special services like this one today can be held. That's because the decision was made to keep the church building a sacred place.

"Bishop Cunningham issued a statement in January of this year, indicating that occasionally services can be held in the church building itself: masses, a wedding, a funeral, etcetera. So, this is the first Mass since that directive that's being celebrated at St. Mary's," said Danielle Cummings, Syracuse Diocese Communications Director.

Cummings says there isn't anything else scheduled here in the near future.