BROCKTON – Brockton’s Catholic community has taken an emotional hit over the past several decades as at least six long-established parishes have had to close, or merge.
This past weekend, and for the two weekends to come, a “Tri-Parish Celebration of Faith” encourages parishioners to fete the diverse history of Brockton’s Catholic presence.
Festivities took place this weekend at Our Lady of Lourdes, 439 West St.; continue on June 6 and 7 at Christ the King, 54 Lyman St.; and then end on June 13 and 14 at St. Edith Stein, 71 East Main St.
As an added bonus, Cardinal Sean O’Malley will celebrate Mass at noon on Saturday, June 13, at St. Edith Stein to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of St. Edward's – as the church was once known.
Receptions follow all services, enhanced by displays of historic photos of houses of worship – past and present – taken by longtime Enterprise photographer Stanley Bauman.
More than 50 images from the vast Bauman collection at Stonehill College are woven into the festivities.
On Saturday, parishioners filed joyfully into the 4 p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes holding photo collages highlighting generations upon generations of special days in the city’s Catholic churches.
“It has been a big transformation for the archdiocese,” said John M. Messia, a member of the Tri-Parish Council, earlier in the day.
“A lot of people weren’t pleased when they were pushed out of their churches to find another parish.”
Many transitions took place because the ethnic communities that had founded a particular church – for example the Lithuanian-based St. Casimir’s, which had once thrived – had now dwindled.
Other churches just ran out of volunteers and money, or the buildings weren’t sound, Messia said.
Change began in 2002 with the closing of Our Lady of Ostrobrama. The next year, St. Margaret Church closed and was sold to the Haitian Church of Brockton.
In 2003, St. Edward’s merged with St. Nicholas in Abington to form St. Edith Stein on East Main.
In 2004, Sacred Heart and St. Colman of Cloyne became Christ the King, downtown.
Other closed churches include Our Lady of the Rosary and Sacred Heart Parish, Messia said.
Decisions at the time were tough, Messia said. But they were made based on dwindling membership and fewer clergy ordination.
What’s important is keeping memories alive, he said.
“We are trying to make people aware that these churches are part of our living history,” he said. “We want people to know they aren’t forgotten, and their families aren’t forgotten.”
The pastor of the Tri-Parish organization is The Rev. Joseph K. Raeke. A number of parochial vicars conduct Masses in other languages.
For more information and Mass times, go to http://brocktoncatholic.org.