My dear friends in Christ:
On Nov. 24, 2023, something new started in Charlestown. I began my pastorate at St. Francis de Sales and St. Mary- St. Catherine parishes, but more importantly, a new era began of collaboration. Both parishes had worked together for decades, shared celebration on the sacraments of our faith, but now we were taking a powerful new step, coming closer to unity- celebrating our uniqueness as families and working together as a collaborative. We began with a shared pastor and soon after, a finance and operations director, but this was just the beginning.
This is officially my third collaborative- it was my honor to be one of the first 12 pastors to embrace the Disciples in Mission Collaboration model. I took the reins in 2013—as pastor of Sacred Heart in Middleboro, Sts. Martha & Mary in Lakeville and St. Rose in Rochester (then, the Cranberry Catholic Collaborative), then in 2018, I was asked to serve as pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Chelsea and St. Mary of the Assumption in Revere & Everett (we became Blessed Mother of the Morning Star), and now Charlestown. I am called to give my time, prayer and efforts equally to both parish families, and at the same time, building them. This isn’t my first rodeo.
The Collaborative process is challenging- for every place, each have plenty to bring to the mix different vision, experiences and understandings- it’s important for the pastor to understand that like families, everyone has their own voice. It doesn’t mean that everything changes immediately and that’s it. There are parish traditions to respect, but there are so many things that already unite us. Harvest on Vine is such a blessing.
I speak of it as the heart of our Collaborative. Bishop Lawton is an excellent hall. 46 Winthrop is a perfect host for our offices. Both churches hold a great deal of beauty and history- not just for our Town, but our city and Archdiocese.
A united Mass schedule, bulletin, collaborative offices, combined Faith Formation and Pastoral, Financial and Worship Committees begin the process of building families. Many parishes have had these in place for years, some have not- here we need to learn how we can together build effective, representative and responsive councils. Our Pastoral Council will be meeting soon to plan how.
As we are a collaborative, it’s also important to note that the churches will retain their names. What we do together- more and more- will be reflected in the collaborative name we use. Though support for the name Charlestown Catholic Collaborative is strong, I want to hear from you. Some early suggestions have been Holy Trinity and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton- the first American-born saint. I find this to be a helpful and creative process. I will present the name to Archbishop Henning, I know he will trust our judgment. Our Councils will be asked, and we’ll all have an opportunity to choose a name or come up with our own throughout Lent.
It’s important to note that although we share a great deal now and will share more, a merger has not taken hat day comes, I am confident it will be managed expertly by our staff and Councils.
Over the next few weeks, as we develop our Councils, we will keep you updated. Please know this is a process of opening up to what we can and will do as the Catholic family. It’s already been an extraordinary time since Nov. 2023. Let’s look up and ahead to what can be. Our Blessed Mother, Francis de Sales and Catherine of Siena, pray for us. Together, let us be about our work.