A history of the Catholic community on Grafton Hill

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER - The merger of two parishes, effective Sept. 1, is not the first merger for some members of Holy Family Parish, who have been worshiping in St. Joseph’s Church for decades.
But it is the first time its closest neighboring parish – St. Stephen – which is across the street, has been merged.
Ethnic communities still make up the parishes, though now they come from different countries than in the past.
The new parish is called St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish, and it is to continue using St. Joseph and St. Stephen churches.
St. Stephen’s, a “territorial parish,” was established on Jan. 27, 1887, out of territory that was previously part of St. John Parish. St. Stephen’s once served primarily Irish and some Italian Catholics.
St. Joseph Parish was established on March 9, 1891, as a “personal parish” for Franco-American Catholics. They were also served by other parishes in Worcester: Notre Dame des Canadiens, established in 1869; Holy Name of Jesus (1893) and St. Anthony (1904).  
In 1975 St. Anthony’s was suppressed and incorporated into Notre Dame.
In 1992 Bishop Timothy J. Harrington merged St. Joseph’s and Notre Dame to form Notre Dame/St. Joseph Parish. Worship was to be at Notre Dame. St. Joseph’s Church was to be closed, and likely razed because it was in disrepair.
St. Joseph parishioners and a “Save St. Joseph’s Committee” filed a lawsuit against Bishop Harrington about ownership of the property. Parishioners occupied the church for 13 months, until the court sided with the diocese and police escorted them out.
However, in 1996, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly reopened St. Joseph’s and both churches were used for Notre Dame/St. Joseph Parish.
In 2008 Bishop McManus merged Notre Dame/St. Joseph and Holy Name of Jesus parishes to form Holy Family Parish, with worship at St. Joseph Church. Notre Dame and Holy Name church buildings were sold and Notre Dame was subsequently razed.
Today, Holy Family and St. Stephen parishes – with their English-speaking, Brazilian, Hispanic, and Haitian communities – form the new St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish.

St. Stephen’s history involves the Irish and Italians.
In 1886, St. John’s pastor, Father Thomas Griffin, began seeking a site for a church in the southeast part of the city, according to a history in the Oct. 5, 1962, edition of The Catholic Free Press. Through the help of five prominent Worcester residents, a plot was purchased on the corner of Grafton and Hamilton streets.
Father R.S.J. Burke of Westborough became pastor on Jan. 27, 1887, the history says. Ten days later he celebrated the parish’s first Mass in the attic of a schoolhouse at the corner of Grafton and Wall streets, which was used for worship until the basement of the new church was finished on June 19, 1887. The church was completed, and on Sept. 4, 1887, it was dedicated.
“When the parish was formed there were within its lines 1,200 souls of Irish birth or origin, with a sprinkling of Italians,” the history says. Father Burke studied Italian to serve the Italian-speaking people and was their pastor until an Italian priest was sent to Worcester.
The present St. Stephen’s Church was the result of the efforts of Father Thomas H. McLaughlin, the third pastor, who worked to pay off the debt and save money to build a new church, according to the history. Ground was broken on June 1, 1916, on the site of the former rectory on Grafton and Hamilton streets. (The rectory was moved to Hamilton Street.)     When Father McLaughlin died in 1923 the church was free of debt and had money saved for the school he had planned.
His successor, Father John J. Lunney, oversaw the construction of the school on the site of the first church on Grafton Street. The school, run by Sisters of St. Joseph, opened in 1924 for eight grammar school grades and the first year of high school. That year a convent behind the school, on Caroline Street, was completed for the sisters.
The expansion of the high school was begun in 1956 and it was dedicated in 1957.
St. Stephen’s High School had ceased to be a parish-sponsored school and became part of the central Catholic school system before closing in 1971. The elementary school was closed in 2020.
St. Joseph’s too had a grade school, which opened in the late-1800s and closed in 1970.
On Jan. 9, 1887, St. Joseph’s had been established on Wall Street as a mission of Notre Dame des Canadiens, according to a Catholic Free Press report. When St. Joseph’s became a parish, it rented the chapel from Notre Dame and in 1892 dedicated its own church, built on Wall Street.
In 1926 construction began on the present church on Hamilton Street, and it was dedicated in 1928.