BLACKSONE – Hope – because of Christ – was a theme sounded Sunday when Bishop McManus visited St. Paul Church.
It was his first journey to one of the 10 churches in the Worcester diocese that he designated as pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee Year of Hope. His visits to the others are scheduled throughout the year, a year in which the diocese is also celebrating its 75th anniversary.
In Divine Mercy Parish’s St. Paul Church, the bishop preached to more than 150 people at a solemn sung evening prayer service with musicians hired for the occasion. The event included confessions and refreshments.
Pilgrims could also make a personal visit in the church, using the “Self-guided Tour Booklet” the parish provided, and get a “passport stamp” in the diocesan “Jubilee 2025 Pilgrim’s Guide.” PHOTO ALBUM
The tour booklet spoke of “praying with art, also known as visio divina (divine seeing).” “As you enter the church and leave the world behind, let us prayerfully step up to the baptismal font to begin our prayer journey,” the booklet said. It invited pilgrims to bless themselves with holy water, showed a photo of the font, and explained that Father Paul F. Campbell, a previous pastor there, made it.
The booklet continued with suggested prayers, photos and history of the altar, tabernacle, crucifix, statues, murals, windows, Stations of the Cross and grave of Father Charles O’Reilly. He was first pastor of St. Paul’s, which was merged in 2022 with St. Theresa Parish and St. Augustine Parish in Millville to form Divine Mercy.
Father John L. Larochelle, present pastor, welcomed pilgrims to the evening prayer service, expressing hope that the Jubilee Year will be an occasion for them to grow in Christ.
“What are we traveling to?” Bishop McManus asked in his homily, explaining that pilgrimages are opportunities to fall in love with Jesus. He noted that the Father loves us so much he sent Jesus to save us; “that is the source of our hope.”
Some people have lost the meaning of life, the bishop said. Christians need to know where they themselves are going in order to be missionary disciples, accompanying other people. God made us to know, love and serve him in this world and be happy with him forever. Deacon Anthony J. Xatse, who serves at St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester and in the African community, found hope through the homily.
“I came here because, to me personally, this is a triple blessing,” he told The Catholic Free Press. The universal Church is celebrating the Jubilee Year, the diocese is celebrating its 75th anniversary and the African community in the diocese is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Joining the bishop’s first pilgrimage this year was a good time to kick off these celebrations, Deacon Xatse reasoned.
The bishop’s homily offered “a lot of hope, because our society, we are facing a lot of challenges, and we need to hear these messages to strengthen us,” he said. He said he is a U.S. citizen, but he, and some immigrants who are not, are very tense, feeling the present political situation threatening them. The bishop’s homily helped show there’s hope that they will come through this.
Others saw hope for the world in pilgrimages or joy in the Jubilee Year and the parish. “I just felt the pilgrimage is something we all should do … the nation is in such disarray,” said Robert Wyman, of Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Worcester. “If we come back to church and believe in our faith, the world will be a better place for everyone.”
“I think it’s a wonderful time to have this privilege, because of all the turbulence in the world, [to visit] the beautiful churches,” added James Buffone, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish in Worcester. “Maybe people will come back to church.” He said he hadn’t been to St. Paul’s before.
“It was beautiful to see not only our parishioners” but people from other parishes “join in our beautiful Jubilee celebration,” commented Philip Dunlavey, of Divine Mercy Parish.
“It’s good once in a while to get a sense you’re part of something bigger,” said Robert Wondolowski, of St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, noting the diocesan and universal Church celebrations observed that day.
Catherine North-Erickson, of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Fitchburg, said she is grateful to Bishop McManus for designating the pilgrim churches.
“It’s a blessing to all of us,” she enthused, speaking of graces to be gained. “We have all these beautiful parishes and we have an opportunity to visit them.”
“I like this church,” said Raymond Sylvestre, a Divine Mercy parishioner. “I think it’s very spiritual right now.” He said people are fascinated with its paintings but “I’m more fascinated with the heart of the people.”
He also expressed appreciation for the Jubilee Year and Bishop McManus’ visit, since he’d seen him in Rhode Island when they were both there.
Father Larochelle said the line for confessions during Sunday’s pilgrimage extended almost the length of the church at one point.
“That’s the thing I’m most happy about,” he said. “We’re Divine Mercy Parish. The message we want to share … is the love and mercy of Christ. And I don’t think there’s any greater way to encounter that than the sacrament of confession.”
The parish’s other plans for the Jubilee Year include taking buses of parishioners to the other pilgrim churches and having “Pilgrims of Hope guest speakers” during several of the upcoming months.
– The second stop on Bishop McManus’ pilgrimage schedule is Feb. 23 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church at Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish, 7 Church St. in Spencer.
Since parish changes, Divine Mercy has grown, bringing with it new hope for the Church
What’s thriving today at Divine Mercy Parish?
Everything, according to Toni Harvey, pastoral associate. She says new people are joining. And former members of the parishes that merged in 2022 to create Divine Mercy are returning. (Some people didn’t at first join the new parish after the merger of St. Paul and St. Theresa parishes in Blackstone and St. Augustine Parish in Millville.)
“I don’t have enough parking and I don’t have enough seats for the 10:30 Mass” Sunday mornings, says Father John L. Larochelle, pastor, explaining that he plans to add a fourth Lord’s Day Mass at the 350-person-capacity St. Paul Church. He says that in 2024 about 78 new families joined the parish.
“There’s so much going on,” he says. “Now the parishioners are empowered; they don’t feel like they have to wait for Father John” in order to do something.
“Our ministries are growing,” says Mrs. Harvey. “We’re adding new ministries” and new people are joining ministries. Parishioners are asking for more ministries, to serve and “to share and grow in the faith of Christ. They want to do it together.”
The website divinemercyparishma.org lists numerous ministries involving prayer and worship, education, service and/or socializing.
Speaking of greeters, lectors and eucharistic ministers, Mrs. Harvey says, “We feel bad that they don’t get to serve” as often as they’d like. There are so many people signed up for these roles that they have to take turns.
Leaving her beloved St. Theresa Parish was hard for greeter Sandra Castiglioni. She says Father Larochelle “helped ease the way” and his incorporating a statue of their patroness from their church into St. Paul’s meant a lot.
“The Lord has sent me here” to Divine Mercy, Ms. Castiglioni says now. “We signed up for everything.”
What does she think of her new parish church being a pilgrimage site for the Jubilee Year?
“I’m proud,” she replies. “We worked hard to get here … to become this. It’s not just the beauty [of the church]. It’s the people, the care and the love and the kind people.”
Father Larochelle expresses hope that, in this Year of Hope, families recognize “the beauty of living in a Christian community” that is alive.
“It’s really all about divine mercy … the message that God’s mercy is an ocean, and it’s there for us to be immersed in,” he says. “We just have to go to him.”
A glimpse into the history of St. Paul Church Straddling the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border – a problem or a solution?
St. Paul Church in Blackstone is a pilgrimage site for the Jubilee Year. So, let’s take a peek at this unique building’s history.
The church was erected for the third parish in what is now the Worcester diocese. The Blackstone parish under the patronage of St. Paul the Apostle was established on Nov. 23, 1850. Two parishes predate it; they are St. John’s in Worcester (1836) and St. Mary of the Assumption in Milford (February 1850).
Area Catholics had worshipped in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in what was then the Hartford diocese. With the influx of Catholic workers, people sought a parish in Blackstone.
Welcome Farnum, an Episcopalian who employed Catholics in his mills in Blackstone, donated land on the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border for a Catholic church. Bishop John B. Fitzpatrick of Boston and Bishop Bernard O’Reilly of Hartford agreed to let the Woonsocket pastor, Father Charles O’Reilly, Bishop O’Reilly’s cousin, become St. Paul’s pastor.
The church, built with granite quarried nearby, was dedicated on July 11, 1852.
The wedding story
The fact that it straddles the state line makes it not only unique, but at times a problem – or a solution! Take “the famous wedding story,” retold in The Catholic Free Press in 2000, as St. Paul’s celebrated its 150th anniversary.
“A bride and groom from North Smithfield, R.I., had gotten their marriage license in their hometown. The trouble was, they were going to be married in Massachusetts. Their license wasn’t valid in the Bay State, so the priest had no authority to marry them in this state.
“In St. Paul’s ... that was not an insurmountable problem. One of the two front church entrances ... is in North Smithfield. ... So the bride and groom just marched to the corner of the church that is in Rhode Island.
“A priest authorized to perform marriages in Rhode Island was needed. ... A car was dispatched to [a nursing home in North Smithfield] and fetched a retired priest ... He married the couple in the corner of the church that stands in Rhode Island. Then he got back into the car and went back to the nursing home.
“The couple then marched to the altar in Massachusetts for the celebration of the wedding Mass.”
The two-state church was enlarged over the years, with a tower built in 1872, and left and right transepts with rose windows in 1883.
In 1932 fire destroyed St. Paul’s interior, leaving only the outer walls and tower. Rebuilding progressed quickly and the reconstructed church was rededicated in 1933.
Other interior renovations were done over the years, including last year’s additions of murals to include St. Theresa Parish in Blackstone and St. Augustine Parish in Millville, which were merged with St. Paul’s in 2022 to form the present parish: Divine Mercy at St. Paul’s. St. Paul Church open for self-guided tours
During this Jubilee Year 2025, St. Paul Church of Divine Mercy Parish, 48 St. Paul St., Blackstone, is to be open (except on holidays) for pilgrims’ self-guided tours:
Sundays – 2:30-3:30 p.m. (Pilgrims are invited to recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.)
Tuesdays – 8:45-9:45 a.m. (Pilgrims are invited to participate in 7:30 a.m. rosary and 8 a.m. Mass.)
Thursdays – 5-6 p.m. (Pilgrims are invited to attend 6:30 p.m. Mass, followed by adoration.)
Groups seeking a guided tour may email associate@divinemercyparishma.org or call 508-859-6906.