Diocese celebrates its 75th anniversary at Mass: ‘We are not strangers, ...' we belong to the Church

By Tanya Connor 
The Catholic Free Press

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WORCESTER - With gratitude, rejoicing and hope members of the Worcester diocese celebrated its 75th anniversary March 2 with a Mass and reception at St. Paul Cathedral.

Bishop McManus brought them together to thank God for their faith and the diocese’s history, traced to March 7, 1950, Msgr. Francis D. Kelly, a retired priest, said in his homily.  

He noted that photos depict the excitement of that day, showing police holding back some 15,000 people filling the streets to watch the procession into the cathedral for the installation of Bishop John J. Wright as the first bishop of Worcester.  

The previous day, Bishop Wright had presented to the consultors the papal bull creating the diocese.

On Sunday Raymond L. Delisle, chancellor, read from that bull much of the decree erecting the Worcester diocese.

Prior to 1950, what is now the Worcester diocese had been part of the Springfield diocese. Both dioceses had previously been in what was then the Boston diocese, now an archdiocese.  

Archbishop Richard G. Henning, archbishop of Boston, and Bishop William D. Byrne, bishop of Springfield, concelebrated the 75th anniversary Mass with Bishop McManus.  
Other concelebrants included Bishop-elect Richard F. Reidy, a Worcester diocesan priest named bishop of Norwich, Trappist Abbot Vincent Rogers of St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer and Benedictine Abbot Marc Crilly, of St. Benedict Abbey in Still River. Other priests, religious men and women, deacons and laity also participated.  

Catholics representing different ethnic groups read Scripture, sang and prayed in their languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, French, Tagalog, Twi and Swahili, along with English. At the offertory procession Africans danced with what Etienne Niyonsaba, a Burundian from St. Andrew the Apostle Mission, said were traditional baskets from Burundi and Rwanda holding food.The offertory procession.
The only things Bishop Wright would have recognized would have been the parts sung in Latin, Bishop McManus said.  

He noted that the ethnic groups share one Lord, one faith and one baptism and asked that whatever people do this Jubilee Year, they do for God’s glory and the salvation of souls. (As well as celebrating the diocese’s 75th anniversary, local Catholics are joining in the universal Jubilee Year of Hope.)

“I’m so happy I took the time to come out to this celebration,” Lynn Couture, of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury, told The Catholic Free press at the reception hosted by St. Paul’s Hispanic community. She said she is 75-years-old, like the diocese.

“The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is the splendor of this church,” she said of the cathedral, remarking about its “stunning” stained-glass windows. In her early childhood there, she said, “we had the Communion rail, the priests [had their backs] to the congregation and it was all in Latin. It was fun for me today to sing some of the Latin songs.”  The official decree from 1950 establishing the Diocese of Worcester is displayed in front of the pulpit.
Madeline Guertin,16, who came with her confirmation teacher and class from the Brookfield parishes, saw the celebration from another perspective.

“It was different from how our church usually is … getting to see how … different cultures view Catholicism and how it was all brought together in one Mass,” she commented.

“I loved hearing the history,” said Beth Waithira, a Kenyan from St. Andrew’s Mission. “The pomp and circumstance – I really loved it, the Knights and the Latin, the universal Church.”

Knights of Columbus and members of the Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre joined the entrance procession.

“It was a really special Mass,” said Elvia Grajales, 36, of St. Paul Cathedral Parish. “Hopefully I’m around for the [next] 25 years. I hope my kids can see how much work the diocese has done for our community in Worcester County.”
Priests of the diocese process in at the beginning of Mass.
“My favorite thing about the Mass [was] all the priests when they came out” at the end, said her son, Jeronimo, 7.

“Do you think you want to be a priest?” asked his mother.

“I don’t know.”

Luz Alberto, who’s been at St. Paul’s since she came from Puerto Rico in 1967, also commented about “all the priests” and said the celebration was “something exciting” for the diocese’s 75th birthday.

“The Mass was beautiful,” said her sister Iris Pineda, another St. Paul’s parishioner. She especially liked “to meet people, the bishop of Boston,” and the Africans and their music.
 
In his homily Msgr. Kelly referenced different people – from church leaders to eMsgr. Francis D. Kelly, retired, gives the homily at the 75th anniversary Mass for the Diocese of Worcester on March 2 at St. Paul Cathedral.thnic groups.
On March 7, 1950 Bishop Wright was enthroned and celebrated the new diocese’s first Mass, which was not primarily a media event or an ecclesiastical ritual, but God’s work, because the Church is his instrument to make his saving love accessible to his creatures, Msgr. Kelly said.

Repeating St. Paul’s message from the second reading (Eph 2:19-22) about the Church being held together through Jesus, he said: “That is what we are really celebrating today. We are not strangers – whatever nationality, whatever background. … We are fellow citizens with the saints and belong to this sacred, invisible temple … That Church continually grows. … And March 7, 1950 was a special moment of that growth.”

He recounted how French-Canadians, Irish, Italian, Polish and Lithuanian Catholics brought their faith here but didn’t have priests or churches, and “we were despised” and forbidden to run for public office. But Catholics held onto their faith.

“Archbishop Henning, it is so fitting … to have your presence with us today, because the first priests to venture into Central Massachusetts came from Boston,” Msgr. Kelly said. “Your predecessor Bishop [Benedict] Fenwick … assigned … to Worcester Father James Fitton,” who directed the construction of the first Catholic church, what is now St. John’s, a still-vibrant parish.  

To Springfield’s Bishop Byrne Msgr. Kelly said, “We welcome you today as our parent bishop.”  

“The Church is not our project; it’s God’s project,” he continued, referring to the first reading (Ez 34:11-16). God says he will feed his sheep, bring back strays, etc.

“The Church is the visible sign and instrument by which God is able to do that,” Msgr. Kelly explained. He recognized deceased bishops, priests, religious, deacons, and Bishop McManus, who he said has served during especially challenging times, supported seminarians and welcomed ethnic groups, among other services. He had the congregation applaud the bishop and priests.

He said the diocese is “looking to a bright future,” relying on Jesus’ prayer “for the Church of Worcester” from the Gospel (Jn 17:11, 17-23). What “we should take from this celebration,” Msgr. Kelly said, are St. Paul’s words: “Rejoice in the Lord always. … Have no anxiety … Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.”

– Editor’s note: Do you remember the early days? Tell us more by emailing cfpnews@catholicfreepress.org. Look out for a special supplement commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Worcester Diocese in May.