In 100 years parish goes multicultural

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER - The first baby to be baptized at St. Bernard Church was a member of a family that had immigrated from Ireland. St. Bernard was largely an Irish parish back then. 

In front of a sizable crowd Sunday, the Mass to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the church on Lincoln Street was held partly in English and partly in Spanish. 

A lot has changed at St. Bernard Church over the last century, including a 2008 merger with Our Lady of Fatima Parish to form Our Lady of Providence Parish at St. Bernard Church. But this much hasn’t changed – the church continues to provide a place for its parishioners and neighbors to gather and worship. 

“It’s been a home to so many,” said Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas, pastor for the past five years, “and we have a whole new influx of people from all different countries, the Latin American countries, South American countries. We have all new faces of immigrants coming in and having their children baptized here. We have the blend of the old and the new and ... I think it’s the beauty of what this parish has become.” 

On Sundays, the parish usually holds Masses in English at 9 a.m. and in Spanish at 11 a.m. Last Sunday, only one bilingual Mass was held, at 10 a.m., in honor of the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the church by Bishop Thomas M. O’Leary on Nov. 6, 1921, when St. Bernard belonged to the Springfield Diocese. The Worcester Diocese was established in 1950. 

St. Bernard began as a predominantly Irish church, but, along with the neighborhood, has become much more multicultural. For the Easter Vigil Mass, there are readings in English, Spanish, French and Vietnamese. 

Many parishioners live outside the neighborhood. Some have read about the parish and its many programs in Father Slavinskas’s social media posts and decided to return to the parish where they grew up. Some needed a new church when theirs closed. Others met Father Slavinskas at UMass Memorial Medical Center where he is on call, or through the police and fire departments where he is a chaplain. 

“They know they can come here and have a home that truly cares about them and supports them,” he said. 

Paul and Phyllis Leonard became parishioners in 2008 when Our Lady of Fatima closed. Their pastor, Father Edward Ryan, moved from Our Lady of Fatima as well and helped them adjust. 

“We just feel comfortable in that church,” Mrs. Leonard said. “I can’t express it any other way. I would be very lost if I went anywhere else.” 

Chairman of the finance committee Matt Geiger, 61, also moved from Our Lady of Fatima. He likes the diversity of the parish and appreciates that it welcomes neighbors of all faiths to its food pantry, gym, and after-school program.  

“The parish is certainly no longer largely white, if you will,” he said, “but I think that the fact that the parish is there for everyone in the neighborhood is really important. Because I think sometimes we all forget that the Catholic Church is a universal Church and it’s really important the people recognize that the church is there for people in all parts of the city.” 

Alex and Edith Torres usually attend the Spanish Mass. The Torreses and their two children used to worship at Our Lady of Fatima. Mr. Torres is a member of the finance committee, a lector and a server. He credits Father Slavinskas for bringing together the parishioners of different cultures. 

“He makes it so easy for everybody to get along,” he said. “It’s a blessing to have everybody there and unified.” 

The Marie Anne Center, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Anne of Marlborough, opened in the lower level of the church in 2001 and offers an after-school homework and reading program for children, a prayer group that meets twice a month, and an English-as-a-second-language program. 

Sister Michele Jacques is the director and said the center has offered English as a second language over the years to adults from 36 countries. This year, close to 15 adults are enrolled, most of whom speak Portuguese or Spanish. 

“Right now I think we’re in a revivable time,” said Sister Jacques, who is a parishioner there, “and that’s due a lot to Father Jonathan, but also a lot of us working together.” 

Kathleen and Bob Haran, both 85, have been at the parish on Lincoln Street for 60 years.  

“It’s a friend,” Mrs. Haran said. “I couldn’t go anyplace else unless I had to.” 

Seven of their nine children were baptized in St. Bernard’s and all received their first Communion and confirmation there. Three were married there. 

“Years ago when we first started,” Mrs. Haran said, “a lot of people going to our parish lived in those three-deckers and they were all families. So that has changed, the population that we see, but the fact that it’s needed in our section is proof that it’s a wanted church.” 

Mr. Haran has been a lector and server at St. Bernard for nearly 60 years. 

“I’m Irish and I was used to having all Irish people there,” he said, “and to see other cultures come in I thought was excellent.” 

Kathy MacLeod, 62, traveled from her home in Cranston, Rhode Island, to attend the anniversary Mass. She grew up in the neighborhood, received her first Communion, and was confirmed and married in St. Bernard’s. The funerals of both her parents were held at the church, her mother’s just last month. 

Mrs. MacLeod attended the anniversary Mass with friends she attended CYC with at St. Bernard. Afterward, she took photos of the church and signed the memory book. 

“Very nostalgic,” Mrs. MacLeod said. “I did weep. The music just warmed my heart.” 

Anita Martinelli, 79, grew up on Paine Street behind the church and was baptized there as were two of her children.  

She and her husband Charlie attended St. Mary Church when they moved to Shrewsbury, but after their children grew up, they commuted to St. Bernard’s each Sunday. Mr. Martinelli passed away in 2018, but Mrs. Martinelli continues to attend Mass there. 

“Mostly because of the diversity,” she said. “I like all different kinds of people. It makes me feel blessed that we’re surrounded with different people. I wish that everybody could not look at what color someone is, yellow, black or brown or whatever. We’re all the same. God made us all and he loves us all.” 

Christine (Riley) Consolmagno, 57, received all the sacraments at St. Bernard’s – from baptism to marriage. Her 15 Riley siblings, including Father Walter J. Riley, pastor at St. Luke the Evangelist in Westborough, also received their sacraments at the church. 

Father Slavinskas marvels at all the love and prayers St. Bernard has experienced over the last 100 years. 

“If the walls could truly speak,” he said. “The walls can’t speak, but we can speak.” 

And he plans to continue to spread the word of God. 

“I think we’ll absolutely be around for another 100 years,” Father Slavinskas said. “We have no plans to go anywhere at all.” 

 ESTABLISHED 105 YEARS AGO
 

By Bill Doyle | CFP CORRESPONDENT

WORCESTER - St. Bernard Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of its dedication with a Mass and reception last Sunday morning, but the parish was actually established 105 years ago. 

On Nov. 12, 1916, the Springfield Diocese announced that Immaculate Conception Parish on Grove Street would be divided to form St. Bernard Parish on Lincoln Street. Ground was broken for the new church on Aug. 10, 1917, and the first Mass was held there on March 16, 1919. According to the St. Bernard Parish Jubilee Year Celebration program published in 1972, men from the parish graded the church grounds on weekends from June until September of 1919. 

In March of 1920, the parish committee began procuring funds for altars. 

On Nov. 6, 1921, the bishop of the Springfield Diocese, Thomas M. O’Leary, dedicated St. Bernard Church, and 100 years and a day later St. Bernard Church celebrated that anniversary. The Diocese of Worcester wasn’t created until 1950. 

Over the years, the church has under-gone several changes. In 1932, the  
existing church organ was installed in the loft. At the time, it was considered to be the finest organ in the city.  

In 1956, the recreation center was built. 

In 2008, Our Lady of Fatima on Belmont Street closed and merged with St. Bernard to form Our Lady of Providence Parish at St. Bernard Church. Father Edward M. Ryan moved from Our Lady of Fatima to become pastor at the merged parish. 

In 2011, the diocese sold Our Lady of Fatima Church to the Chinese Gospel Church of Massachusetts for $675,000 and the net proceeds were awarded to Our Lady of Providence Parish. 

St. Bernard broke off from Immaculate Conception as an Irish immigrant church. Our Lady of Fatima separated from St. Bernard in 1952 and merged back with St. Bernard in 2008. 

When Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Ann merged with Our Lady of Loreto in 2017, the diocese assigned the former St. Ann territory to Our Lady of Providence Parish. The parish territory encompasses 223 streets in Worcester. 

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary, Pastor Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas and his parishioners spruced up the church. His father, Dan Slavinskas, and Kevin Letourneau built side altars in front of the church for statues of St. Joseph and St. Bernard that were donated over the past couple of years. 

Walls were painted. The large crucifix was also painted and reinstalled behind the altar in time for the anniversary Mass. 

New vinyl tile was recently installed in the baptistery area and, once the funds are raised, new flooring will be laid throughout the church. 

Two of the four confessionals were converted to devotional shrines to house a large crucifix and statues of Our Lady of Fatima and St. Joseph from Our Lady of Fatima Church, as well as a crucifixion scene donated by Jesuit Father William E. Reiser, of the College of the Holy Cross, who usually celebrates the Spanish Mass on Sundays. 

The parish began a restoration fund for the church’s 100-year-old pews, but several weeks ago Father Slavinskas read online that a developer planned to demolish the closed St. John Cantius Church in Northampton to build townhomes. He was struck by how closely St. John Cantius resembled St. Bernard and he later learned that the two churches were among the many designed by architect John W. Donohue. 

St. John Cantius was founded in 1904, but the pews are much newer. With the help of U.S. Rep James P. McGovern, a St. Bernard parishioner, the developer donated the pews, and Direnzo Towing & Recovery volunteered to deliver all 46 of them, the same number St. Bernard currently has. They are scheduled to be installed over the next several months. 

St. Bernard also received a wooden pulpit from the Northampton church. 

“We’re truly a blessed parish,” Father Slavinskas said, “and it brings me great joy to see the varied faces that exist within the pews. It’s the motivation to keep going, realizing that it is through their prayers and their hard work that we can get all this good stuff done continually. They’re the holy ones of the church, not the ones sitting up front.”