St. Ann’s history and future includes St. Roch’s

By Tanya Connor 
The Catholic Free Press

St. Ann Parish in the North Oxford section of Oxford grew out of St. Roch Parish in Oxford, and now is returning to its mother church with the Sept. 1 merger.

Histories and more recent reports reveal connections between the two parishes and happenings at St. Ann’s in intervening years.  

The story of Catholicism in Oxford pre-dates both parishes. Priests’ visits determined when sacraments were celebrated.

A People of Faith, a book by Jean M. O’Reilly which celebrated St. Roch’s 1986 centennial, found the first recorded visit of a priest to Oxford as being in 1828. At that time Father Robert D. Woodley traveled as a missionary between Providence and Worcester. In 1833, Father James Fitton was assigned to continue to bring sacraments to Catholics in Oxford, among other places.  

In the 1850s, after St. Louis Parish in Webster was founded, priests from there served the Oxford mission.

The first Catholic church in Oxford – the original St. Roch’s – was built by the St. Roch’s Catholic Society in 1857, according to A People of Faith.

Father John J. McCoy’s History of the Diocese of Springfield, published in 1900, says Father Napoleon Meigneault, St. Louis’ pastor, built St. Roch’s in 1856.

Both histories say St. Roch’s became a parish in 1886.  

The 1888 parish census showed 830 Catholics in Oxford, 507 of them in North Oxford, says A People of Faith.

Its author, Mrs. O’Reilly, told The Catholic Free Press that there were more mills in North Oxford than in Oxford, and mill owners, wanting to keep workers happy, took the women and children in horse-drawn wagons to Sunday Mass at St. Roch’s.  Having a church in North Oxford was of interest to the mill owners.  

 Father Patrick F. Hafey came to St. Roch’s in 1895, and that August announced plans for a church in North Oxford. St. Ann’s foundation work began on September 12, 1896, and he celebrated the first Mass in the unfinished church’s basement on Christmas that year.  

“Times for Masses alternated between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. at Saint Roch’s and Saint Ann’s each Sunday,” says A People of Faith. “The Mass schedule was dictated by the electric car schedule for the next fifteen years. It was understood that the electric car [a trolley] did not leave the respective church without Father Hafey who would then travel to the other church. Occasionally a lengthy Gospel, sermon, or the required French and English sermons on Feast Days caused his delay, but no Irish Catholic car man would consider leaving until he was safely aboard.

“... Father Hafey chose to become the first resident pastor at Saint Ann Church when the mission station was declared an independent parish,” in 1926, the history says. “Geographic location automatically determined parish membership for most parishioners. Father Hafey was known to have asked a few specific families to join the new parish, and their decision at that time defined parish boundaries for many years.” Mrs. O’Reilly said Father Hafey wanted people good at fundraising in his new parish!

“The people of Saint Ann’s did experience the same joyful anticipation as the people of Saint Roch’s had forty years earlier,” when their parish was formed, says A People of Faith.

“Although parishioners had enthusiastically worked toward building a new parish church and a rectory and founding a new parish for thirty years, some sadness accompanied severing formal ties with the original parish,” once St. Ann’s became its own parish.  

“Both of these parishes shared a common history for many years. A part of Saint Roch parish will always remain in the story of Saint Ann parish …”

They became separate parishes, but a couple years ago started sharing priests again.
“Celebrating 100 Years,” a booklet printed for St. Ann’s centennial, tells more of that parish’s story.

Among the booklet’s topics is the second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which pastors helped parishioners prepare for and comply with. There were also youth activities, variety shows, and ecumenical gatherings that St. Roch’s participated in.

Father James S. Steuterman, administrator of St. Ann’s in 1991 into 1992, and pastor from 1992 to 2009, and pastoral associate Sister Jeanne Rouillard, a Sister of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, “formed an unbeatable team,” the anniversary booklet says. “Mass attendance was up. The church became alive … a place of refuge for those who needed to find Jesus …” There were renovations, outreach ministries, 12-step groups and helps for spiritual life, including retreats.

The extensive front lawn between the church and the street provided a place to display a large nativity scene and a sign that said, “Stop the Violence Against Children” and “Honor the Child” in 1999. A 1997 outdoor message was, “Let’s ask our medical professionals to Kill the Pain … Not the Patient,” a reference to a physician assisted suicide bill.

In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, it was parishioners who gathered outside – in their cars – for an Easter Sunday blessing by Father Michael N. Lavallee, pastor from 2013-2022.  
A parish analysis by St. Ann’s renewal committee (part of the process leading to the merger) said several retreats and adult religious education programs were initiated during Father Lavallee’s tenure. By Tanya Connor
Among strengths St. Ann’s renewal committee members listed for their parish was this Chapel in the Woods behind the church.​
In 2022 Father Michael J. Roy, St. Roch’s pastor, became St. Ann’s pastor too. He was succeeded in 2023 by Father James J. Boulette, associate pastor of both parishes from 2022-2023, and now their pastor.

Among parish strengths that St. Ann’s renewal committee listed in its analysis were an online prayer line with “prayer warriors” who pray about requested intentions, and the Chapel in the Woods behind the church, which includes an altar, seats, and Stations of the Cross.

Weaknesses reported included aging parishioners and declining attendance, especially by younger people. Given these and other factors, St. Ann’s is being merged into St. Roch’s.  

In a letter last March about the process that ultimately led to this decision, Bishop McManus told members of both parishes, “I recognize that the idea of change can be challenging, but I hope that all parishioners will also experience the enthusiasm that comes from imagining the possibility of belonging to a parish renewed by vibrant worship; rich community life; ever-deepening formation in the faith; service to the poor; and a tireless commitment to the work of evangelization, the Church’s essential mission.”