St. Augustine Church in Millville sold

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

St. Augustine Church in Millville has been sold, according to Father John L. Larochelle, Divine Mercy pastor.

St. Augustine and St. Theresa Church in Blackstone closed on June 30, 2022, when the parishes merged with St. Paul Parish of Blackstone to form Divine Mercy Parish at St. Paul Church. A year after they closed, Father Larochelle put both churches up for sale.

Father Larochelle said Muhammad Quandil and Sadaf Ali of North Attleboro purchased St. Augustine Church for $675,000 on Aug. 23. The sale included the church with an attached parish center, a separate rectory building and a parking lot.

Father Larochelle said the buyers plan to use buildings for functions and events for the religious community at the mosque they belong to in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, about 10 minutes away. The mosque, a place of worship for Muslims, has no room to expand on site in Rhode Island because of wetlands, Father Larochelle said.

Father Larochelle said Divine Mercy has already received the payment, but so far nothing has been done with the St. Augustine property. When Father Larochelle drove by the church recently, the “for sale” sign was still up.

St. Theresa Church is still for sale but there is an offer in, said Father Larochelle.

Sales must be approved by the presbyteral council, diocesan college of consultors and the diocesan finance committee before Bishop McManus has the final say. The buyer also must receive approval from the town of Blackstone for zoning and planning purposes.

Previous sales of both churches fell through last year.

St. Theresa has a building which houses the church, rectory and offices and a separate multi-purpose facility. Properties of both churches are 4-½ acres, but St. Theresa’s is more desirable because it’s flatter. St. Augustine is located on a steep hill.

St. Augustine Parish was founded in 1880 in the French-Canadian section of Millville. The original church burned down in 1969 and another was built. St. Theresa Parish was founded in 1929.

Father Larochelle was associate pastor at St. Augustine, St. Paul, St. Mary in Uxbridge and Good Shepherd in Linwood during his first year as a priest before becoming pastor at Divine Mercy on July 1, 2022. So his decision a year later to sell the St. Augustine and St. Theresa churches was difficult. He said he has a mixed reaction to the finalized sale of St. Augustine.

“There’s sadness there,” he said, “because I can see what the people from St. Augustine have gone through to this point and I still see the sadness in their eyes when it comes up, when the sale of St. Augustine was announced. But there’s also a hope and a looking forward to the things that are to come as well. Our parish community has come together and grown. It’s really alive at this point. I’m looking forward to seeing where we go from there as the merger activity comes to an end and we start looking at entering into a period of growth and discipleship.”

Father Larochelle said the money from the sales will remain in the parish and he plans to use it to build the Catholic community in Blackstone and Millville. He said concrete plans will be determined after he meets with his parish council and finance committee.

“We as a Catholic community,” Father Larochelle, “need to be better about reaching out to the community in which we live. I’m the pastor of Divine Mercy Parish, which means all of Blackstone and Millville, whether they come to church every Sunday or not. So we as a community need to be looking at how we’re going to carry out the great commission. Christ told us that it’s very simple. He said, ‘Go and teach and baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ That’s the great commission. That’s what we’re oriented to do.”

Father Larochelle said he’s part of an evangelization group in South County that Father Nicholas Desimone, pastor at St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, spearheads.

“We’re just trying to find ways to be a parish that goes out into the community, a parish that is missionary, a parish that is making disciples through Christ.”

Renovations are nearing completion at Divine Mercy’s St. Paul Church. The sanctuary has been redone with new artwork and the tabernacle has been moved so the two side shrines can be dedicated to the patrons saints of the two closed churches.

“It’s interesting that the sale happens now,” Father Larochelle said, “because we’re actually in the middle of sketching out the artwork for the St. Augustine shrine, which will include the statue of St. Augustine from the closed church.”

The renovations had already been funded so the sale of the two churches will not be used for them, Father Larochelle said.