Some members of closed Boston parishes head to Worcester Diocese

Published: 2004-09-16

WORCESTER, Mass. (CNS) -- When the Boston Archdiocese closed two parishes in Marlborough, many parishioners found a new home at St. Bernadette Parish in a neighboring diocese. So far, about 130 families from St. Ann and St. Mary parishes in Marlborough have joined St. Bernadette in Northboro, just over the border in the Worcester Diocese. "We've doubled our religious education program" to about 240 young people, said Virginia Boland, director of religious education at St. Bernadette. "You have to rely on God," she told The Catholic Free Press, Worcester's diocesan newspaper. "God's sending the people. I feel like we're blessed to have them." St. Mary Parish closed Aug. 1 and St. Ann had its last Mass as a parish Aug. 29, but about 400 parishioners from these parishes had already attended a welcoming Mass July 1 at St. Bernadette. "There was already a good connection, a good feeling, about St. Bernadette's" on the part of Marlborough Catholics who have already been to novenas and adoration at the parish, said Father Stephen Gemme, St. Bernadette pastor.

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