Despite sadness, parishioners remember the good at St. Mary Oratory

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

BROOKFIELD – From service to socials to the priests’ outreach, people connected with St. Mary Church had memories to share after the closing Mass there Saturday. Despite some sadness, there was hope.

St. Mary Parish merged with Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in West Brookfield in 2011 and became an oratory under Sacred Heart’s guardianship. The parish name was changed to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, but both church buildings were used and kept their names.
Tuesday that parish was merged with St. John the Baptist Parish in East Brookfield and St. Joseph Parish in North Brookfield to form Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish. St. Mary’s and St. John’s church buildings were closed.

“My grandparents came for the first Mass ... so I thought I’d be here for the last,” said Michelle Booth, baptized at St. Mary’s in 1962 and now a member of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton.

She said naming the new parish for Blessed Carlo, the first millennial saint, is exciting, because “he speaks to a number of generations.”

Barbara Clancy, a St. Mary’s member from 1958 until she moved in 2023, lectored for the last Mass. She said closing St. John’s was terrible, since it’s a newer church building with a newer rectory.

“You couldn’t keep [all the churches] open and you couldn’t keep” St. Mary’s open; there aren’t enough people going to Mass, she said.

Speaking of naming the new parish for a teenager from Italy, she said she didn’t think there are many Italians in the area; “we’re all a bunch of Irishmen.”

Her son Thomas Clancy, who no longer lives in the area, recalled his days at St. Mary’s.

“I can remember being an altar server. ... The bishop was coming out. Father [Robert] Poulin would have you come three times” in one day to prepare for the occasion. “Father Poulin ... he’d come out and play basketball with us” at the court at the church. “You could knock on the door of the rectory” to get a ball if needed.

Richard and Debra Brigham, St. Mary’s members who became parishioners at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, recalled how Father John Hillier, later St. Mary’s pastor, brought in young families and he got their children and others to be altar servers or lectors.

“We’ve been coming to the Saturday Mass” at St. Mary’s  because the church was closing, Mrs. Brigham said. “I was coming to pray during the week. ... I think this is the prettiest church. ... It’s homey. It feels like home.” She said it’s sad the church is closing, like it was sad when parishioners left the parish family for whatever reason, but “God has a bigger plan.”

Dianna Brothers echoed that.

“Father Hillier was wonderful,” she said, adding that it was sad when he left, “and now this is another sad day.” But those who remained true to St. Mary’s “trust in God to lead us”; she plans to worship at Sacred Heart.

“We’re trying to stay together as our faith family,” and go to the same church, she said; they were waiting to meet their new pastor, Father Mark S. Rainville and see how things go.

“This is a hard pill to swallow ... not knowing what will become of some of the special things in the church,” said Michele Connor, a St. Mary’s member for 40-plus years who plans to go to Sacred Heart. She said many people helped repaint the words on St. Mary’s windows; volunteer work was Father Hillier’s way of keeping to a budget.

Louise Woodard, at St. Mary’s since about 1970, said she and her husband, who became Catholic in 1992, “worked on different fundraisers together.”

Now she runs the ecumenical food pantry in St. Mary’s basement, she said.

Father Miguel Pagan, sacramental minister in the Brookfields, preached at St. Mary’s closing Mass about continuing to love as God loves the world. Proclaiming to others that Jesus is Lord “is the heart of every parish community,” he said, extending to members Jesus’ call to “feed my sheep and follow me.”

In a brief talk at Mass, Father Joseph D. Rice, administrator, spoke about relying on the older generation to teach millennials, like the new parish’s patron, who are the Church’s future.

He gave some history of St. Mary’s, said, “It’s troubling my heart we have to close,” and expressed hope that the Orthodox Church renting the building will continue worshipping there.

The worship space doubled as a social hall after Mass, for finger foods and a presentation about the parish which Father Donald C. Ouellette, associate pastor in the Brookfields, put together.

Lois O’Leary, at St. Mary’s for 53 years, told The Catholic Free Press some of her memories and hopes.

“Except for today and funerals, I sat in the same seat,” she said. “We used to have a lot of pot luck suppers ... to get people together ... and sometimes the CCD kids would perform.” There were fundraising yard sales, and chicken barbeques to thank people who worked for the church. The priests would also treat CCD teachers to supper at the rectory or a restaurant.

Mrs. O’Leary said she taught for 30 years, and is now in the Mary Martha Sodality which prepares coffee hour food.

She hopes to take to the Sacred Heart campus the Mary’s Messengers group she chairs. Its members make bouquets for shut-ins, the lonely and bereaved, and send cards and request Masses for the deceased.

With the Orthodox using St. Mary’s, Mrs. O’Leary said, she might sometimes attend their service “to sit in my seat once again.”