Final Mass held at Holy Spirit Church

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

GARDNER – The community at Holy Spirit Church is a family – a family that should stay together.

This desire was expressed Sunday at the last Mass at Holy Spirit, Annunciation Parish’s chapel at 50 Lovewell St.

The pastor, Father Victor A. Sierra, also expressed his feelings, and parishioners shared memories.  

A Sept. 24 decree by Bishop McManus, read at Holy Spirit’s last Mass by Father Luke A. Johnson, associate pastor, said Holy Spirit would close Oct. 1. Worship is to continue at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Annunciation Parish’s main church building, at 135 Nichols St.  

Annunciation was formed on July 1, 2015, from the merger of Holy Spirit, Holy Rosary and the other Gardner parishes – St. Joseph and Sacred Heart of Jesus – which were subsequently closed.  

Father Sierra told the congregation that that morning he was thinking of returning home to Colombia to his mother, who is sick. But, he said, “I’m going to stay because of you,” and received applause. “You have a lot to bring” to Annunciation, he said.  

He also painted a picture of parish challenges, including parishioners living on Social Security and more funerals than new members.  

It was as if they were packing that day, taking what they can from Holy Spirit Church, “but, most importantly, I want to take you with me,” the pastor said. “Don’t go somewhere else. I’m pretty sure you’re going to miss us. ... We are here for Jesus Christ.”  

After the homily, Father Sierra said it’s not about sadness and anger, and called forward for a blessing newly engaged Troy Yacyshyn and Jaclyn Nicholson.

“In my 22 years as a deacon, this is the hardest Mass I was ever at,” Deacon Stanley Baczewski said in a brief talk. “They always say the Church is not a building.”

He said the parish is an example of what a parish is – the people. He said they are family, believing in and following Christ, and encouraged them to continue to be that family.

“I have never seen another parish like this ... so warm and loving,” he said. “I’ll need your support at Holy Rosary.”  

Father Sierra asked if anyone else wanted to say anything, and organist Sharon Sawtel said she’s been playing there for 45 years and thanked the people. The pastor said she will play at Holy Rosary. The organ is to go there too, the deacon said.  

After Communion, Father Sierra extinguished the sanctuary lamp by the now-empty tabernacle, and the Easter candle, after it was carried in the recessional. Also carried out were other items to be taken to Holy Rosary Church – a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa (from St. Joseph, the Polish parish that was part of the 2015 merger) and a relief of an angel.

Father Sierra said the Stations of the Cross from Sacred Heart will go to Holy Family Academy, the parish school next to Holy Rosary Church, and the people applauded.
Before the merge, the school was Holy Rosary’s.

Robert Trudel, 94, said that, when he attended it, lessons were in French.  

“I’ve been around the circle,” he said, in reference to the parishes. “I started at Holy Rosary,” then married a woman from Sacred Heart and went there. When that church closed, people went to Holy Spirit or Holy Rosary.  

“So now I’m going back to where I came from,” he said. “It’s going to be like home.”  

Barbara Proffitt, a Holy Spirit member for 22 years, called Sunday a sad day – like reliving the merger.

“My heart goes out to everybody that’s losing this place,” said Dianne Hunt, who called herself fortunate that Holy Rosary was already her home. She said she hopes they keep going to church – “hopefully Holy Rosary,” where many already attend Masses.

“I think people could see the writing on the wall” with the building’s condition and the priest shortage, she said.

“I’ve learned to love this church,” she said of Holy Spirit, where she lectored, like she does at Holy Rosary. “The building, but ... definitely the people. It is like a family. And Father Victor is a wonderful pastor.”

Denise MacAloney said she’s been coming to Holy Spirit about 30 years – because of the community; “from the day I walked in this church, I felt welcomed.” She rejoiced in the blessing of the engaged couple Sunday; “that was like a positive – it turned into a happy occasion.”  

Miss Nicholson’s brother – Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson, 31, who’s been at Holy Spirit his whole life – commented, “In some ways it was nice to close a chapter but also open a chapter” by blessing a new relationship at a closing Mass.

“Of course it’s sad,” he said of the closing, but God will care for them. “I’ll be happy to worship him at Holy Rosary just as much as I did here at Holy Spirit. And I’m grateful for the memories he gave me here.”  

“Good things always come to an end,” commented Robbie Caskins, 16, one of Deacon Baczewski’s grandchildren, who’s been at Holy Spirit about 8 years.

The deacon’s daughter, Angela Hakkala, said she was the first girl altar server there.  

Her brother, Phillip, said, “The Church was a big part of our family,” with their father serving as a deacon and their mother, Margarita, helping start the Hispanic community there.  

He has another reason to appreciate Holy Spirit. He said he was in a coma for 16 days, due to COVID-19.

“Everybody came together and was praying for me,” he said. “I’m so thankful for this community.”

“I have happy memories of Holy Spirit,” said Jeannine Audette Como, a former Sacred Heart parishioner, who said she sang at Holy Spirit’s first Mass – on Christmas Eve 1954.  
Holy Spirit was a mission of Sacred Heart that year and made a parish on Feb. 11, 1955. The church was dedicated on June 26 that year.