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June 1, 2015It is with a heavy heart that I type these words today, but as your pastor I think it is important for me to explain the recent change in our Collaborative in my own words. I don’t think it would be useful to rehash all that has happened to this point regarding the relationship of Our Lady of Sorrows to the Collaborative, but suffice to say that the collaborative process has not been easy.
After extensive consultations with me, Father Brian Kiely (the Episcopal Vicar for the West Region) and some of the folks at Our Lady of Sorrow parish, Cardinal Seàn has agreed that continuing with the current configuration of our collaborative is not in the best interests of either Sharon or Walpole.
The Matthew 13 Collaborative will continue with the two Walpole parishes, Blessed Sacrament and Saint Mary’s, and Our Lady of Sorrows will be removed from the collaborative process until such time they can find a better fit for their parish with the guidance of the Archdiocese in another collaborative.
In addition, Fr. Vinnie Doolan has been named the administrator of OLOS, which means that he will no longer be assigned with us here in the Matthew 13 Catholic Collaborative. My biggest regret is that this fine priest will no longer be serving with us, but I assure you that with the help of Fr. Joe Diem and the assistance of Fr. Joe McDermott we will continue to offer the same quality level of pastoral care that we have tried to give this past year.
What does this mean for Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary’s? It means that the pastoral team may be a little smaller, but we will have more time to work with you to build up the Catholic parishes of Walpole. We will also have more time to spend with people rather than driving our cars back and forth between towns. I believe in the end we will be a stronger Catholic community that will be evangelizing and making disciples for Jesus Christ. That has always been my goal and will continue to be so.
Even as we acknowledge this loss, we should also recognize we have been given a great gift of a new beginning, and it is my hope that we will be able to use this gift in the way God intends it, to build up the people of God. We look forward to creating our new pastoral plan for our collaborative in the coming months and implementing it as two parishes together in the coming years.