Diocese does not see future mergers taking place

Date: 12/22/2021

HOLYOKE – As of Aug. 14, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Immaculate Conception Parish and St. Jerome Parish officially merged, thus forming the Catholic Collaborative. The churches are now merged into St. Jerome. According to Springfield Diocese Secretary for Communications, Mark Dupont, Our Lady of the Cross Parish and Blessed Sacrament will remain “freestanding entities.”

The merging of the three churches was a long time in the making, according to DuPont, and he reiterated that “the consolidation of the three parishes was something that came from the three parishes themselves – not a top-down decision, but very organic. The parish communities thought it was in their best interest to come together.”

Father Francis Riley was appointed as the pastor to lead the three churches in August 2021, when they were officially consolidated. His connection to Holyoke dates to when he was a pastor at Sacred Heart Church, Holyoke, from 1993-1998. His most recent appointment was at Ann Seton Parish in Northampton. Dupont said Riley was appointed because of “his Spanish language skills” due to a large population of Spanish-speaking parishioners in Holyoke.

Now that the three churches are under St. Jerome, Dupont reported a combined total of 2,785 members. Riley said, “We want to be more welcoming to people. We have plenty of opportunities for worship, going to church and outreach to families.”

Riley stated that St. Jerome was chosen as the main place of worship because it is considered the “Mother Church” and is the oldest Catholic Parish in Holyoke, dating back to 1854. He explained that St. Jerome is a big church and they have the chapel for daily mass. They also have St. Patrick’s chapel attached to it. “It’s really a beautiful setup,” he said.

He said another reason for the merger was because the churches were close to each other. He mentioned another church merger in Holyoke of The Lady of Perpetual Help and Sacred Heart Church working together because of a fire in 1999. Riley also mentioned a reason behind such mergers was, “I suppose you might say that it was because of the dwindling members of the parish, or economics or finances.”

Both Riley and Dupont expressed they don’t see any future mergers taking place. Riley commented on how the recent mergers are doing, “Let’s just say we’re very enthusiastic and very pleased with what’s happened so far. We have a lot of work to do yet, but that’s the mission. You just don’t realize success right off the bat. I would say basically it’s like the beginning of a new baseball game. We’re in the first inning.”

Looking toward the holiday season, there are events at St. Jerome Church on Dec. 24 at 4 p.m. Riley said they would have the Christmas vigil. There will be a children’s pageant with the reenactment of the birth of Jesus. At 6 p.m., they will have the Spanish-speaking mass. Riley said usually, those masses are filled. On Christmas Day, there will be a regular mass at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and at 12 p.m. there will be another Spanish speaking mass. There will also be a mass at 9:15 a.m. at The Immaculate Conception Church.

Riley said, “The Immaculate Conception Church is open for chapel services and is a place of outreach. We call that a chapel now – it’s The Chapel of the parish of St Jerome, and we have service regularly. On Saturday at 6 p.m., there is a mass in Spanish, and on Sunday, we have mass at 9:15 a.m. in English.”

He stated that Our Lady of Guadalupe is now being used as the Guadalupe Community Center. They have the meeting room downstairs and a gym and classrooms. They offer religious education classes for children, and there aren’t any masses there. The church itself is closed, and the rectory is closed. He stated they will continue with the Homework House after-school program.

St. Jerome Church is located at 181 Hampden St. Holyoke, and can be reached at 532-6381. The Rectory is at 169 Hampden St. in Holyoke, and can be reached by email at st-jerome@comcast.net