FALL RIVER — In his December 2024 pastoral letter, A Time for Fortitude: Stronger Priests, Stronger Parishes, Stronger Church, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., listed among diocesan priorities the need to accelerate pastoral planning efforts including the closure of some parishes over the next three years to provide relief to priests who are overextended by too many assignments. He asked for prayerful support “as we make these decisions to help our priests and act as better stewards of our resources.”

Given the long-term trends in declining Mass attendance and fewer vocations to the priesthood and after careful study of relevant data, difficult final decisions have been made that will affect five parishes in the Diocese of Fall River next month:

  • In New Bedford, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, already part of the Whaling City Catholic Community collaborative, will be suppressed -or closed- with parishioners being encouraged to join either one of the other two parishes in the collaborative, Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or St. Lawrence, Martyr.
  • In South Attleboro, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish will be suppressed. Its territory will become part of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Seekonk and parishioners are being invited to continue to practice their Catholic faith together there.
  • In Westport, the three existing parishes, Our Lady of Grace, St. George, and St. John the Baptist will be suppressed, and a new one established, to be called Divine Mercy Parish, to serve the town’s united Catholic community. All three churches of the former parishes will be used as worship sites by the new parish.

These decisions, which followed multiple meetings of diocesan Strategic and Pastoral Planning staff with committees of representative parishioners from impacted parishes, were announced at Masses this weekend (May 24-25) in all involved churches.

In Westport, the new parish will be formally erected on June 20th. The suppressions of the Attleboro and New Bedford parishes will take effect June 30th.

Bishop da Cunha understands that this time of change is difficult.

“I fully recognize that losing one’s parish is not easy; it’s difficult and painful,” Bishop da Cunha said.

“I want to assure the faithful of these communities that the decision to close a parish is never made lightly or without deep prayer and discernment. Over the past year, I have worked closely with my cabinet, the Personnel Board, and diocesan leadership, seeking possible resources and exploring alternatives in assessing the future of our Diocese. Despite our best efforts, it is clear that we must make these changes.”

Diocesan pastoral planning officials explained that long-term parish trends involving Mass attendance, faith formation participation, church utilization, and finances were factored into these decisions along with broader concerns including the availability of priests to provide spiritual care, the proximity of nearby churches, and overall Catholic demographics.

Father Gregory Quenneville, who is the current parochial administrator at St. Theresa Parish, will himself be moving to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish as its new pastor. He’ll also become pastor of the town’s other parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In his message to St. Theresa parishioners, he assured them that their parish’s faith-based ministries and fellowship will continue at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs.

“I welcome you to bring the spirit grown and developed to our new home at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs,” he said.

He also noted that, in response to the request of a group of St. Theresa’s parishioners, the preschool currently leasing the parish center and the food pantry operating in the church basement will be invited to continue to use their respective spaces. No other plans for the property have been decided.

Bishop da Cunha will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Theresa Parish at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 21.

St. Francis of Assisi Parish, originally established to serve the Italian-speaking Catholic community in New Bedford, has shared a pastor and staff with its partnering parishes in the Whaling City Catholic collaborative since 2019. Currently, only one weekend Mass is offered there. A celebration of the parish is planned for August with details forthcoming.

The three Westport parishes, acting cooperatively in programs and ministries under one pastor for some time, has been involved in a unification process for a year. Their planning committee met earlier this month with Bishop da Cunha to submit a formal request to become one, new parochial community and to recommend its name. Father Dariusz Kalinowski, who has been pastor of all three Westport parishes, will become founding pastor of Divine Mercy Parish. All properties, assets and financial obligations of the former parishes become part of the new one upon its establishment.

Formal decrees announcing these changes have been posted to the diocesan website and will be published in the June 6th issue of the diocesan paper, The Anchor.

• View the Decree re St. Francis of Assisi Parish, New Bedford

• View the Decree re St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish, South Attleboro

• View the Decree re Unification of the Westport Parishes

Diocese of Fall River
Diocese of Fall River
Office of Communications