Two Worcester parishes to merge

Blessed Sacrament and St. Charles Borromeo to be merged

February 15, 2010, WORCESTER, MA – In a letter read to parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo and Blessed Sacrament Parishes this weekend, Bishop Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, announced that as of July 1, 2010 there will be one merged parish serving the needs of Catholics in that neighborhood of Worcester. The two current parishes of Blessed Sacrament and St. Charles Borromeo will be merged into one parish to be located at Blessed Sacrament. The new parish will assume all assets and liabilities of the current two parishes.

In autumn of 2008 Bishop McManus had announced that St. Charles Borromeo would close in 2010 following the recommendation made by the Diocesan Pastoral Planning Committee which had been focused on the needs of the City of Worcester. At that time he asked St. Charles parishioners to visit neighboring parishes and make a recommendation to him of the most appropriate action to take upon closure. No single recommendation came from that process, and Bishop McManus announced in yesterday’s letter that he had decided that St. Charles Borromeo parish would be reunited with the parish from which it was originally created in 1954. As the bishop wrote in his letter, “I remain convinced that merging these two parishes will allow each to benefit from the other’s strengths and provide for a much stronger parish in that part of the City of Worcester with appropriate staffing and space for liturgical, educational, and social life.”

Bishop McManus announced in that letter that Fr. Chester Misiewicz, the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, would become the pastor of the merged parish at Blessed Sacrament. Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone who is the Judicial Vicar for the diocese, will continue to assist in parochial duties while residing in another parish.

The two pastors have been asked to develop a process to manage the transition between now and July 1. As the bishop pointed out in his letter, “I have asked that the transition period be focused on not only merging the two parishes but also finding a way to cherish the patrimony of St. Charles Borromeo Parish for generations to come.” Once the merged parish is formed on July 1, the St. Charles Borromeo church and rectory will cease to be used for ordinary liturgical activities.

A copy of the letter can be found online at www.worcesterdiocese.org.