RUMFORD – A group representing the Catholic parishes in the River Valley area submitted a proposal to Bishop Richard Malone that, if approved, will combine the four churches and one chapel into one parish.
While all the churches will stay open, at least for now, under the proposal the separate parish councils will combine into one.
“This is a good time for us to look at what we have and how to focus on who we are as a church and how to present our message in a new way,” said Don Fournier, principal of St. Athanasius and St. John Parochial School and spokesman for Cluster 18, which is the River Valley area churches. “The world changes, and we have to change with it.”
The state’s Catholic churches are divided into 27 clusters, each sending proposals to the bishop.
Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Portland Diocese, said all 27 proposals are in, and the bishop and his advisers will review each one. She said a decision on each proposal should be completed within a couple of months.
The small number of priests in the state is part of the reason for the clustering proposals. Bernard said the current total of 95 active priests in the state is expected to dwindle to about 65 by the year 2010.
Fournier said much of the parish consolidation began about three years ago when retired St. Athanasius and St. John Catholic Church priest, the Rev. Al Jacques, helped combine the councils from the Rumford church, St. Theresa’s in Mexico and St. Joseph’s in Dixfield.
To be added to the three-church parish council will be Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Bethel and St. Mary’s Chapel at Roxbury Pond.
The current priest, the Rev. Angelo LaVasseur, has already begun serving the four churches. A retired priest conducts Mass at the seasonal Roxbury Pond chapel. The Bethel church had previously been affiliated with St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Norway/Paris, and St. Mary’s had once been a mission of St. Theresa’s church.
Other changes in the proposal to the bishop include maintaining the 100-pupil St. Athanasius and St. John Parochial School and taking a look at the buildings in the proposed new parish. These include not only the churches, chapel and school, but also the two rectories and two convents in Rumford and Mexico, and various garages and other miscellaneous buildings. When the proposed model for the parishes is consolidated, an audit will be conducted and a building assessment completed. Buildings not being used to their full potential may be sold by 2010.
When the model is fully in place, the financial assets of the current parishes will be consolidated.
Fournier said the clustering group will begin meeting again in the fall. The group has met during the past few months to devise a plan to present to the bishop. One well-attended information session was held in May to hear comments from parishioners.
“We chose this model partly because just about everyone said it would work,” he said.
One of the first things they plan to do when the cluster begins meeting is name the newly created parish. Various ideas have been suggested, but no final name has been adopted.
The four parishes serve between 1,600 and 1,800 families, said Fournier, a drop correlating with the population decrease in the River Valley area over the past few decades.
The new parish will extend about 35 miles, longer than some, but much shorter than others.
The Rev. LaVasseur was on vacation and could not be reached.
The most important focus of the new clusters, said Fournier, is finding the most effective way to get the word of God out to the people.
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