Coming together as one

By Craig Westcott

A special Mass was held at St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Manuels on Saturday to mark the combining of three Roman Catholic parishes into one.

The amalgamation is a result of the fallout from the auctioning of St. John’s Episcopal Corporation properties to pay damages to the victims of Mount Cashel Orphanage.

With the Church lands and properties of St. Edward’s Parish in Kelligrews and Holy Family Parish in Paradise having been sold, and the church building at St. Thomas of Villanova on the auction block, congregations from the three areas were looking at the possibility of not having a place to worship.

“All three parishes appointed people to a steering committee to sit down and discuss what could be done,” said Monika Behr, who chair’s the amalgamated parish’s liturgy committee. “It was decided that among them they would approach purchasing St. Thomas of Villanova Church as it was the most central and the one they were most likely to be successful with. The funds were raised, and the bid was approved and so that church was purchased.”

Behr said she wasn’t told the purchase price.

While the congregants from all three parishes will now celebrate Mass at St. Thomas of Villanova church, the parish will go by the name of St. Edward’s.

“The agreement that the steering committee came to as they were discussing all of this is that they would go back to the original name for the parish, which goes back to 1877, and that was St. Edward’s when it was first carved out of the St. John’s archdiocese area,” Behr explained. “It now essentially covers the same region as it did before, all the way up to Holyrood. So, we are worshipping at St. Thomas of Villanova Church because you cannot change the name of the consecrated building, but the parish itself will be named St. Edward’s and that’s what we will be known as heretofore.”

It’s unclear yet how many parishioners make up the new parish.

“That’s a great debate,” allowed Behr. “It could be hundreds, but I can tell you that at the unification Mass we had about 200 people, and we are slowly but surely seeing some increase in people attending the parish for the regular Saturday and Sunday Masses. We’ve been seeing a percent increase of probably 20 to 30 per cent over the last month, which is good as it is becoming evident that we are becoming one unified parish… The churches are buildings, the faith of the parish is in the people. So, in order to bring those people together we needed to find a place for that, and we were able to be successful with the purchase of St. Thomas of Villnova Church, and so we’re rebuilding the parish there.”

The hope is that more people celebrating their faith as one host will lay a solid foundation for St. Edward’s.

“That’s certainly the aim, that we become a stronger parish,” Behr said. “But you know, all of these things take time. There’s a lot of sadness and a lot of anger from people who have lost their parishes and churches and the places where they’ve been going for decades. It takes a long while for people to move past that. Some of us got there a little faster than others and we’re hoping that by us showing a strong sign of welcoming to people it will bring them back. And like I said, we’ve seen an increase of probably 20 per cent in the past month or six weeks, and so we’re hoping that will continue. We’re moving into the Christmas season now which is a period that traditionally brings people back to the fold, brings Catholics back into the church and we’re doing our best as combined choirs from all three and combined ministers from all three to make those celebrations joyous and inviting.”

The parishioners from each of the old parishes were able to bring special pieces from their former churches to St. Thomas of Villanova.

“That was one of the features of our unification Mass,” said Behr. “The delegations from each one of the parishes brough symbolic items from their churches. St. Edward’s for example, brought their monstrance, which is what the body of Christ is exposed in when it is out for adoration. They brought a book of the gospels, and they brought the original chalice which was from the original St. Edward’s Parish. So that is now being used in the newly formed St. Edward’s Parish. Holy Family brought the ambry, which is a cabinet in which the holy oils are held. And they brought the statue of the Holy Family and a painting of the Holy Family, which was presented to us by the Knights of Columbus. St. Thomas of Villanova brought a history of their parish, they brought the certification of their first-class relic and a painting from Gerry Squires of the Holy Spirit, all items which are of importance to them. And of course, there are other things we have incorporated into the church, things that were donated to each one of the parishes.”

The various parish records, of births and deaths and other significant events in the lives of the parishioners, have also been taken into St. Thomas of Villanova Church. “Nothing has been destroyed,” said Behr.

She sounded encouraged by the way things are going and was especially pleased with the success of the unification Mass, which was said by Archbishop Peter Hundt.

“It was really a very joyous and positive experience,” Behr said. “The choir was there in full voice with all the harmonies included. We had readers and anyone who could take part took part. The Knights of Columbus came wearing their garb and sat in the pews, and there were many members of the Catholic Women’s League there as well to show support, and there was a lovely social afterwards.”

The social, of course, featured a large, delicious cake.

The next big event on the Church calendar, is of course Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Christ. The church can seat about 500 people, so there’s lots of room to welcome people back to the fold.

“We’re hoping to block ‘er for Christmas,” Behr said, laughing. “We’re looking at doing potentially three Masses for Christmas eve, one of them being very close to midnight. The last few years there haven’t been midnight Masses. Even pre-pandemic, there were sort of late evening Masses. But Fr. James Fleming, who is our new pastor, is hoping to do an 11 or 11:30 p.m. Mass which would be a Mass that goes into midnight.”