August 11, 2021

Holyoke parishes to celebrate merger with Aug. 14 Mass of Thanksgiving

REGIONAL
Staff report

Pictured are St. Jerome (left) and Sacred Heart churches in Holyoke. (Catholic Communications file photo)

HOLYOKE – Bishop William D. Byrne will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving Saturday, Aug. 14 at 4 p.m. to mark the merger of Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes into St. Jerome Parish, located on Hampden Street in Holyoke.

The merger came at the direct request of the parishes involved and was the result of many years of discussion between the three faith communities. Last fall, the parishes came together to form the Catholic Collaborative of Holyoke in order to share resources and worship space.

The celebration will begin with two processions in which parishioners from Our Lady of Guadalupe and Immaculate Conception will walk to Veterans’ Memorial Park, where they will be greeted by parishioners of St. Jerome.

“There will be a police escort and a mariachi band playing religious songs. The deacon will carry the monstrance containing the Eucharist from the chapel in Our Lady of Guadalupe’s rectory. A bus will be available for parishioners with mobility issues,” said Father Mark Stelzer, administrator of St. Jerome Parish. “The procession with Immaculate Conception parishioners will leave from the Mater Dolorosa school parking lot on Lyman Street and St. Kolbe Drive at 3:30.”

Immaculate Conception Church will be retained as a chapel for the newly merged parish. (Catholic Communications file photo)

The combined choirs of all three parishes will provide music for the Mass. The pastor of the new parish, Father Francis Reilly, who is currently the pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Northampton, will be installed at the Mass.

In October of 2020, Our Lady of Guadalupe parish began worshiping at St. Jerome Church. Its former place of worship, Sacred Heart Church, was closed in March of 2017 when plaster began falling from the ceiling. At that time, Masses were moved into the chapel and parish center. The former Sacred Heart Church building had been the worship space of Our Lady of Guadalupe since 1999 after Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church burned down.

The new merger will allow for Masses to be celebrated at St. Jerome Church and Immaculate Conception on North Summer Street, which will be retained as a chapel.

St. Jerome Parish is the oldest Catholic parish in Holyoke, having opened in 1854.