St. Peter's Parish History

With the laying of the cornerstone of St. Peter’s Church in Plymouth on July 4, 1873, a new era began for the Catholics in the southeastern section of the Diocese of Boston.  The construction of the parish church assured Catholics scattered throughout the area of Plymouth, Carver, Plympton, Kingston, Duxbury, Hanson and Marshfield that they would have a church wherein they could attend Mass.  Prior to this, the earliest settlers who wished to attend Mass had to go to Sandwich to the Mother Church of the geographical section from Provincetown to Scituate and Hanover.  Later, a Mass, once every three months, would be celebrated in a private house or in a hall.  When the Boston Diocese was reduced to its present confines in 1872, the lower section of the Diocese was placed under the administration of St. Bridget’s Parish in Abington.  Shortly thereafter, the pastor, Rev. James C. Murphy determined that the number of Catholics in Plymouth warranted the building of a church in Plymouth.

Visit of Bishop Cheverus

The construction of the church brought to an end the long missionary status of the area.  Catholics as have been claimed to be in the area during the colonial period had no opportunity locally to practice their faith.  Father Gabriel Druillettes visited Plymouth in 1650, the visit being politically driven.  That is to say, its purpose was an attempt to obtain a working alliance between New England and New France against the Iroquois.  There is no record of his celebration of a mass in this region, nor of any sacramental administration.  In fact, more than a century and a half elapsed before the first Mass was celebrated in Plymouth.  It was celebrated by the first Bishop of Boston, Jean (John) Cheverus, who later was assigned back to his native France, where he would later become the Cardinal-Archbishop of Bordeaux, France.  Bishop Cheverus came to Plymouth at the invitation of Judge Joshua Thomas, who employed two Catholic Irishmen: John Burke and Michael Murphy.  Deprived of their customary attendance at Mass, as well as the reception of the Sacraments, they, along with their families planned to return to Ireland.  The judge, wishing to keep them in Plymouth, personally visited the Bishop in Boston to request that a priest be sent.  Because of the shortage of priests, the Bishop himself came and celebrated Mass in the Judge’s house, on the site of the later Central House, the same site that was once occupied by the Puritan Clothing Company.

Early Catholic Life

Following the visit of Bishop Cheverus, there were further signs of Catholic growth as visiting priests from Boston, Quincy, Abington and Taunton made the availability of Mass a possibly for area Catholics.  The 1840’s and 50’s marked an influx of the Catholic population in Kingston and Plymouth, due to the many Irish who immigrated from Ireland because of the Irish famine.  Some men came alone.  Others brought their families with them.  It was during these early days that others were married here by Father William Moran who was stationed in Sandwich, the nearest Catholic settlement at the time.   Since there was no church in Plymouth as of yet, to keep their faith alive, they met together in homes, where one of the men would read aloud the prayers of the Mass and Psalter of Jesus.    Some people would travel to Sandwich on Saturday and stay overnight in order to be able to attend Mass on Sunday.  Father John Roddan, from Quincy, in 1849 during one of his missionary journeys celebrated Mass in Plymouth (remember as of yet, there was still no church building in Plymouth. The following year, Fr. Moran came from Sandwich once every three months to administer the Sacraments of Baptism, Penance, Marriage, (occasionally the Sacrament of the Sick, then known as Extreme Unction, on a Saturday) followed by Mass on Sunday at the Town Hall.  During the last six years of Fr. Moran’s visits (1858-1864), Fr. Moran would stay at the home of John O’Brien.  Transferred to All Saint’s Parish in Ware, Massachusetts in 1864, Fr. Moran was replaced in Sandwich by Fr. Peter Bertoldi, a native of Italy.  He came to Plymouth once a month to administer the Sacraments and celebrate the Mass either in Town Hall in Davis Hall (later Davis Hall was known as the Woolworth Building).  Children receiving First Holy Communion and Confirmation were taken to Sandwich in a carriage with their parents, where they would stay either at the hotel or at the homes of Catholics in the town.

Purchase of Site for Church

Practically from the beginning of Fr. Moran’s visits to Plymouth, the question of building a church was discussed.  As early as 1858, Fr. Moran had purchased land on Russell Street, doubtless with this in mind.  Nothing further was done for a decade.  At that time some of the parishioners objected to this site and wrote to Bishop Williams in opposition to it. The new location became Court Street when, on November 19, 1870, Fr. Bertoldi purchased the property then known as the Charles Barnes’ estate.  It was located between the properties of Ichabod Shaw and John T. Stoddard.  This was deemed a better location because, in addition to being on the main thoroughfare of the town, the Catholic population was divided north and south of the property.  Three weeks later, December 9, 1870, Fr. Bertoldi deeded this land to Bishop Williams.

Building of the Church

Two years later, the Cape area was cut off from the Diocese of Boston and attached to the newly established Diocese of Providence. Plymouth was included in this newly configured diocese.  However, it was retained by the Diocese of Boston due to its historical associations being so closely linked with Massachusetts Bay and Boston.  Plymouth and the surrounding area was annexed to the parish in Abington.  Father James C. Murphy, although only ordained two years was the pastor.  Father James Chittick, after 1873, joined him in alternately coming once a month to administer the Sacraments and celebrate the Mass in what was then Davis Hall, and later known as the Woolworth Building.  Father Murphy immediately set to building a new church.  He began with the amount of $190.51 which he received from Father Bertoldi.  He collected in fifteen months (to January 1, 1874) a total of $3029.05. A sum of $202 was contributed to this effort by non-Catholics.  The cornerstone of the church as laid July 4, 1873 by Bishop John. J. Williams.

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish History

A History of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish
                                   
           

In 1982, His Eminence Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, then Archbishop of Boston, established the Parish of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In October 2012, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI and the parish was renamed Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.   

The first recorded formal discussion about the need to establish a fourth Catholic parish in Plymouth, specifically in the area of West Plymouth, took place in 1965.   During the early 1970s, under the ministries of the priests assigned to St. Peter Parish, discussion continued.

In 1980, Cardinal Medeiros assigned Reverend John Schatzel to St. Peter Parish with the charge of establishing a Christian community in West Plymouth and exploring the possibility of establishing a new Roman Catholic parish in the area.

Father Schatzel began to work with the members of the newly-formed Family Liturgy Committee at St. Peter Parish and during the summer of 1980, he assumed responsibility for St. Peter’s traditional weekly, outdoor Sunday liturgy on the grounds of Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, Massachusetts.

During the fall of 1980, the Family Liturgy Committee continued working with Father Schatzel to prepare Sunday liturgies at St. Peter’s.  During Advent of that year, a Sunday evening Mass was begun at St. Peter’s.  When summer returned, the weekly outdoor liturgy continued at Sacred Heart High School.  An outdoor Saturday Mass was also celebrated at Ellis Haven Campground.

Because of the strong attendance by West Plymouth families at these summer liturgies, two new weekly Sunday morning Masses began being celebrated at Sacred Heart Elementary School.  A Saturday afternoon Mass was celebrated at Pinehurst Mobile Estates.  This was to serve the needs of the elder Plymouth and Carver residents. 

In August of 1981, representatives of an Ad Hoc Committee of the Priests’ Senate met with members of the Pastoral Staff of St. Peter Parish and approximately 130 West Plymouth residents.  The meeting was held at the United Methodist Church in West Plymouth.  The purpose of the gathering was to discuss the possibility of establishing a new parish.  The members of the Priests’ Senate who attended this meeting were favorably impressed by the enthusiasm of the people of West Plymouth and invited a delegation of members of the Pastoral Staff of St. Peter’s and several of the West Plymouth residents to address the entire Priests’ Senate.   The Senate voted overwhelmingly to recommend to Cardinal Medeiros that a new Roman Catholic parish be established in West Plymouth.  The Cardinal agreed.
           
 Cardinal Medeiros then requested a list of proposed names for the new parish to be submitted in alphabetical order so as not to indicate any preference.  Twenty-nine different names were submitted,  but the favorite of the people was Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.  And happily that was the name selected by Cardinal Medeiro.

On Sunday, August 15, 1982, on the feast of the Assumption of  The Blessed Virgin Mary, Bishop Daniel Hart dedicated the new Roman Catholic parish of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha at an outdoor Mass on the grounds of Sacred Heart High School.  Bishop Hart also installed Reverend John Schatzel as the first pastor of the parish. Soon thereafter, on September 8, 1982, Reverend Mr. Edward Creutz was officially assigned to Blessed Kateri Parish as Permanent Deacon.  He has faithfully and continuously served the parish since that time.

 During the next two years, Father Schatzel and Deacon Creutz and many, many dedicated parishioners set about to build a Christian community.  Three main committees were established to help direct the growth of the parish.  These were the Spiritual Development Commission, Finance and Administration Committee, and Religious Education Commission.    The Finance Committee continues in much the same format as when it was started.  Religious Education has grown into a formal Faith Formation program.  The Spiritual Development Commission became the Parish Pastoral Council.  And over the years numerous committees and ministries has been formed.

 In 1982, a parish development program was begun to finance the construction of a permanent structure to house the new parish community.  Every family in the parish was visited by representatives of the Building Committee.  The purpose of the visits was to invite every member of the parish to subscribe to a gift to help build a parish hall that would be used for Sunday worship and religious education classes.  During this time, Sunday liturgies were celebrated at Sacred Heart High School and neighborhood Masses were celebrated in private homes. 

 In August of 1983, Reverend Thomas Daily, then Vicar Chancellor for the Archdiocese of Boston, presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the new building to be built on land that had been purchased by the Archdiocese on January 22, 1982 at a cost of $65,000.

Construction moved quickly, and the first Mass was celebrated in the new building on Holy Thursday, April 19, 1984.  The altar that was in place for this Mass was a gift from St. Matthew Parish in Dorchester.  The following year, Bernard Cardinal Law dedicated the permanent altar.   

Father Schatzel served as the first pastor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish and oversaw the beginning and initial growth and development of the parish facilities and the parish community.  After 13 years as pastor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Father Schatzel was succeeded in 1993 by Reverend William Kremmell.

 On July 25, 1993, Bishop Daniel Hart installed Father Kremmell as the second pastor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.  In addition to continuing to lead the members of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish on their faith journey, Father Kremmell recognized the need to address the problem of inadequate space for the programs and activities of the growing parish. The original building plans called for four phases of development.  Phase I was the construction of a parish hall, which was completed.  Phases II and III called for the construction of a church adjoining the parish hall and a rectory.  Phase IV was to be the construction of a religious education center.

 The parish hall, which was originally planned to be an interim building, was used for the celebration of Sunday, holy day and weekday liturgies, as well as religious education classes and other parish functions.  Masses were held on the weekends (Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and Sunday evening).    After the last Mass each Sunday evening, the chairs would be stacked up, the folding walls opened, and room dividers pulled out to transform the building into classrooms for religious education or meeting spaces for various groups.   A small chapel area was created around the altar and classes, etc. took place in the rest of the hall.  Daily morning Mass was usually held in the chapel  area or in the church foyer.  This constant setting up and breaking down became very burdensome on the facility and on the staff.
           
When it seemed likely that Phases II, III and IV would not take place, a program was undertaken to modify the existing facilities to meet the expanding religious education needs and the desire to maintain the church area as sacred space.   Father Kremmell oversaw the transformation of the parish hall into the parish church and the purchase of an adjacent home that was renovated to serve as a religious education center.

 Father James Braley became the third pastor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in September 2001.  Father Braley joined the parish just days after the September 11^th terrorist attacks.  He had the formidable challenge of leading the parishioners through this troubling time.  

 Another challenge soon followed.  On May 25, 2004, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha parishioners learned that as part of the reconfiguration plan of the Archdiocese of Boston the parish was slated to be suppressed.  The closing was scheduled for December 2004.  The parish then followed two tracks – one was to comply with the numerous requirements of a closing parish and the other to prepare an appeal to then Archbishop Seán O’Malley asking that he reconsider his decision to close Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish. 

 While Father Braley and the parish staff attended meetings with representatives of the Archdiocese, made inventories of parish property, balanced accounts, and completed many other requirements, a committee of parishioners began the work of finding a basis in Canon Law to support a formal appeal to Archbishop O’Malley asking him to consider new information that was not available when the decision to close Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish was made.   

  During the summer of 2004, as the work on the formal appeal continued, plans were made for a final social get-together for the parish and for the final Mass to be celebrated in December 2004.  The appeal was prepared, the new information gathered and documented, hundreds of parishioners signed Procurator Mandate forms to officially give their permission for the parish to file an appeal and everyone prayed. 

 Just days before the farewell social gathering was to take place, Father Braley was informed that Archbishop O’Malley had indefinitely postponed the closing of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in order to review the appeal and the new information that had been submitted.

 Through the grace of God, a labor of love by the appeal committee, and the prayers and support of many, the parish was notified on December 14, 2004, just days before the scheduled last Mass, that Archbishop O’Malley had reversed his decision and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish would remain open.

  In September 2006 the parish celebrated another important event when parishioner, James Greer was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate and assigned to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.

  Fr. William Williams was appointed Administrator of Blessed Kateri Parish in 2012 when Fr. James Braley left the parish.  Fr. Williams, who also served as pastor of St. Peter Parish oversaw the construction of a multi-purpose room to accommodate the need for additional gathering space for parish events.

 A momentous event in the life of the parish occurred on Sunday, October 21, 2012, when Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XIV and became known as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native American to be canonized a saint.  And Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish officially became known as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.

In June 2018 St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish became part of a collaborative joining with St. Peter Parish and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.  Fr. Joseph Raeke was assigned as pastor of the collaborative, and Fr. Michael Rora appointed Parochial Vicar.  After many months of work by representative parishioners from the three collaborative parishes, a three-year Pastoral Plan was written with the intention that it be used to guide the new Pilgrim Catholic Collaborative in the coming years.  

 Much has happened in the life of the world, in life of the Church, in the life of the Archdiocese of Boston, and the life of the St. Kateri parish since its founding in 1982.  And through it all, as we have traveled together on our faith journey, from Masses in the field behind Sacred Heart High School, to borrowed locations and home Masses, and finally to our permanent church building, the community of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish has endeavored to stay true to its center – the Eucharist.  Eucharist has been and remains the heart of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.