Parish Updates
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St. Mary, St. Helen and St. Thecla becoming One Parish on July 1, 2021Dated: June 1, 2021Dear Parishioners,
It is with great joy that we announce that our three churches (St. Mary’s in Hanover, St. Helen’s in Norwell, and St. Thecla’s in Pembroke) will officially merge to become one parish on July 1, 2021. After consultation with the parish councils and at our request, Cardinal Seán has approved our new parish, whose temporary name will be St. Mary’s, St. Helen’s, and St. Thecla’s. Father Chris Hickey has been named the pastor of the new parish with Father Joe McCarthy remaining on as parochial vicar.
The parish councils are currently working to put together a new Mass schedule utilizing all three churches which will take effect in July. We ask for your patience and understanding in this endeavor.
In the next few days, you will be receiving more information regarding our Religious Education program. St. Mary’s, St. Helen’s, and St. Thecla’s have held vibrant Summer Religious Education programs in years past, so we are looking forward to joining efforts to offer a combined program this June. More details and registration for both our fall and summer Religious Education programs will be available this week.
We are very excited about this opportunity for our churches to come together as one parish. Along with Cardinal Seán’s blessing comes his promise of prayers as our churches present a paradigm for the Archdiocese of Boston. We ask for your prayers, patience, and understanding in this groundbreaking effort.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Chris Hickey
Pastor, St. Mary's & St. Helen's
Father Joe McCarthy
Pastor, St. Thecla's -
HMC Feasibility Study
Updated: November 13, 2020Thank you to those of you who have already signed up for these feasibility study conversations. For those of you who haven’t responded yet, there is still time to participate! We value your opinion and hope you will help us shape our plans by giving 20-30 minutes of your time. If you are interested, please click on this link to register for a one-on-one conversation to share your feedback on the new church campaign’s next steps.
If you would prefer to join a group discussion instead and give your feedback that way, we have also scheduled an online focus group forMonday. November 23rd from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
To register for that online meeting, please click on this link:
As a reminder, the background statement explaining the current situation can be found again here:
November 9. 2020
Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you well and that you are healthy and in good spirits. This has been an interesting year to say the least, and each day I find myself ever more grateful for the wonderful gift that is our Holy Mothers Collaborative. Those of you who know me well will attest to the fact that I’m not into social media and other high-tech things, but when the quarantine started, my wonderful staff told me I had to learn – and fast! Who would have predicted that seven months into quarantine we’d have over 2,000 subscribers viewing our Masses and Streamline Episodes online! While we have brought back a few parishioners for in-person Mass, I remain grateful that technology allows us to maintain contact and keep praying together as we make our way through these difficult times.
We continue to pray and hope that this will all be over soon and that we will all feel safe attending Mass and parish events in the very near future. But we know that St. Mary’s and St. Helen’s will face a unique problem whenever we do return to full capacity. Many of you know first-hand just how full our Masses can get and we’ve all heard the stories of people driving on to find another church to attend because of the full parking lots. We’ve been working hard to remedy this, and many of you will recall that our 2018 capital campaign got the process started for building a new church for our collaborative.
Our 2018 capital campaign was the first part of a long-term plan to position the Holy Mothers Collaborative to fully embrace its mission of evangelization and radical hospitality for future generations, including the building of a new church. By raising over $6 million, we got off to a terrific start. I am now pleased to inform you that we have identified a property on which to build a new church (our preferred site) and submitted a letter of intent to purchase it. And so I write today to request your help with the next phase of the capital campaign.
We are going to conduct a feasibility study to better understand when and how to undertake a second phase of the capital campaign. The goal of the feasibility study is to speak with a number of our parishioners, and to hear from you on what you think about our plans and our capacity as a collaborative to meet the financial requirements necessary to achieve our mission. Our hope is that this process will enable us to establish goals for the second phase of the capital campaign. I hope you’ll agree to participate.
I have reasons to be hopeful that our second phase of the campaign will be successful:- There were parishioners in the first phase who wanted to wait until a property was secured before giving
- Just 10% of our parishioners participated in first phase of the campaign
- Many new families have joined in the past two years who have not yet been invited to participate in the campaign
- St. Thecla will be merging with St. Mary’s and St. Helen’s in 2021 to officially form our new parish
All of this gives me hope that there is still tremendous potential and enthusiasm for proceeding with the second phase of our fundraising plans within the next year, but we need to hear from you first! Would you please consider giving 20-30 minutes of your time to be a part of this study?
The attached background statement outlines our plans and current status.
If you are able to participate, please click on this link and sign up for one of the many timeslots for conversations with a representative of our committee.
https://holymotherscampaign.wufoo.com/forms/z6mp5tz0vjztx9/
Whatever your situation, please know that we are not launching the campaign now, but your insights will help us decide how quickly we should proceed with the next steps in making our dream a reality.
Yours in Christ,
Father Chris -
HMC Parish Bulletin (February 23, 2020)
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTORS:
Dear parishioners,
In the next few weeks, St. Thecla’s. Pembroke and the Holy Mothers Collaborative will be writing to Cardinal Sean to request the merger of St. Thecla’s, St. Mary’s, and St. Helen’s. This merger, which would be effective sometime after January 2021, would result in our three parishes becoming one parish. The eventual hope is that our one parish would then pray together at one new worship site.
In Christ,
Fr. Chris Hickey (HMC Pastor) and Fr. Joe McCarthy (St. Thecla’s Pastor)
HMC Parish Bulletin (April 21 & 28,2019)
Dear Parishioners,
I write to you at an exciting time, both to wish you the joy of the risen Lord in this season of Easter and also to update you on our unified worship site. As we begin our Easter season, we do so with a renewed hope in the resurrection. Lent has ended and the crucifixion has given way to the bright promise of immortality.
On a more practical note, our time of preparation and waiting for a new church appears to be coming to an end. Although the final details are still being worked out, we feel that the land will be secured and our dream of one worship site will become a reality in the very near future. Together our collaborative can make this happen. We need still more patience and lots of prayer. The process is indeed challenging, but we know it will be worth the effort.
May our Lord and His Blessed Mother watch over our collaborative and our families for a blessed Easter season.
Sincerely yours in the risen Lord,
Father Chris
Email blast to HMC Parishioners (January 2018)
Dear Friends,
This is a truly exciting time for the parishes of St. Mary of the Sacred Heart and St. Helen, Mother of the Emperor Constantine. The community of the Holy Mothers Collaborative is getting stronger every day, and I am so pleased with the vibrant programs and ministries we are now offering to parishioners of all ages. In particular, our thriving religious education and Life Teen programs have more youth (and parents) involved than at any time in the past five years. Our Masses are packed with faithful parishioners and visitors alike, and I am so pleased that our baptisms, confirmations, and first communions are up the past two years. Thank you for your part in making this happen.
We are indeed blessed with a vibrant faith community, but we are also challenged by our lack of space. Last November, we undertook an extensive review of our options for expanding or relocating, and this past spring both parishes responded with tremendous enthusiasm for proceeding with planning for a new, unified church for the collaborative.
To make this dream a reality, we need to examine our potential for generating philanthropic support in addition to the assets we could bring to the table. In its earliest stages, we are hoping to raise $5 million. We are conducting a feasibility study to test the viability of raising $5 million for this effort and to collect parishioner feedback on the plans.
Coinciding with our campaign, there will be a capital campaign held by the Archdiocese of Boston aimed at strengthening parishes, schools, social services, and support of priests. We are collaborating with the Archdiocese and will have the chance to contribute a percentage of our funds from our campaign to support Cardinal Seán’s vision for our greater community.
Taking 10-15 minutes to share your thoughts on our proposed plans and our collaboration with the Archdiocese would be very helpful to us, and very much appreciated:
• First, please take a moment to read the Background Statement: Holy Mothers Collaborative Background Statement
• Then share your feedback with us by responding to a short survey
Your counsel, along with that of numerous other participants, will help us to determine our best course of action. The electronic survey will close Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 5pm. Thank you for your time and advice.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Father Chris
Results from Collaborative Vote May 13 & 14, 2017:
Dear parishioners,I would like to thank you for your patience in the ongoing process of a potential unification of our churches. This past weekend, 2162 parishioners (including absentee voters) cast ballots regarding the potential merger of our parishes. There were 1635 parishioners (76%) who voted “Yes”, supporting the “Collaborative’s effort to continue the process to find and develop a unified worship site,” and 527 parishioners (24%) who voted “No.” We believe 76% is a solid mandate to continue on with the process. As was stated, there is nothing binding about the results of this vote – it simply affirms that the Parish Council and I may continue to move forward toward one worship site. While it is impossible to make everyone happy, I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in this awesome opportunity.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Chris
RESULTS BREAKDOWN
Deacon John Murray chaired the subcommittee of the Parish Council, which was in charge of tallying ballots. The subcommittee included: Dave Capaldo, Henry Kozowyk, Deacon John Murray (chair), and Jim Wasiolek.
MASS YES NO TOTAL 4:00 PM 246 67% 120 33% 366 7:00 AM 113 64% 64 36% 177 8:30 AM 182 72% 71 28% 253 10:00 AM 379 76% 121 24% 500 11:30 AM 206 78% 59 22% 265 6:00 PM* 457 86% 72 14% 529* Absentee 52 72% 20 28% 72 Total 1,635 76% 527 24% 2,162 (*Approximately 70 teens voted at the 6PM Life Teen Mass.)
Upcoming Vote- Tuesday, May 2, 2017 (posted):
Two weeks ago, on Monday, April 17, the Parish Council met and discussed our future as a Collaborative. It was decided unanimously by the council members that all parishioners should have a vote about the potential merger of Saint Helen’s and Saint Mary’s.
Last Monday evening (April 24th) , we had yet another successful Collaborative Meeting at which this idea was further discussed. It was quite apparent that all those in attendance felt that a parish-wide vote is a good idea.
On the weekend of May 13 and 14 (Mothers’ Day weekend), we will take up a vote about one mutual worship site. The vote will be open to any regular church-goer of at least Confirmation age. Absentee ballots may be cast during the week leading up to the vote by visiting the Parish Offices between Monday, May 8 and Friday, May 12 (during normal office hours).
The results of the vote will be shared the following week, which will help us implement our future plans accordingly. Thank you to all who attended the Collaborative Meeting last week. It is wonderful to see how much love we all have for our parishes. The patience everyone has shown throughout this process has been greatly appreciated. Let us all continue to trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Monday, April 24, 2017 at 7:15PM we had our Fourth Collaborative Town Hall at St. Mary's Church.
This meeting was well attended and moderated by Deacon Roger Vierra with Father Chris addressing as many questions as possible at the end of the questions and comments from parishioners.
We will be asking Parishioners to vote in the coming weeks about whether we should proceed with this endeavor. Detail of how voting will be handled are being worked out now and will be made available as quickly as possible. For those of you able to attend, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to listen and be heard as we decide how to move forward with our collaborative. Here is a link to the frequently asked question sheet (FAQs) that was handed out at this Monday night meeting. Stay tuned for more details!!!!
Monday, November 28, 2016 our Third Collaborative Town Hall Meeting was on held at Saint Helen's Church.
Feasibility Study conducted by Holmes and Edwards Architects
On Monday, November 26, we had a very productive meeting in which we heard the results of the Feasibility Study from the architects Holmes & Edwards. The study showed that neither of the present properties (Saint Helen’s and Saint Mary’s) would be able to accommodate the projected expansion of both a new worship space and adequate parking . The third option of moving to a common ground is by far the best based on their findings. At the end of the "town hall" session, it was decided unanimously by vote of the 327 parishioners present to continue moving forward by having a market evaluation conducted on the three properties. We will proceed with that next step and have another collaborative town hall meeting early in the new year.
Monday, June 13, 2016 our Second Collaborative Town Hall Meeting was held at Saint Mary's Church.
On Monday evening, we had our second town hall meeting. There were over 300 parishioners in attendance. We discussed our options for accomodating the on-going issue of standing room only crowds at some of our masses as well as parking problems.
An overwhelming majority voted in favor of hiring an architectural firm to perform a feasibility study. This study will look into the possibility of the St. Mary’s and St. Helen’s communities coming together at one worship site. We thank everyone for their interest and participation in this endeavor. In order to be as transparent as possible, we will continue to inform you of our progress in the bulletin, at Mass, and through the collaborative website. We hope to be able to gather again this coming fall to discuss the results of the feasibility study.
“God never goes back; he always moves forward, and God always wants our future to be bigger than our past.” - "Rediscover Catholicism" by Matthew Kelly
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