Welcome to Saint Mary of the Assumption
a culturally rich and diverse Catholic family; through our worship, educational, youth and outreach ministries, we endeavor to welcome, to love, to evangelize and to serve, making Jesus Christ present in Word & sacrament.
Sacre Coeur in Les Cayes, Haiti
-
BackForwardPauseCaption -
Earthquake Relief 2021
Early in the morning of August 14, 2021, a devastating earthquake of at least 7.2 magnitude occurred just west of Les Cayes, Haiti. The city was hit hard. Over 200 people are known dead a day later and experts are predicting a loss of life to number in the thousands. Buildings are in ruins. Among them is our sister twin parish, Sacred Heart. Here is a photo of the church the morning of the earthquake. To donate, use this link. Every penny of any donation will be given directly to the parish in Les Cayes. No administration fees will be taken by our parish or any other agency. Every cent of your generosity goes directly to the people of Haiti without any middleman or percentage for any other reason than to help this parish serve her people and their needs.
We have received word the night of the earthquake from an American priest who has been a missionary in Haiti for 50 years that there is tremendous devastation. The house for the Bishop of Les Cayes has been destroyed by the quake. The Cathedral and Sacred Heart have suffered damage, but appear to be able to be repaired. Many people are still missing and many homes are leveled. Many of the church in the small towns along the coast have been destroyed. In one town, the church was packed for a morning baptism when the quake hit and the church collapsed, at least 40 peopole are know dead there. There is a lack of food because the gangs have controlled the roads and no supplies can reach Les Cayes from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The political situation is unstable with the recent assassination of the President and the attack on his wife. On Monday, August 16th, there is a prediction that Tropical Storm Grace will pummel the southern coast with high winds and rains. More than ever it seems that Haiti needs our prayers and the God needs to be merciful to his faithul there. -
Twinning Project
For over twenty years, Saint Mary’s Parish has been a faithful and committed partner in the twinning project between the Diocese of Worcester and Les Cayes in Haiti. For the last several years, our twinning relationship has been with La Paroisse de Sacre Coeur in Les Cayes, Haiti. This twinning agreement is with the Diocese of Les Cayes on the southern coast of Haiti, the western side of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. At the start of our diocesan twinning, Sacre Coeur was administered by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a missionary order based in Lowell, MA. This order was asked by Pope Pius XII to minister to the needs of the Haitian people when European missionaries could not leave Europe during the Second World War. The Franco-American Province of the Oblates who had priests of French- Canadian background with a fluency in French to minister on the island. One of their own, the Most Rev. Jean Louis Collignon, OMI, was made the Bishop of Les Cayes in the mid-1940s. Often times, the young bishop, who was a native of Central Falls, RI, would travel New England to share his missionary needs. It was on one of these trips that our former Bishop Daniel Reilly heard him preach in Rhode Island and was inspired by his stories. So when, as Bishop of Worcester, he had the opportunity to create a twinning arrangement between the two dioceses, he saw it as a great opportunity for each partner to receive innumerable graces. In recent years, the parish was transferred from the Oblates to the diocese.
At present, Pere Jean-Alfred Bernard is the Pastor of Sacre Coeur in Les Cayes. In October, our two parishes renewed their twinning covenant for a three year term at a Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Worcester. As part of the terms of this covenant, we are committed to pray for the priests and the people of the parish as well as to provide monetary support. Our agreement is to provide a minimum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) every month. If there were ten families in our parish who could commit to a hundred dollars ($100) a month for a year, we could meet this commitment and help over and above this minimum for special projects and needs in their parish. Or a family might be willing to cover a month at $1,000 a month or a half month at $500. If two dozen families could donate $500 once a year, we could cover our commitment and do even more with our tithing for our brothers and sisters in Haiti
-
$100,000 in 10 Months
Saint Mary's Parish took up the need of our twinning parish almost immediately after the news of the earthquake reached our parish and we saw that our sister parish was part of the overwhelming destruction. Through a special collection, donations through our internet giving site and generous contributors in the parish, $100,000 was donated within ten months of the earthquake. With this money, Pere Jean-Alfred Bernard was able to raze the remnants of the half standing church, clear the land, and build a center to use temporarily for Mass so that people would be out of the sun and rain during Mass. These photos arrived on their patronal feast, the Sacred Heart, June 24, 2022. The benches and sanctuary furniture and the image of the Sacred Heart were all salvaged from the former church. This new space is bright, clean, airy, and a place of dignity for their worship to God. Let us continue to pray for them as they pray for us.
