St. Patrick's Church celebrates centennial

Cyrus Moulton
Dec 16, 2010
The original St. Patrick's was a former Baptist Church, purchased for $3,000 in 1865. The building was moved back from the edge of the street to be attached to the church's cenacle and is still used by the church as a parish hall. The grammar school building in the foreground was moved to Parker Mills, on Gibbs Avenue. COURTESY FR. JOHN M. SULLIVAN, ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH
Church leaders.  Father John M. Sullivan, pastor, left, and Father Ron Flynn, parochial vicar, stand alongside the church's patron saint, St. Patrick. BY CYRUS MOULTON
The Church Cenacle, 1941.  Formerly the Silas T. S. Hathaway Estate, was purchased by the church in 1940 as the home of three Sisters of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity.  This was the first convent on Cape Cod.  A cenacle is translated as "the upper room," and in the Church, the Cenacle is the name for the room used in the Last Supper.  This picture dates from Summer 1941, and appeared in a book published in celebration of the new church's dedication. COURTESY FR. JOHN M. SULLIVAN
A color postcard showing the new church.  The church was designed by the Boston architecture firm of Macginnis & Walsh, which had designed the campus of Boston College as well as numerous Catholic Churches in Boston.  The building was the first colonial-style church that the firm was to design, as the Bishop of Fall River specifically requested that it "harmonize with the characteristic architecture of Cape Cod, viz, Colonial." COURTESY FR. JOHN M. SULLIVAN
The Church Sanctuary is dominated by the altar and its depiction of the crucifixion, painted by Massachusetts portrait artist Bernard Keyes. Today, the walls are painted light blue, but the Sanctuary looks much the same. COURTESY FR. JOHN M. SULLIVAN

This month, St. Patrick's Church began a year-long celebration of its centennial, complete with a pilgrimage to follow in the footsteps of the church's namesake and patron saint, musical events, and a monthly spiritual service will host former priests from the parish.

But the Catholic history in Wareham goes back much farther than 100 years, and Father John Sullivan is hoping that by studying the Catholic community’s past, they can help provide some insight into the church’s future.

"We're excited for planning for the future by helping people learn about their past," said Father John Sullivan.

According to church records, the first time that a priest visited Wareham was in 1832.  At that time, there were only five parishes (essentially churches) in New England, and priests from these parishes frequently traveled to visit the faithful in other locations.  While visiting the newly established Sandwich Parish, attended mainly by workers at the Sandwich Glass Works, Bishop Benedict Fenwick of Boston, Father Peter Connolly and a Father Canavan stopped by Wareham to visit the 70 or 80 Catholics, mostly young, single men who worked in Wareham's nail factories.  Having no church, they met in a tavern.

The Catholic population ebbed and flowed along with the economy and the fortunes of the local factories until 1850 when Wareham's Catholic community began swelling with Irish immigrants.  In 1865, Father Peter Bertoldi bought the former Baptist Church on High Street for $3,000 to establish a Wareham “mission” church as part of the Sandwich Parish.

The building is still used today as the Parish hall, but it has been moved back from the edge of the street and attached to the Parish Cenacle.

But while Wareham was growing, Sandwich was shrinking.  The glassworks closed in 1888.   In 1911, the population in Wareham exceeded that of Sandwich, and the Sandwich priest, Father William Sullivan, was transferred to Wareham and the Parish was established with 245 Catholics from Wareham, Onset, and Marion.

In 1939, the current church was built to accommodate the growing parish.

One-hundred years later, the church has grown to 4,000 parishoners, and its own missions - St. Mary's Chapel in Onset, St. Rita's in Marion - have become parishes on their own.

Not that there haven't been challenges.

"Like the Church nationwide and worldwide, in fact, the practice of faith isn't as faithful as it should be," said Father Sullivan, saying that the parish should have many more regular churchgoers than it does, given the size of the area's Catholic population.

However, he takes comfort in the determination and fortitude of the parish's founders and its long history, saying that it's important for people to reflect on that history "so that they can appreciate how we got to where we are now, and use that knowledge" to provide "a better sense of hope for the future."

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