Sunday, May 31, 2009
Dear JimmyJimmy and friends,
In a very perceptive article in the "Rhode Island Catholic" on May 9 about the pending sale of Sacred Heart Church in Pawtucket, Reverend John Kiely, who served Pawtucket parishes since 1966 and into the 1990's, said the construction of Route 95 caused the merger of Sacred Heart, St. Joseph's, and Our Lady of Consolation Churches.
As a young assistant pastor at Sacred Heart after Route 95 was built in July 1963, Rev. Kiely said attendance seemed to slowly drop as fewer households provided for congregation attendance. The construction of Route 95 severed the number of available parish households and caused younger families to move to Seekonk, Cumberland, and Lincoln.
Local Roman Catholic History proved Rev. Kiely's interesting Route 95 theories correct. For example, Sacred Heart High School and the grammar school closed by the middle 1970's due to low enrollment. Other Roman Catholic schools near Route 95, St. Joseph's in Central Falls and St. John the Baptist, closed their buildings in 1971. In a possibly related move, St. Joseph's School on Walcott Street closed a few years later. The final holdout, Our Lady of Consolation School closed in 1996.
Other Protestant churches and Roman Catholic Churches near Route 95 seem in danger of closing in the near future.
In closing, was Route 95 the major culprit of congregational division?
Peace, Ludlow 1