Welcome Fr. Bill Williams

06-20-2021Pastor's CornerRev. Robert J. Deehan, V.F.

Following the announcement of Fr. Tom’s new appointment as Administrator at St. Bartholomew Parish in Needham, I’ve been asked whether Holy Family Parish will be getting another priest to take Fr. Tom’s place. The answer is no and yes. It’s no because there will be no Parochial Vicar formally assigned by the Archbishop to Holy Family Parish as of July 1. With fewer priests available for assignment to the growing number of collaboratives in our Archdiocese, many of which are comprised of two or three parishes/worship sites, in comparison, a “stand-alone” parish with one church like ours does not warrant a second assigned priest.

However, the answer is also, yes. We are blessed to have a senior priest, Fr. Bill Williams, who is willing and able to assist me with some of the sacramental and pastoral duties that would otherwise fall to me alone. Fr. Bill is the recently retired Pastor of St. Peter and St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parishes in Plymouth. He will continue to live in his home in Halifax while commuting to Holy Family to celebrate weekend Masses in rotation with me, offer Masses when I am away, hear confessions, and do occasional funerals, Baptisms and Anointings of the Sick. Since his retirement from assigned ministry, Fr. Bill has assisted at several parishes in the area as needed without having the opportunity to be truly connected with any one community. He looks forward to focusing his priestly ministry here at Holy Family Parish where he can get to know the members of our community and the parishioners can get to know him. You may have seen him over the last few years when he has occasionally “filled in” at a weekend Mass or has assisted with hearing confessions.

As a “Senior Assistant” here at Holy Family, he will be a consistent and invaluable help to me as I try to maintain as much as possible the ministries and services, to which parishioners have become accustomed. However, there will be adjustments in some of these, a couple of which are mentioned in today’s bulletin. So, I ask for your patience and understanding while we all adjust to this new reality and to our return to a new normal after the pandemic. Fr. Bill will begin his service to us here at Holy Family by celebrating the 9:00am Mass next Sunday, June 27. Please join me in welcoming Fr. Bill to Holy Family and pray that his priestly ministry here will be happy and fruitful.

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