By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer

Msgr. Rene Mathieu prefers not think of this as the end.
This month, he will perform the final Masses at Notre Dame de Lourdes Church in Saco and St. Mary’s Church in Biddeford. But as difficult as it will be to close the doors of two historic churches, Mathieu said he is looking to the future.
“Everything we do is a step forward,” he said while sitting in his rectory office, which overlooks the towering St. Joseph’s Church and the neighborhoods once populated by Catholic families who moved to the area in search of mill work.
“Right now we’re coming back from these churches with tears in our eyes,” he said. “It’s almost beyond our imagination that we’re doing this.”
The Roman Diocese in Portland in August announced three churches in Biddeford and Saco will close due in part to dwindling numbers of parishioners and maintenance costs. While Notre Dame and St. Mary’s are set to close this month, St. Andre Church in Biddeford will stay open until the end of 2010.
There are six Catholic churches in Biddeford and Saco, traditionally home to a large number of Catholics. The three churches scheduled to remain open are St. Joseph’s in Biddeford, Most Holy Trinity in Saco and the seasonal St. Brendan’s in Biddeford Pool.
Mathieu said the “graying” of the church has contributed to the need to consolidate parishes. The Good Shepherd Parish was formed in 2006 and includes Catholic churches in Biddeford and Saco. On July 1, 2010, St. Philip’s in Lyman and St. Margaret church in Old Orchard Beach are scheduled to become part of the parish.
Mathieu said many parishioners have been attending the same churches for their entire lives, but their children have moved out of state.
“A generation ago, these were young families in vibrant communities,” he said of the older parishioners. “[Their children] come home to get married and then they leave.”
The Good Shepherd Parish buries about 200 people each year and baptizes about 60 people, half of whom don’t live in the area, Mathieu said.
“Meanwhile, you have the same number of buildings to maintain,” he said.
The parish has saved money over the past few years by consolidating administrative offices and positions. The churches that are closing will most likely be sold, a decision that is ultimately left to Bishop Richard Malone, Mathieu said.
Mathieu said closing the churches will allow the three parish priests to spend more time with parishioners following Masses. Currently, Mathieu and Fathers Rob Lupo and Gregory Dube rush from one church to another to perform back-to-back Masses.
“The folks in the pews have had to adjust because they don’t have the same priests all the time,” he said.
Most importantly, Mathieu said, the changes will ensure the church can move forward without passing insurmountable debt to the next generation.

During the past several months, church staff and parishioners have worked together on committees to plan the final months at each church. There were many decisions to make, from when to have a Bishop’s Mass to what to do with furnishings, Mathieu said.
Mathieu said an important part of the process has been taking time to reflect on the history of the churches and their role in both the communities and people’s lives. The churches were the center of the neighborhoods where they were built and a friendly rivalry developed between them, he said.
“The whole neighborhood emptied out to go to Sunday Mass,” he said.
When the Good Shepherd Parish was formed, a series of get-togethers were held to allow parishioners to get to know each other.
“We’ve had all these little events and each time it becomes easier,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a lot more trust.”
There also have been discussions about how to welcome people as they transition to attending Mass at a new church.
“We worked hard in our preaching to encourage those whose churches are closing to acknowledge how painful this can be and to renew their faith,” he said.
Clergy and parishioners have celebrated the churches during Masses with the bishop and at gatherings of church members.

Mathieu said he has spent time thinking about what makes each church special and unique. St. Mary’s Church was the first Catholic parish in the area and was founded to serve Irish immigrants. Since its beginning, Notre Dame has served French-speaking families and created a sense of community at a time when they were not necessarily welcome in Saco, he said.
First known as the Church of the Assumption, the St. Mary’s congregation organized around 1850 and the original church building was constructed in 1856 by Patrick C. Keely. The current building on St. Mary’s Street was built starting in 1923 and was dedicated in 1926, according to Dane Yorke’s “A History of Biddeford.”
A jubilee celebration of the church’s centennial year took place on Sept. 11, 1958.
“The 100-year history of Saint Mary of the Assumption Church of Biddeford is the story of the gallant souls, challenged again and again to bring forth spiritual and material results for God and country – for yesterday, today and tomorrow,” reads a booklet published for the anniversary.
The booklet recounted the history of the parish, which traces its origins to an influx of Irish immigrants to Biddeford. The Great Famine in Ireland in 1847 and 1848 “sent throngs from that country to the shores of America. Many were induced to come to Biddeford, and no sooner had they settled here than they began making plans for a church,” according to the booklet.
The first Mass was celebrated in the Emery House on Main Street in 1848. By 1850, Irish settlers in the area attended Masses conducted monthly by priests from Saint Dominic’s in Portland and later by clergy from Portsmouth, N.H. Services continued on the second floor of Pepperell Mill and at city buildings until the church building at the corner of Hazel and St. Mary’s streets was ready.
Baptismal records show the first child baptized at St. Mary’s was Mary McDannel, the daughter of John and Saragh  McDannel. Mary was born Sept. 9, 1855, and baptized six days later.
The first recorded marriage at the church was “James Dunn of Bediford and Mary Divine of Saco,” according to church history. The witnesses were Thomas Brady and Katherine Divine.
The first group of Sisters of Mercy arrived in Biddeford in 1892 to teach at St. Mary’s School, which was built for $26,000 in 1894. They first lived in the rectory before moving to the newly constructed convent near the church on Aug. 25, 1894.
Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish was founded to accommodate the needs of the growing French-speaking population in Saco, Mathieu said. Parishioners purchased the building from the Second Baptist church and established the parish on Dec. 1, 1928. The first Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday in 1929.
The building originally was a theater and renovations included raising the sloping floor near the altar and adding kneelers. Also built was a replica of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, which is a source of pride for Notre Dame families. Mathieu said Catholics from across York County travel to the grotto to pray and he hopes the grotto will remain part of the parish.
Notre Dame began with 312 families and has grown to more than 1,000 families today. The tradition of offering Masses in French will continue at St. Joseph’s Church, Mathieu said.
Notre Dame de Lourdes School was also founded in 1929. For 22 years, students attended classes in the church loft, attic, basement and convent until the school building was built in 1951 at its present location on Beach Street, according to church history. The school was staffed by the Presentation of Mary Sisters for nearly 80 years.
Joe Goozie of Saco, a Eucharist minister at Notre Dame, said the Our Lady of Victory Mission in Camp Ellis is an important part of parish history. The summer chapel, which was used for weekend Masses until 1989, was built to raise money for Notre Dame School.
After three years of neglect, parishioners converted the chapel into a parish hall to be used for school suppers, fairs and parish funeral luncheons. It was sold in November.

Most parishioners seem sad about the closure, but understand change is needed to strengthen the parish, Mathieu said.
Goozie, who has been going to Notre Dame for 34 years, said he wasn’t surprised by the closure announcement last summer because he “knew it was coming.”
“It was kind of hard to hear. It was a really, really difficult decision to make, but we knew something had to be done,” he said. “People are very sad. Some people were born and brought up in the parish.”
Vincent Keely of Biddeford has attended Mass at St. Mary’s for 25 years. Like Goozie, Keely said he wasn’t surprised that three churches would close in the area.
“I often wondered why three churches were supported in Biddeford,” he said.
Keely said he thinks the “worst of it is over” and though parishioners are still emotional about the closure, they have accepted the arrangement and will move forward. He will now go to St. Joseph’s, where Goozie and his wife, Diane, also plan to attend Mass.
“As far as we’re concerned, God’s going to be at any church we go to,” Goozie said.
As the final Masses at St. Mary’s and Notre Dame quickly near, Mathieu said there has been a mix of tears and laughter from clergy and parishioners as they grieve the loss of the churches. He said the process has not been unlike selling a treasured family home or mourning the loss of a friend.
“They understand it’s necessary, but it’s still painful,” he said.
So what will his final Masses at each of the churches be like?
“I’ve been thinking about this for a month,” Mathieu said. “There will be tears and there will be pride.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.