Parish History
At its best, history is a living reality.
The history of Saint John the Baptist Parish is a very interesting one because it, too, is
a living history. It makes captivating reading. It is the history of a parish which had
real growing pains, serious problems of adjusting to changing times and social situations.
Any community of persons that can look back on more than 100 years of history - and you
realize that in 1977 we celebrated the centennial anniversary of our parish - can
expect to look back on a span of ups and downs, achievements and setbacks, successes and
failures. That’s what real human history is all about.
In their very early history, the Catholics of Brunswick were served by priests from
Augusta and Whitefield. In 1855 Brunswick became a mission of Bath and in that period
Father Peter McLaughlin came to say Mass once a month in the home of John Dolan on Elm
Street. Religious services were later held in a hall at the Varney mill. A former
Protestant church was bought in 1866 and Mass was said there until 1883.
The French-Canadians of Brunswick expressed a desire for a French Canadian priest to
serve them as pastor. In 1877 the Rev. J.H. Noieux was assigned to Brunswick as its first
resident Catholic pastor and the old Protestant church was dedicated to Saint John the
Baptist. Saint John the Baptist parish was born on January 1, 1877.
Father Noiseux was succeeded by Rev. James Gorman who served Saint John’s for
twelve years and brought a new church to Brunswick. The new church was solemnly blessed by
Bishop James Healy of Portland on the feast of Saint John the Baptist, July 24, 1886.
Father M. Sekenger followed Father Gorman and served the parish for nineteen years.
It was at this stage in the history of the parish that Bishop Walsh entrusted the care
of the parish to the Marist Fathers. Father Theophile Remy, S. M. was the first Marist
pastor of Saint John’s and Father Alfred St. Martin came with him as the first Marist
curate. Father Remy arrived on the 14th of August in 1911. Less than a year later, on
April 12, 1912, Saint John’s church was destroyed by fire.
People and priests showed their mettle by building bigger and better on the ashes of
the old. The solemn blessing of the new church on February 27, 1927 in the pastorship of
Father Etienne Vinas, S. M. represented the crowning point of fifty years of history for
Saint John the Baptist parish.
The ensuing fifty years of history have reflected the process of growth and change that
have marked the development of the Church in the periods now labeled as pre-Vatican II,
Vatican II, and post-Vatican II. Under the leadership of Fathers Chambard, Andre, Dauphin,
Carteron, Soucy, Cote, Brunelle, and Hall our parish has kept pace with the developments
in the Church at large and in the diocese of Portland. There are very few people today who
would risk prediciting the future beyond a very few years, but a close reading of history
can give confidence about moving into the future. The evident ability of the people of
Saint John’s to live out their community history through quite radical changes in
country and church argues well enough for their capacity to move into the second century
of their history with the confidence of being guided and sustained as a part of the People
of God on their pilgrimage to His Kingdom.
Rev. Emile Guilmette, S. M.
Pastor of Saint John the Baptist
January, 1973 |
