The priest who has guided Westbrook’s Catholic churches through merger of the city’s three parishes will be leaving at the end of the summer.
The Portland Diocese is transferring the Rev. Joseph Manship, the pastor for the Westbrook parishes, to Holy Trinity Parish in Saco at the end of August.
Manship’s move to Saco is part of a regular effort by the diocese to move its priests after they have been at one parish for about six years, Manship has been in Westbrook for seven years. “I have really mixed emotions,” Manship said of his departure. “I really will miss the people here in Westbrook, and I’m really committed to the work we’re doing here.”
While he is leaving Westbrook with mixed emotions, Manship said he is looking forward to going to his new parish in Saco, which he described as a vibrant parish whose parishioners bring lots of energy to the church.
Rev. Reginald Brissette, who is currently the pastor of St. Andre’s in Biddeford, will succeed Manship in Westbrook.
Brissette did not return calls seeking comment for this story, but Manship said he knows Brissette, and he feels Brissette is a good choice to lead the Westbrook Catholic Community, saying he would be an asset to the parish. “He’s a very good man,” said Manship. “He has a great sense of humor, and I think he’ll add a lot to the Westbrook Catholic Community.”
During his tenure in Westbrook, Manship oversaw the consolidation of St. Mary’s, St. Edmund’s and St. Hyacinth’s parishes into what the church now calls the “Westbrook Catholic Community.” The merger led to the closing of St. Edmund’s and St. Hyacinth’s churches, with weekly masses being held in St. Mary’s.
Manship said the church is still in the process of gathering information to find the best permanent solution for the parish. He said the parish is considering renovating one of the three church buildings to meet the needs of the parish or building a completely new church.
On Aug. 1, Manship said Bishop Richard Malone is expected to give his formal approval to the merger of the three Westbrook parishes into one parish. Once the approval is given, Manship said the parish would be renamed. Malone is expected to come to Westbrook on Aug. 7 to celebrate a mass honoring the new name of the parish.
The parish is currently in the process of surveying parishioners to come up with possible names for the church, said Manship. He said earlier this year, the church asked parishioners to submit their choices for names and the reason why they chose that name.
Once that information was collected, Manship said the church sent out a ballot with the five leading names, “St. Michael the Archangel,” “St. Anthony,” “the Presentation of Mary,” “St. Jude” and “Good Shepard.” Parishioners were asked to rank their top three choices from that list.
Manship said the church is in the final process of collecting those ballots, and will be submitting the top three choices to Malone for final approval. Manship said Malone has the final decision on the name of the new parish, but typically the bishop will choose the name that is the top choice of the parishioners.
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