Brockton Chapel Celebrates 60th Anniversary
In 1960, His Eminence Richard Cardinal Cushing of the Archdiocese of Boston reached out to Fr. Bonaventure Koelzer, SA, the Friars’ Minister General at the time, and requested the Friars establish a chapel and information center in the South Shore region in Massachusetts. It was Cardinal Cushing’s desire to empower the laity, educate those unfamiliar with Church teachings and offer activities that would foster faith in the community and help make the Gospel come alive for the people. He saw that the Friars’ commitment to ecumenism and graceful evangelization was well-suited to draw people to the beauty, truth and love of the Church.
Fr. Jerome Gallagher, SA, was selected to establish a location. He searched diligently for space and found it just outside of Brockton, in the Westgate Shopping Center. Modifications to the chapel building began and soon the Chapel of Our Savior and Information Center opened to accommodate 250 people during Mass. It included a lecture hall, library, and office space as well as small living quarters for the Friars working at the chapel.
The Friars who currently serve the Chapel of Our Savior are Fr. Jerry DiGiralamo, SA, Fr. John Keane, SA, Fr. Damian MacPherson, SA, Br. Thomas Banacki, SA, and Br. Louis Marek, SA. Today they continue the work of many before them: demonstrating the hope, charity, and peace found only in Jesus Christ, offering the Sacraments to the faithful, and walking alongside the laity by encouraging them with practical tools to live out their faith.