Our History

Today, most Catholic parishes in eastern Massachusetts are territorial parishes - each serving all of the people in a given area regardless of their age, ethnic background, and primary language. Territorial parishes adapt their mission to the people who are presently living in their area. This can include offering Mass in multiple languages or nurturing a variety of devotions and customs that are important to the local community. During past periods of significant immigration, a different type of parish was more common - the national parish (also called a personal parish). Each national parish was created to serve a particular ethnic community that was settling in a given area. This is how most parishes in Lawrence and Methuen started.

The first Catholic church in Lawrence was Immaculate Conception. It started as a small wooden building that opened in 1846 and was replaced in 1854. At first, most of the 400 French-Canadians living in the area would gather here for Mass and religious education in French. In 1871, a French national parish, St. Anne, was established to serve this growing ethnic community. The Marist Fathers (Society of Mary) took over the administration of the parish in 1882, with Fr. Elphage Godin, S.M., as pastor. The new church of St. Anne was dedicated in 1883 by Archbishop John Williams.

The continuing increase of the French-Canadian population in Lawrence and Methuen necessitated larger and more numerous facilities. One Marist mission (begun in 1899) to build a new chapel and school in South Lawrence led to the founding of Sacred Heart Parish. Another mission led to the founding of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Methuen. St. Anne Parish also added an orphanage and school in Methuen that were dedicated in 1925 and first occupied in 1926. The school, originally named for St. John the Baptist, became St. Theresa School (named for the popular French saint Therese of Lisieux). When the orphanage chapel was no longer large enough to accommodate Methuen Catholics, St. Theresa Church was built. The new parish of St. Theresa was established in 1936 and was cared for by the Marist Fathers.

Today, St. Theresa Church is the only one of these churches still serving Catholics in the area. The property where Immaculate Conception Church once stood is now part of Mary Immaculate Health/Care Services in Lawrence. St. Anne Church closed in 1991 but still exists. Sacred Heart Parish was suppressed in 2005; the church building is now used by a traditional-Latin community that separated from the Catholic Church (schism). Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church closed in 2000 when the parishes of Methuen were reorganized into three territories.

Video documentary: "La Petit Fluer: Remembering St. Theresa's Parish"

Methuen Community Television has an excellent one-hour documentary video, produced in 2019, about St. Theresa Parish and its people. It was made by parishioners and includes archive photos, interviews, and descriptions of the church's stained glass windows and other features important to the parish. Watch it here!

The Augustinians (Order of St. Augustine) have been very much involved in the growth of the Archdiocese of Boston from its early days as a mission territory. The oldest Catholic church building in the Archdiocese is St. Augustine Chapel in South Boston, built by Fr. Philip Lariscy, OSA in 1818. In 1848, Fr. James O'Donnell, OSA established St. Mary Parish in Lawrence at the request of Archbishop John Fitzpatrick. About 30 years later, all of the parishes in Lawrence except for the French Church of St. Anne became joined to St. Mary Parish as mission churches. Additional missions followed, including St. Monica - the first Catholic Church in Methuen (1897). Eventually, many of the missions that were serving particular ethnic communities became their own parishes: St. Monica and St. Patrick (Irish), Assumption (German), Holy Trinity (Polish), St. Francis (Lithuanian), Sts. Peter and Paul (Portuguese), and St. Laurence O'Toole (Irish) from which came Holy Rosary (Italian).

St. Augustine Parish in Lawrence began with a small mission church that stood at the corner of Doyle Street and Water Street. The first Mass was celebrated there on Christmas Day in 1878. In 1922, a larger church and a school were built at the intersection of Lowell Street and Ames Street. The new church building was intended to be temporary: thus, it was built almost entirely on ground level without a lower hall or chapel. However, it became impractical to replace it - and so it remains as it was then, more or less. The territorial parish of St. Augustine was established in 1936 and remained in the care of the Augustinian Fathers. Starting in 1946, the parish school was operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who had first come to Lawrence in 1857 - four years after the city's incorporation.

To this day, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have a convent adjacent to St. Augustine.

In early 1996, Cardinal Law asked the pastors of the Archdiocese of Boston to work collaboratively with one another to evaluate how to best meet the needs of parishioners in light of significant existential challenges. These challenges included changes in demographics, fewer churchgoers, fewer priests, financial difficulties, and buildings that could no longer be used or maintained. Initially, St. Augustine Parish joined a cluster of parishes in Lawrence. However, because it covered part of Methuen as well as part of Lawrence, St. Augustine Parish was also included in the Methuen Cluster (the other four member parishes being St. Lucy, St. Monica, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and St. Theresa).

Facing the inescapable problems of changing demographics and dwindling resources, the Marist Fathers announced in 1997 that they would be departing from Methuen, ending their mission to the area's French-Canadians. This called into question the future of the two national parishes they were still operating at the time: St. Theresa and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Of particular concern was what would happen to the Mount Carmel school if its parish were to be merged with another (because the neighboring parishes already had parochial schools). The parishes of the Methuen Cluster worked together and with the Archdiocese of Boston to evaluate how to best move forward. Ultimately, it was decided that Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish would be suppressed, allowing its school to continue operating independently. St. Theresa Parish would merge with St. Augustine Parish, while territorial boundaries would be reconfigured so that the new combined parish would be able to serve Methuen equitably along with St. Lucy and St. Monica Parishes.

As the Augustinians were already running St. Augustine Parish (a territorial parish) and were not leaving the area as were the Marists, Cardinal Law determined that the first pastor of the new merged parish would be Fr. Peter Gori, O.S.A. The parish would remain in the care of the Augustinians for the time being.

Early in the year 2000, parishioners were engaged via a survey and an open meeting to help work out a pastoral plan for the new parish. Decisions needed to be made concerning a new Mass schedule, how all of the buildings in the new parish would be used, and what the new parish should be called. The community started with 170 proposed names for the parish, cast a series of votes, and settled on three final choices which were then submitted to Cardinal Law for consideration. One of the names submitted was Our Lady of Good Counsel. It was ultimately chosen for the same reasons it was initially proposed. As a title for Mary, it honors the Marist Fathers who had built and operated St. Theresa Parish and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish. It's also the favored title of the Blessed Mother in the tradition of the Order of St. Augustine.

By Church law, the new parish could not be called St. Augustine or St. Theresa. However, the churches dedicated to those saints do retain their names. Thus, St. Theresa Church is a church in the parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel. It came to be designated as the primary worship site for the merged parish. St. Augustine has also retained the canonical status of a parish church - meaning there are very few restrictions on what it can be used for. However, at the time of the merger it began to be called St. Augustine Chapel - mainly because of its continued use as such by St. Augustine School on the same property. As it happens, calling this church a chapel also helps to distinguish it from St. Augustine Church in Andover.

Devotion to Mary as Our Lady of Good Counsel (or Mother of Good Counsel) originated in the town of Genazzano in Italy. Miraculous events are said to have taken place there beginning on April 25, 1467 (the feast of St. Mark) at Santa Maria, a fifth-century church that had been entrusted to the Augustinians in 1356. Following the appearance of a strange cloud, a wall that was under reconstruction suddenly exhibited a portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Christ child. The image, painted on very thin plaster, was first known as "La Madonna del Paradiso" and was later called Our Lady of Good Counsel. The place immediately became a popular pilgrimage site with a reputation for miraculous healings.

The feast day of Our Lady of Good Counsel is celebrated worldwide on April 26. Several representations of Our Lady with this title are in common use, including the following (which are in the public domain):
 

The original image of Our Lady of Good Counsel from Genazzano, Italy.		Our Lady of Good Counsel by Pasquale Sarullo - from the 19th century.

In 2004, Holy Rosary Church became the worship site of a new territorial parish named Corpus Christi. This parish was formed from the national parishes of Holy Rosary, St. Francis, Holy Trinity, and Saints Peter and Paul. When the parish was suppressed in 2021, Holy Rosary Church became a shrine and was entrusted to the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance.

Today, Lawrence is served by three territorial parishes: Our Lady of Good Counsel in Tower Hill, St. Patrick in South Lawrence, and St. Mary of the Assumption in North Lawrence (formed over time from the merging of St. Mary, Immaculate Conception, and Asunción Parishes).

St. Augustine School in Lawrence continued as part of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish until 2010, when it was merged with St. Patrick School in South Lawrence to become Lawrence Catholic Academy. As a shared parochial school, LCA receives significant financial support from both Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish and St. Patrick Parish, with the pastor of St. Patrick serving as the school's president. The pastors of St. Patrick, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and St. Mary of the Assumption Parishes (the three Roman Catholic parishes in Lawrence) all serve on LCA's board of directors, sharing in the work of directing the school's mission and providing pastoral ministry to the students and faculty.

Another Catholic school in Lawrence is Central Catholic High School.

The building that used to be St. Augustine School is now leased by the City of Lawrence to operate Lawrence Family Public Academy.

Although Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Methuen no longer had a sponsoring parish as of the year 2000, it continued to operate independently until 2004. Today, Methuen hosts two major Catholic schools: St. Monica School (pre-K through grade 8) and Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School. These were founded in 1958 and 2004 (respectively) by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Also in Methuen is St. Ann's Home and School, which descended from the St. Anne Parish orphanage that opened in 1925. The institution reorganized in 1966 and now serves children, adolescents, and young adults who need specialized care and learning.

The diminishing number of Augustinian priests in the Merrimack Valley region has required some hard decisions, including returning the administration of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish to the Archdiocese of Boston in 2008. While the Augustinians are no longer at OLGC, they are still active in the region today.

As a territorial parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel faces the challenge of adapting to the needs of all people living within its boundaries - mainly, the neighborhoods of Tower Hill and West Methuen. At the same time, the parish where one lives isn't necessarily the parish one chooses to join and participate in. Sometimes, people move away from their home parish, yet continue to return there for Sunday Mass, ministries, and community life. People also form relationships with each other at nearby parish churches or might come to prefer those places for their Mass schedule, activities outside of Mass, or dominant culture or language. This can work against a parish community as well as for its good. For example, although Lawrence Catholic Academy in South Lawrence is our parish school (shared with St. Patrick Parish), the fact that the school isn't within the territory of OLGC parish (particularly, in Tower Hill) has greatly affected many people's perception of where they and their children belong. Such a situation requires a long-term effort of collaboration, listening, and support.

In light of ongoing changes to area demographics, OLGC continues to evaluate the need for Spanish-language Mass and ministries. Past discussions about this focused on the possibility of St. Augustine Chapel being used as a satellite worship site of Asunción parish in Lawrence (which was a personal parish for Spanish-speakers). While these discussions never bore fruit, St. Augustine Chapel did become a missionary satellite after 2021, when the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance started extending their Spanish and Latin ministries at Holy Rosary Shrine to Tower Hill. This is a mutually-beneficial partnership that we are now striving to support and promote within our parish. (Presently, the FPOs are at St. Augustine two Thursday evenings every month and occasionally on Sundays.)

There are good reasons why OLGC hasn't been able to grow Spanish-language ministries on its own. For one thing, doing so would require having bilingual staff, volunteers, and publications well beyond our current capacities. More important, however, is the need to avoid fragmenting particular communities and introducing competiton into the mission of serving them. Such guidance was issued by Church authorities and taken into account during the process which led to OLGC's creation. Nevertheless, it seems clear that the Hispanic population throughout Lawrence and Methuen continues to grow. Fortunately, we are now able to respond to particular requests for Spanish-language ministry. This includes Masses, baptisms, quinceañeras, and to a lesser extent confessions.

OLGC is unique in being one of three parishes in Methuen and one of three parishes in Lawrence. Like any parish, we need to keep up with the changing needs of people in our territory. However, we also need to develop our relationship with two different cities, increasing people's awareness of our presence and what we have to offer. The goal isn't to compete with other parishes and religious groups, but to best serve everyone within our reach, helping them to fully experience life as disciples of Jesus and members of his Church. Recognizing this expands our horizons, opening the way to many possibilities for growth and development. By continuing to develop partnerships with other apostolates and organizations, we can help each other to minister more effectively to more people and share in the fruits that this brings. We also advance toward what Jesus himself prayed for in John's Gospel - that we may be one.  - Fr. Gregory