The Parish of Saint John the Baptist is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, within the Archdiocese of Boston. It was founded in 1903 to serve Polish immigrants in the area. Originally,

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

was celebrated at Immaculate Conception Parish in Salem, but as Polish immigration to Salem grew, their own church was needed. The first church was erected on Hebert Street, along with a school building. Years later, the parish bought the recently closed Baptist church on St. Peter Street and renovated it, which included adding a second floor. The parish added a large parking lot and opened a school in the 1960s, but the school closed in the early 1970s due to low enrollment. Facing demographic changes and a shortage of priests, the Archdiocese implemented programs in the early 2000s to combine parishes together under a single pastor. In 2013, it joined with three other Catholic parishes in Salem, St. James, Immaculate Conception, and St. Anne to form the Salem Catholic Collaborative (St. Anne's would leave the collaborative a year later). Rev. Daniel J. Riley was appointed pastor, the first non-Polish pastor in St. John the Baptist's history. In October 2016, it was announced that Fr. Riley would be leaving the collaborative. Along with his departure, most of the staff was fired and the school building was closed for use, shutting down the bingo that help fund the parish for the last 43 years. In 2017, Fr. Robert Bedzinski, S.Ch. arrived to become the new parish priest. St. John the Baptist is one of the few remaining

Polish-American Roman Catholic parishes in New England Polish-American Roman Catholic parishes - founded by Polish immigrants in New England, United States from 1887. There are 78 Polish-American Roman Catholic parishes in 10 dioceses. Fr. Franciszek Chalupka was the founder of the first Polish-Ameri ...

in the Archdiocese of Boston. Masses are celebrated daily (except for Tuesdays) at 8:00 AM, and Saturday evening at 4:00 PM. Sunday mass is at 10:00 AM in Polish and 11:45 AM in English. There is also a novena to St. Jude Monday nights at 7 PM.

References

Bibliography

* Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish - Centennial 1893-1993 * The Official Catholic Directory in USA * 75th Anniversary Book for St. John The Baptist Parish (1978)

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Diocesan information - St. John the Baptist Parish
Roman Catholic parishes of Archdiocese of Boston Polish-American Roman Catholic parishes in Massachusetts Churches in Salem, Massachusetts Religious organizations established in 1903 {{US-RC-church-stub