Dear Friends,
As most of you already know, Father Cyriac Maliekal, the administrator of Christ the Redeemer Parish, will assume status as a Senior Priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford on April 30 after serving so faithfully as a priest for fifty years. We wish Father Cyriac good health and many happy years as he enters a new phase in his life.
It was previously announced that, effective May 1,Christ the Redeemer Parish would merge with Precious Blood Parish in Milford, a parish created from the merger of the former St. Mary Parish and St. Agnes Parish as part of the pastoral plan announced in the spring of 2017. The pastoral plan, as announced then, also called for the merger of Christ the Redeemer Parish with Precious Blood Parish on the retirement of the pastor.
That plan is still in place, but a slight delay, from May 1 to June 1, in the merger of Christ the Redeemer Parish and Precious Blood Parish is necessary due to two factors: the ongoing COVID19 pandemic and unforeseen technological difficulties involving the email portal of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Canon Law, the law of the Church, requires that the Archbishop consult with the members of the Presbyteral Council, an advisory body comprised of priests from the Archdiocese, whenever a parish is created, suppressed (goes out of existence), or is merged. Due to difficulties with the email portal of the Archdiocese, it has been impossible for a meeting of the Presbyteral Council, to be held as a ZOOM meeting due to pandemic restrictions, to be set up. Thus, it is necessary that the impending merger of Christ the Redeemer Parish with Precious Blood Parish be temporarily delayed.
As indicated to both Father Cyriac and Father Donahue by the Chancery, the plan now is that in the interim, until June 1, Father Aidan Donahue, pastor of Precious Blood Parish, will serve as administrator of Christ the Redeemer Parish. Father Cyriac can begin his welldeserved time as a Senior Priest as already agreed to by Archbishop Blair as planned on April 30.
For the month of May, one Mass will be celebrated each Sunday at Christ the Redeemer Church at 9:30 AM. These Masses will be celebrated by one of the priests assigned to Precious Blood Parish. No other Masses, except funeral Masses if needed, will be scheduled at Christ the Redeemer Church.
Change is never easy and the times in which we live, with the unusual challenges we have been facing, complicate just about everything. We pray that the Lord Jesus, our Risen Lord and Redeemer, will bless us in our endeavors to move forward into the future together.