AMESBURY — Father Jack Gentleman will focus on saying goodbye and thanking the parish he has called home for the past nine years in his final service tomorrow.
His homily will reflect on the events he has experienced and has been blessed by since arriving at Holy Family Parish nearly a decade ago, he said yesterday.
"It's always difficult to move on," Gentleman said. "A lot has happened in nine years."
Local parishioners were shocked at the announcement on Sunday when "Father Jack" delivered the news that his term as co-pastor has come to an end. Father Conrad Salach will now serve as sole pastor of Holy Family.
With a renovation project still underway at Holy Family, Gentleman said Cardinal Sean O'Malley's recent decision to move him came "suddenly" and as a "surprise."
"This is part of the reorganizing (of the archdiocese)," Gentleman said. "I didn't expect to be moved before the construction was completed."
Archdiocese Spokesman Terrence Donilon has said it is not unusual to move clergy around depending on need.
The Boston Archdiocese is currently grappling with financial hardships and a lower number of men choosing to enter the priesthood. Within the next 20 years, 29,000 of the priests serving in the U.S. today will be over the age of 75 and eligible for retirement. In the same 20-year period, if the current rate continues, only some 9,000 priests will be ordained.
Due to the contraction of the archdiocese in the wake of declining membership and repercussions from the abuse scandal, 15.5 percent of priests in New England serve more than one parish.
On Nov. 28, Gentleman will officially become pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Manchester-By-The-Sea and St. John the Baptist Parish in Essex. The two parishes have had one pastor split between the two congregations for the past five years.
Gentleman will reside in Manchester-By-The-Sea.
"I met with the current pastor, and it seems like a good community," Gentleman said. "Numbers are smaller with a different set of challenges and needs."
Gentleman, who grew up in Lynn, is looking forward to being right on the ocean and taking on a new challenge.
"Holy Family has been a rewarding experience, a very good experience," Gentleman said, noting the changes in the church over the last nine years of his tenure. "The way Holy Family has responded to various things and confronted issues shows the truly good spirit the community has. We all worked hard to develop Holy Family and move it into the future and help it grow."
Gentleman says going forward, he will take the lessons of resilience and community to Essex and Manchester-By-The-Sea, continuing to look back on his time in Amesbury fondly.
"I will remember Holy Family as an active parish, a strong parish with a lot of things and activities happening," Gentleman said. "There is a lot of lay involvement, and we grew through the challenges."
Gentleman will celebrate the 10:15 a.m. Mass on Sunday. A collation will follow.
"I've seen the basic goodness in people. I will take this to the next parish," Gentleman said. "I want people to work together and build a community of faith and goodness."
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