About Our Parish
While officially Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we call ourselves Ascension Parish for short. We are two worship sites, Saint Bridget in Maynard and Our Lady of Fatima in Sudbury. Our parish family is deeply committed to Jesus Christ, as one unified community of faith, worship, and service. We strive to be a warm, welcoming and caring parish where all are invited to grow in worship and fellowship.
Presentation on Parish Vision
At Ascension Parish, we help others on the path to a better life through Jesus Christ. We strive to be a community where everyone feels welcome, no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. Here, Father Gerald presents his vision, reminding each of us that the church is for me but not about me.
Our History
Ascension Parish is comprised of two churches – Saint Bridget in Maynard and Our Lady of Fatima in Sudbury.
The town of Maynard, established in 1871, was formerly part of both Sudbury and Stow. St Bridget was established in 1881, to serve the tremendous number of Catholic immigrants who worked in local mills on the Assabet River. For them, the closest churches were in Saxonville, Marlborough, and Cambridge. In 1884, thanks to the hard work and fundraising of area Catholics, the current St Bridget church was dedicated. However, by 1910, more than 600 Polish immigrants lived in Maynard, and St Casimir Polish parish was established in 1912 (services were initially held in St Bridget). In 1926, Polish Catholics bought what was a defunct powerhouse servicing the electric trolley (Concord, Maynard, and Hudson railway) on what is now Route 117 just before the bridge over the Assabet. The building was converted and blessed in 1928 as St Casimir (it was sold in 2003 to St Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church of Boston).
Our Lady of Fatima Parish was established on September 15, 1955, by Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston. At the time there were about 800 Catholics in the town. Father Robert H. Hurley was appointed as the founding pastor. Up until this time Catholics in Sudbury attended Mass at the parishes of Saint Ann Wayland, Saint Bridget Maynard, and Saint George Saxonville. It was a challenge to develop a unified parish in those early days amongst parishioners who attended three different churches. Ground-breaking ceremonies for the Church were held on January 22, 1956. The cornerstone laying and first Mass was celebrated in the Church on December 15, 1956. By this time over 400 Catholic families lived in the parish.
Ascension Parish serves 2,300 families.