New Pastor Named for Our Lady of the Assumption Church

WOODBRIDGE - Rev. John L. Lavorgna will be the next Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Woodbridge. He will replace Rev. Christopher Ford, who will be serving as Chancellor for the Archdiocese as well as pastor to a Hartford parish. Fr. Ford made the announcement at weekend Masses.

Rev. Lavorgna currently serves as the Pastor of Mary Mother of the Church on Southmayd Road in Waterbury as well as working as the Director of Continuing Formation of Priests for the Archdiocese of Hartford. He previously served as administrator and then pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii Parish in East Haven since 2010.

Lavorgna grew up in the Fair Haven Heights section of New Haven, attending Bishop Woods Elementary School and St. Francis School. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in West Haven.

He grew up in the Fair Haven Heights section of New Haven and attended Bishop Woods Elementary School and St. Francis School. He then graduated from Notre Dame High School in West Haven.

The priest earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University and after college, he worked for the National Italian American Foundation in New York City and Washington, D.C.

He entered the seminary in 2000, first at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield and then at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After ordination, he served in a Torrington cluster of Roman Catholic parishes, including St. Francis Assisi, St. Peter, Sacred Heart and St. Mary, before being assigned to Our Lady of Pompeii-first as administrator, then as pastor.

He began his ministry at St. John the Evangelist in Watertown after his ordination in 2006. Lavorgna completed his theological studies at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Maryland.