New Priests for St. Mary's Parish

The leadership of of the Assumption Parish is changing hands this week.

The Rev. Daniel Mulcahy Jr. and the Rev. Manuel Clavijo are taking new assignments as of Friday, ending several years of service in Milford, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester recently announced.

Mulcahy, pastor at St. Mary, will become the new administrator of St. Augustine Parish in Millville. He has served as pastor at St. Mary since June 2007, according to the Catholic Free Press, a Diocese publication.

Clavijo, the associate pastor, will become the chaplain of Anna Maria College in Paxton, an independent Catholic college, said Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, chancellor of the Worcester Diocese.

Both men will begin their new assignments on July 1.

The Rev. Raymond Goodwin, who now leads two churches in Grafton, will become the new pastor of St. Mary, Sullivan said. Goodwin, who has 42 years in the priesthood, previously served as co-pastor at St. Mary from 1973 to 1980.

The Rev. Guillermo Ochoa, a newly ordained priest, will become associate pastor at St. Mary. This is his first assignment, said Sullivan. Ochoa is a native of Colombia, and bilingual, and will help meet the needs of Latino parishioners, Sullivan said.

For the past eight years, Goodwin has served as pastor at St. Mary Parish in North Grafton and as administrator of St. Philip Parish in Grafton.

He said Wednesday he is looking forward to reintroducing himself to Milford. He said he would spend some time meeting with families and familiarizing himself with the schedule and services offered to residents, before making any changes.

"It's been 30 years," he said.

St. Mary's offers Catholic mass in three languages — English, Spanish and Portuguese — to meet the diverse needs of Milford residents. That will continue under the new leadership, Sullivan said.

The Worcester Diocese has 13 or 14 parishes that have masses in both Spanish and English, Sullivan said, but Milford is among only four areas in the county that have a Brazilian population, and so, the Catholic church provides services in Portuguese.

The reassignments of the priests were among 31 announced by the Diocese, based on a review of parish needs, Sullivan said.