Faith and friendship know no borders
“Let’s see. There’s Fran, JoAnne, Diane, Turk, and Roy.”
Father Philip Clement, administator of St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in Machias, has no problem naming the regulars who attend Mass at St. Timothy Church in Welshpool.
“You see the same people, and you get to know them to whatever degree you can,” he says. “They’re wonderful people.”
While it may not seem unusual for a priest to want to know his congregation, what is unique, for a priest of the Diocese of Portland, is the place that congregation calls home. Welshpool is not located in Maine but, rather, on Campobello, an island in the province of New Brunswick. For the past 50 years, priests from Maine have been crossing the border to celebrate Mass and provide pastoral care to the people of the Canadian community.
“It’s the only way we can get anything religious done, like our Masses,” says Omer “Turk” Brunet, the long-time treasurer of the church.
“It’s very important to us,” says JoAnne Matthews, president of the church council. “We certainly are grateful.”
The island of Campobello and the down east Maine town of Lubec have been strongly linked since 1962, when the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge was built over the Lubec narrows within the Bay of Fundy. The bridge provides the only vehicular access to the 15-square-mile island, and for years, people have regularly traveled between the two communities.
“A lot of boys from over here married Lubec girls,” says JoAnne Matthews, president of the St. Timothy Church Council, who has lived on the island for 48 years. “I grew up in Lubec at Sacred Heart Church, but then, I moved over here.”
From Sacred Heart, one of the four churches Father Clement serves, it takes only about 15 minutes to reach St. Timothy, depending on border congestion. Compare that to the challenge of getting there from elsewhere in Canada. St. Timothy’s home parish of St. Croix is located in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Traveling between the two without leaving Canada requires a 60-mile drive and two ferry rides: one from the mainland to Deer Island and another from Deer Island to Campobello. The latter ferry doesn’t usually run in the winter months. In fact, JoAnne says, years ago, parishioners used to row the priest across the water. Back then, Masses were celebrated just monthly in the winter and bimonthly in the summer.
You can also travel from St. Stephen to Campobello by crossing into the United States at Calais, driving to Lubec, and then reentering Canada at the island’s border crossing, about a 90-minute trip. Not only is the travel time still a deterrent, but the parish’s current pastor, Father Suresh Savariraj, HGN, cannot use that route because he is from India and his visa does not permit entry into the U.S.
Father Clement says that is why having him serve St. Timothy’s congregation makes so much sense.
“I don’t think it’s any more taxing on the pastor of this parish, whomever it may be at any given time, to not keep the arrangement,” he says. “It’s really no extra effort for me to go earlier to celebrate Mass for the people on the island, so they have the benefit of attending.”
For many years, there was a reciprocal agreement with the Diocese of St. John. While a Maine priest served Campobello, a priest from the town of McAdam, New Brunswick, would cross the border to minister at Guardian Angel Church in Vanceboro, located at the end of Route 6. However, Guardian Angel closed and was later sold in 2014, so now, it is only Father Clement who makes the trip.
“We look at it as a kindness because there is no switch now,” says JoAnne.
On Saturday afternoon, Father Clement leaves the rectory in Machias, drives 40 minutes to Lubec, then crosses the border into Campobello where he hears confessions and celebrates Mass at 4 p.m. When it’s over, he immediately heads back for a 4:30 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart, the two vigils made possible because New Brunswick is on Atlantic Standard Time, which is one hour ahead of Maine’s Eastern Standard Time.
Although he did not make the trip from March to July, since then, Father Clement’s ministry at St. Timothy has continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Canadian-U.S. border is primarily closed, those with homes on the island are permitted to cross into Lubec because there is no grocery store or gas station on Campobello. Father Clement says he has also not run into any issues going back and forth.
“They see me crossing every weekend and know that I’m the priest there. They still ask me my reason for travel, but as long as I assure them that I’m just going to celebrate Mass and returning and that I’m not bringing anything with me, as they would ask anybody who is crossing, there is not an issue,” he says.
Father Clement says he does not celebrate holy day or weekday Masses at St. Timothy because of his commitments to the other churches. He does, however, travel to the island to offer the sacrament of the sick, celebrate funeral Masses, and preside at graveside services.
“Pastorally speaking, it’s a great arrangement for the people, I believe, because, should somebody be dying, they can’t wait for their pastor to get there. I’m able to minister to them with whatever sacramental needs they have, as well as offering counseling, spiritual direction, and things like that,” he says.
He stresses, however, that his responsibilities are pastoral, not administrative.
“Anything that I might notice, I mention it to Turk and recommend that he refer that to the pastor, because I’m not the one to be making those decisions. It’s the pastor,” he says. “Turk and a couple of the other parishioners are very astute at keeping an eye on the building and whatever needs to be done.”
“Because we are where we are, a lot of things are different,” says JoAnne. “They’ve said for 20 years that we are the Church of the future because we take care of ourselves.”
That includes getting everything ready for when Father Clement arrives, a responsibility that lies primarily with Turk, who also serves as sacristan.
“I get here about an hour early. I make sure that the wine and the water are all ready and the chalice is ready. I take out the right vestments, get them hung up there on the hook for him, and I make sure the missals have the right cords in the right places for Father, and the same thing for the readings,” he says.
“Turk is a wonderful man who has everything ready when I arrive. He has the doors open. He performs his sacristan duties well and has a great personality, great spirit. He is just a pleasant person to be around,” says Fr. Clement.
Turk expresses similar appreciation for Fr. Clement.
“He’s wonderful. I like his homilies. He has fantastic homilies, and he’s open to listening to ideas or whatever,” Turk says. “I’ll say, ‘OK, Father, anything special for next week?’ He’ll say, ‘No, Turk.’ He’ll say, ‘Just keep on trucking buddy.”
Turk, JoAnne, and the other parishioners hope there are “next weeks” for a long time to come. They say they are greatly appreciative of the relationship they have with the people of St. Peter the Fisherman Parish.
“I hope the diocese can continue to be kind enough to do that,” says JoAnne. “We are very grateful that the bishop allows this because we would be in a hard spot.”
“I’m hoping, and so is everyone here hoping, that Portland doesn’t say, ‘Well, we can’t do this every week,’” says Turk. “I hope it stays this way for many, many more years, because that’s all we have."
