Our Parish Story
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Prayer to St. Ann
O glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care. Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
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brief historical timeline
1901 - Church founded.
1908 - Sisters of Sainte Chretienne began teaching the children of the parish.
1912 - Rectory was built.
1920 - Parish Center and Convent were built.
1935-2020 - Ste. Anne's served as Charter organization for Boy Scout Troop 83/Pack 83.
1943 - Holy Name Society formed (continued until 2016).
1982 - Original church burns to the ground.
1985 - New church built.
2013 - Ste. Anne's becomes part of Phase I of Disciples in Mission (and is removed in 2014).
2013 - Cameroon Catholic Community is established at Ste. Anne's.
2019 - A Parish Pastoral Council is established.
2021 - Congolese Catholic Community is established at Ste. Anne's.
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Sainte Anne Roman Catholic Church is located in the Castle Hill neighborhood of South Salem, Massachusetts. Ste. Anne's was established as a French parish in 1901 to serve the large French-Canadian population living in Salem at the time. In recent years, an increasing number of families from Africa and the Philippines are calling Ste. Anne their spiritual home.
In 1908, the Sisters of Sainte Chretienne began teaching the children of the parish. In 1920, the school hall on Cleveland Street was built, along with a new convent for the Sisters. The Sainte Anne's Athletic Club was founded in 1932 and continued until 1982. The Holy Name Society was formed in 1945 and continued until 2016. A new school was built in 1956 and continued until June 1976. Ste. Anne's was the charter organization for Boy Scout Troop 83 and Pack 83 for over 80 years.
On March 17, 1981, Father Louis Bourgeois was appointed pastor. On February 3, 1982, the nearly one-hundred-year old wooden church building was totally destroyed by fire. At 3:15 am Father B (as he was affectionately known) was awakened by the unexplained ringing of the church bell, only to find the building completely engulfed in flames. Within one hour, the church was totally destroyed. That bell and a few other artifacts are all that remain of the original church building. The fire served as a catalyst to bring new spirit into the parish. Under the leadership of Fr. Bourgeois, a sense of family developed, and soon the church without a house adopted the theme, "We are Family." In the Fall of 1983, a Building Committee was appointed to spearhead the building of a new church. A Finance Committee was established to manage fundraising efforts, which were well surpassed due to the outpouring of support from the parishioners and community at large. On June 21, 1985, Fr. B and Bishop John J. Mulcahy broke ground for the new Ste. Anne's Church. A beautiful, new, and modern church building was dedicated on that site on August 23, 1986. The stained glass windows in the current building come from Sainte Chretienne's chapel.
Fr. B's message on that day of Dedication: "We the parish family of Ste. Anne's dedicate our new House of Worship to the honor and glory of God our Father. We stand together in our new House of God, hand in hand, a people of faith, to humbly ask our Father for the grace to renew our common vision, mutual love and service to all who form this family of Ste. Anne's. What was true in the days of the apostles is also true today: that we who come together to worship may in many ways be divided - divided from one another, divided from our families and from those outside our church. This new stone structure cannot heal. However, we as family come to our new temple to be healed, and to be healers. We come here on this occasion as a family to rededicate ourselves for the glory of God, the Father, to rededicate ourselves to the mission of unity that Jesus called for and to rededicate ourselves to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is the true significance of the dedication of our magnificent new Ste. Anne's. I offer you a very sincere thank you, and let us always remember that "WE ARE FAMILY."
