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PHOTO: Bishop Robert Deeley says Mass at Holy Trinity Church, in Lisbon Falls before the dedication of the parish center to the Rev. Lionel Chouinard. (Submitted photo)
LISBON FALLS — Parishioners of Holy Trinity Church gathered with Bishop Robert Deeley on Sunday, Sept. 12, to dedicate the pastoral wing of the church in memory of the Rev. Lionel Chouinard, who was pastor there for 17 years.
Chouinard, who died in 2019, began his ministry in Lisbon Falls shortly after Holy Trinity Church was dedicated in 1999. The church was built to serve three parishes that had merged – Saint Anne in Lisbon, Saints Cyril and Methodius in Lisbon Fall, and Holy Family in Lisbon Falls. Chouinard is credited with helping to bring the communities together as one.
“He gave his everything to our parish here for so many years,” said Jennifer Bussiere, who was office manager at the church. “He was just very special to all of us parishioners here.”
The pastoral wing of the church was added under Chouinard’s guidance. Deeley recalled Chouinard giving him a tour of the building when he visited following his installation as bishop.
“We went through each classroom and office,” Deeley said. “It became very evident that he had been very involved in creating this space. It was also evident that the space was more than a building. For Father Chouinard, it was a place to celebrate the parish and its people.”
During the dedication ceremony, Deeley and parishioner George Janosco unveiled a portrait of Chouinard and two plaques that will hang there. The plaques read: “Welcome to The Fr. Lionel G. Chouinard Center dedicated Sept. 12, 2021, to the priestly commitment of a beloved servant of God. Ordained May 22, 1963. In God’s presence Feb. 23, 2019.”
Janosco said, “It’s fitting that there is a lasting remembrance here for him. He is just a wonderful person who went above and beyond for so many people.”
Chouinard was also administrator of Holy Family Parish in Lewiston for a year, and in 2008 he became pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Sabattus. In 2020, Holy Trinity and Our Lady of the Rosary joined Holy Family, Holy Cross Church and the Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul as part of Prince of Peace Parish in Lewiston.
The Rev. Daniel Greenleaf, pastor of Prince of Peace, said, “Now that our area parishes have completed the clustering and have become one new parish, I thought honoring Father Chouinard at Holy Trinity was a great way to memorialize all that he did for them and to secure that his memory lives on even as the parish forms a new identity. The history, culture, and memory of a people in a parish are things to treasure, foster, and nurture in our parishes because faith itself is handed on through these human experiences.”
