St. Mary’s in Swormville celebrates 175 years

Swormville has come a long way from the farming and hunting community it was in the 1830s. And St. Mary Parish has grown well beyond the barns and fields where Father John Neumann delivered the sacraments. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, the parish on Transit Road boasts 2,400 families in a tight knit community.

“They’re wonderful people who love their community. It’s an honor to be here. It really is,” said Father Thomas Mahoney in the middle of the 175th anniversary reverie. Pastor since July 2023, he has come to appreciate his flock’s love and concern for their parish. “Great bunch of people. They took care of all of this. I’m the pastor of four parishes. My time was limited. The parishioners of St. Mary’s stepped up and took care of all of the planning for this 175th.”

Tom and Fran Dixon, parishioners since 1991, began coming to St. Mary at the insistence of their daughter, Frances Jo, who wanted to be an altar server. 

“Originally, when we moved here it was the only church that had female altar servers,” Fran Dixon explained. “(Mass) was in the chapel (the main church until 2010) so it was a much smaller, closer community.”

Frances Jo became involved in parish life and carried that faith into college, serving the church, the community, and now the nation in the military. “It was a great basis that St. Mary’s always provided,” said her mother.

Tom Dixon cites the “clear and distinct leadership by the priests who have been put here” as making the parish such a joy to be a part of. “Very great homilists, great communicators,” he said. “I just feel better when I walk out of this church every time I come here.”

At the Aug. 15 anniversary Mass, the Dixons ran into Father Vincent Becker, pastor from 1985 to 1995. Tom recalls Father Becker bringing in the lay people to take an active role in running the parish.

After 10 years as a missionary in South America, recruiting others to be involved is in Father Becker’s blood. “The sheer fact of seeing what it was like in Bolivia with so few priests, we had to by nature look for the kind of people who showed promise. Boy, when you look for that, you’ll find them,” he said. “So, we had people in charge of altar servers. This guy (Tom Dixon) was on the Finance Committee. When Pope Francis talks about synodality, we were into it already. The lay people have such an important role, and we clergy have sort of captured all the decision making, but the lay people are really the Church. We need to foster their talents and really put them into use. That’s what church is all about.”

Bishop Michael W. Fisher, joined by 15 other priests who have served the parish, celebrated Mass on the solemnity in honor of our Blessed Mother and her assumption into heaven.

As Bishop Fisher and Father Sean Paul Fleming ran into traffic coming to the East Amherst hamlet, the bishop remarked, “They’re coming to church.”

“This is what the Road to Renewal is meant to be about,” the bishop said in his homily. “The Road to Renewal is about renewing us, not only in how we are restructuring, but it is renewing also our relationship with Christ, our spiritual lives, and our ability as a people of God to continue the beautiful work so we can proclaim and magnify the greatness of God. The past is wonderful and beautiful. The history of this parish, we remember it today with fondness, but we also look forward with great delight in the hope of knowing that the future is right here and you all play an important part in renewing and continuing to convert and to bring the world into this family of God.”

A reception followed Mass.