We are a Roman Catholic Parish of the Archdiocese of Boston (Massachusetts). We are located at the southernmost point in the Archdiocese of Boston. Throughout the changing seasons amid the cranberry bogs, and the lakes, and fields, farms, and horses, and villages of Middleboro, and Rochester, and Lakeville have grown the three churches of Sacred Heart (est. 1885), Sts. Martha and Mary (est. 1958) , and St. Rose of Lima (est. 1961). The three churches and three towns have come together to form the St. Isidore Parish (est. 2021). We are a rural and diverse populace full of love for our growing faith community and our neighbors.

The parish was formed by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2021 as a successor to the Cranberry Catholic Collaborative (est. 2013) which was formed by the three towns and two parishes: Sacred Heart and Sts. Martha and Mary. It is founded on the recognition that our parish is an Eucharistic communitiy of God’s faithful people, entrusted with carrying out the mission given by Jesus Christ to the Church. In 2021 our first  pastor, Fr. Jude Thaddeus Osunkwo was appointed. Under Fr. Osunkwo we begin the work of ongoing pastoral planning, and building ministries to bring our community of faith a revitalized sense of hope in the future of our Church.

Deeply committed to Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church, we are working to become a parish of faith, worship, and service. We strive to be warm, welcoming and caring families in which the gifts and talents of all, young and old, are recognized and graciously shared to nourish others.

• About St. Isidore the Farmer
• Our Logo
• History of our Churches

About St. Isidore the Farmer

St. Isidore (c.1070-1130) - culled from saintsfeastfamily.com

  St. Isidore was born at Madrid, Spain, in the latter half of the 12th century. For the greater part of his life he was a farmer and laborer. Many marvelous happenings accompanied his lifelong work in the fields and continued long after his holy death. He was favored with elestial visions and, it is said, the angels sometimes helped him in his work in the fields. St. Isidore was canonized in 1622.
 
He is the patron of farmers, laborers and rural communities, and his feast day is May 15th. In 1947, he was proclaimed the patron of the National Rural Conference in the United States.
 
Isidore, named after his parents,  proved to be a good field worker and fervent believer, to whom the angels came to lend a hand to plow by driving the oxen through the fields while Isidore prayed fervently for long hours between the furrows of the field. He was a good husband and father: he married María Toribia who also became St. Maria, and they had a son who, by accident, fell into a well (which can be seen in the museum of the origins). Both Isidore and his wife began to pray, and the water from the well rose a few meters to reach the surface, allowing the exit of the infant from its interior.
 
When he died, he was buried in the cemetery of the church of San Andrés, and twenty years after his death the tomb was opened for his transfer, finding the body of Saint Isidore incorrupt and mummified. The last time the sarcophagus was opened in which Saint Isidore is kept today was in 1985. Now his body and the ashes of his wife, María, are in the collegiate church of Saint Isidore in Real Madrid.

Our  Logo

St. Isidore is the patron saint of farmers. laborers and rural communities. The towns of Lakeville, Middleboro and Rochester are nestled in the southeastern rural area of Massachusetts and farming is common to all three comunities. Moreover the town of Middleborough has a history of having several shoe factories and a brass foundary and several other industrial factories. Our logo reflects the rural community where farming is prominant. The three cranberries represent our three communities and our main agricultural product as well as  the symbols of wheat. The wheat also is a symbol of the Eucharist. The cross is, of course at the center of it all, representing the concept that Christ is at the heart and center of our parish.

 From the Old, Arises the New...
The immediate predecessor to St. Isidore Parish was the Cranberry Catholic Collaborative. whose logo is seen here at the left. We chose to rework the "CCC" logo into our new parish as the CCC was an important stepping stone to us becoming a new parish. We are reminded that our ministry does not change-- from the old flows the new.