In 2012, the Diocese of Norwich formed a series of committees organized by deaneries to help develop plans to restructure the churches within the diocese.
The first step was to cluster parishes into groups to work together. Within the New London Deanery, or geographical area, St. Agnes Church of Niantic and St. Matthias Church of East Lyme were joined to form the Holy Martyrs Cluster. Each cluster was asked by the diocese to share as many common functions as possible while retaining their own identities. The ultimate goal was to prepare for yoking and, eventually, a merger due to the declining number of priests.
- Yoking – The pastoral care of two or more parishes is entrusted to one pastor. Each parish maintains its own organizations, committees and finance councils. The canonical structure of the parishes is not changed.
- Merger – The closing of one or more parishes combining the communities with an already existing parish. The separate canonical structures of the parishes are changed to one entity.
Since that time, the Catholic Community of St. Agnes and St. Matthias has worked together and are yoked by definition. We now share one Pastor, a single Director of Religious Education, a joint Parish Council and a combined Parish Office located at 22 Haigh Avenue in Niantic, CT.
