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Porada, Charles, Rev., OFM, Conv.
(Jan. 15, 1915 - Nov. 26, 2000)

The death of Father Porada brings to mind the Polish migration from Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he was born, the formation of two Polish churches, one Roman Catholic and the other independent, the strike of 25,000 mill workers in 1912, the race riots in 1984, and the invasion of Spanish-speaking families. Less than one percent of Lawrence is now of Polish ancestry. About 70 percent is Hispanic.

Unfortunately little is known of the priest's family. His father, Thomas Porada, who came in 1910 from Galicia in occupied Poland, was missing from the 1920 and 1930 censuses of Lawrence. He married Carolina Brzostowski and, while living in Lawrence with her and two children, he registered with two draft boards, 1917 and 1942, to fight, if called, in two world wars. The family belonged to Holy Trinity R.C. Church. Charles Porada made his first vows as a friar on Sept. 29, 1936, and was ordained to the priesthood in St. Anthony of Padua Province on June 20, 1943.

For 54 years he served the religious needs of Polish people from the factories of Lawrence to the coal mines of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Each parish he served is a separate story. No one has yet looked into his contributions to each one. He was pastor of Holy Cross, Fall River, Mass., and served at St. Michael the Archangel in Bridegeport, Conn.; St. Stephen's in Shamokin, Pa.; St. Louis in Portland, Maine; and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Bedford, Mass., where funeral services over his remains were held. His grave is in the Friar's Plot at Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Lawrence.

From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)

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