MANCHESTER — The Capuchin friars — the brown-robed priests and brothers who took part in social advocacy efforts ranging from immigrant rights to safe housing — will leave the center city parish they have run for the past 30 years, they announced Sunday.
A leader of the Capuchins blamed a “terrible vocational crisis” for the provincial order’s departure from St. Anne-St. Augustin parish in July.
“Fewer men are joining, and many are leaving within the first five years after ordination,” said the Rev. Robert Abbatiello, the assistant provincial of the Province of St. Mary Capuchins, in a statement read at the church on Sunday.
