Our Lady of Fatima Church
The Bridgeport Portuguese Community with their Catholic Faith dates back many years.  Portugal is well-known for its faithful, devoted people and of course, for the great miracle of the three shepherd children seeing the vision of the Virgin Mary on 6 different occasions from May to October in 1917.  The message from the Virgin Mary was to pray the rosary and for peace in the world.  
Portuguese migrants found their way to America to build a better life.  They brought with them their family values, traditions, and most of all their religious faith which continues to this day.  In 1930 there were many Portuguese families living in Bridgeport but did not have a church of their own. 
The history goes back to 1948 when a census was taken to justify bringing a priest from Portugal to administer sacraments and to be the spiritual leader to the Portuguese people. In 1949, during lent, a priest came to St. Augustine’s and to St. Mary’s so that the Portuguese people could complete their paschal duty. Others would go out of state to Rhode Island or Massachusetts to fulfill their paschal duty.
In August, 1953 the Diocese of Bridgeport was established and a group of Portuguese people asked for a meeting with the Most Reverend Bishop Shehan to discuss the needs to have a Portuguese priest for their community. At that time, there was not a Portuguese priest ordained in the United States. In 1955 Bishop Shehan wrote a letter to the Holy See to request a Portuguese priest from Portugal.
On April 6, 1956, Rev. Constantino Caldas arrived in Boston, MA. On April 8, 1956, Bishop Shehan announced that a Portuguese Priest was here to administer to the Portuguese People. On April 13, 1956, a meeting was held in the Cathedral Chapel where about 100 people attended.  On the following Sunday, a Portuguese mass was held at 8:00 am and attendance started to increase resulting in having 2 masses each Sunday at the Chapel.
On May 27, 1956, a welcoming dinner with 400 people was held for Father Caldas. A special blessing came from our Holy Father, Pius the XII for Father Caldas and for the Portuguese people.  With this turn out, the dream started, and it was time for the Portuguese people to have their own church.  They formed the men’s Holy Name Society and later on formed Our Lady of Fatima Society for the women and a Catholic Youth Organization.
The Portuguese People starting introducing their Portuguese religious traditions. In 1956, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima came from Portugal and in October, Bishop Shehan blessed the statue. From that day on, many more people started attending mass, number of confessions increased, and children started attending communion and confirmation classes. In October, 1957, first candlelight procession was held outside on the grounds of St Augustine’s and children dressed like Angels to follow the statue.  The following year, in October, 1958, members of the Portuguese congregation at St. Augustine’s Cathedral held the first candlelight procession to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima through the streets of Bridgeport. With the number of members increasing, the Chapel began to be too small and the excitement and the passion to build their own church grew. Father Caldas told them to always pray and through their prayers, work and sacrifices the church would be built.


Moving forward with the idea to build their own church, in August 1960, Father Caldas was authorized to look at a site for the church. In September, 1960 a site was found and in April 22, 1961, Father Caldas moved into the residence of Our Lady of Fatima’s rectory on Huntington Road in Bridgeport.  This was great beginning for the future of these devoted people for which they had been praying so hard to happen.
On October, 15, 1961 a ground breaking ceremony took place at site for our church. In 1961, the house was moved to the back of the lot and construction of the church began. After the church building was finished, a huge slab of Italian marble had to be set in place for the church altar. It was delivered from New York and had to be set on pedestals but the contractors would not lift it because it was too heavy. Father Caldas announced at Sunday mass that he wanted all the men to go to the new church after mass because their help was needed.  These men were construction workers and were very strong.  They gathered around the slab shoulder to shoulder and placed it on the pedestals. The contractor could not believe the strength and the commitment of these men to get this done.  (This story was told by a long-time member of the church, which showed the spirit, pride and the dedication of the Portuguese people)
 From April 23, 1961 to August 26, 1962, Mass was held in Beardsley School a block away from where the church was being built. On September 2, 1962, mass was held in the basement of our new church. The Portuguese people were very grateful to get Father Caldas, a Portuguese speaking priest. Father Caldas lived in St. Augustine’s Cathedral for five years and the Portuguese people were very grateful and appreciative to the Pastors, Assistants and the parishioners of St Augustine’s for the kindness shown to Father Caldas.
Bishop Lawrence J. Shehan was the first Bishop of Bridgeport and he had authorize the building of our church.  On September 23, 1962, the dedication of our church was offered by the second bishop of Bridgeport, the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis. This was the beginning of a new challenge to the Portuguese people who were all very proud of their origin and religious beliefs.
After the dedication of the church, there was of course, the big challenge of paying off the debt of the land and the building.   In the late 60’s and early 70’s interest rates were over 10 % so they went with a plan to sell certificates to the parishioners without interest. While this project was not a big success, they did manage to bring the debt down and put them in a much better financial position.
Through the following years, the church maintenance was handled by parishioners. Snow plowing, landscaping, painting, the janitorial work was all done voluntarily and for free by the parishioners.  The ladies’ auxiliary held family dinners and the annual 2 day picnic in the summer on the church grounds was how they socialized and raised money for the church. This annual picnic is still planned and held every year but now is only 1 day.
Immigration laws were changed in 1965 and more Portuguese People were able to come to the United States, many of which came to Bridgeport, CT.  No-one knew how to speak English and could not get a drivers license or afford to buy a car. Father Caldas used to have school buses pick up families in the Hollow, this is a section of Bridgeport where many Portuguese families lived because of lower rents and to be close to other Portuguese families and walking distance to the grocery store and the bank. The buses were always full.  Parents and children would go to mass together every Sunday.
In October, 1967 Father Antonio Ribas de Moura came from the diocese of Vila Real Portugal and became the assistant to Father Caldas. He was a very active and motivated priest.  He started singing at mass and created the church choir, a soccer team for the boys and a dancing group to promote the Portuguese culture. The catechism classes were full, we had plenty of altar boys and the CYO was great opportunity to meet for the younger generation.  He was with us for six years until he was transferred to Danbury, CT.
In January, 1975 Father Jose de Brito Alves came from the Archdiocese of Braga, Portugal to work at our parish.  Father Alves retired in June, 2019 and returned to Portugal. 
In July, 1980 money was borrowed from the Diocese with interest to purchase the property across the street from the church. In May, 1984 we paid back the Diocese and the church was almost paid as well.
In 1985, there was a need for a place to hold Catechism classes for the children. A campaign began to build Catechetical Center.  It was supposed to be built on the land across the street from the church, but because some of the parishioners opposed, they did not want to give up the parking spaces, the plan was not successful. Instead, in 1986 the house and land next door to the church was purchased and became the new location for the Center. 

In 1992 Father Manuel Silva also came to our church as an assistant and in 1995 Father Fernando Eurico da Silva came from the Diocese of Braga, Portugal. Father Caldas asked to retire in 1996 and Father Alves became the new Pastor of Our Lady of Fatima. Father Alves than began the renovations and the expansion of the campus grounds. Four Houses were purchased but only 2 were demolished to expand the parking lot, build the new rectory, and to build the sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima on Boston Avenue. A wall was also built around the church. That’s when we started having the annual 3 day feast to celebrate the anniversary of the church.  Friday night there was a candlelight procession, Saturday evening we had the beautiful dinner banquet with dancing and on Sunday, we had mass outside, and then procession with all the statues that represented the saints of a few of the villages from the north of Portugal. The parishioners of the town decorate their statue just like they used to do in Portugal. There was also a Portuguese marching band that came from another state to perform Portuguese music.  In the afternoon, there was great food and dancing.

We have been very fortunate to have had generous donations to our church from parishioners.   The statue of Our Lady of Fatima in front of the church as the statue of Saint Anthony was donated by the Henrique families, the mural of Our lady of Fatima with the 3 shepherds on the exterior rear wall was donated by Monsignor Caldas. The sanctuary on Boston Avenue was donated by Manuel Moutinho and the statue of Santo Cristo that is in the parking lot behind the church is from an anonymous parishioner.
From 1962 to the present, (these numbers have not been confirmed and are approximate) our church has celebrated over 4000 baptisms, over 2000 first communions, 1900 confirmations, 1700 weddings, and with sadness over 1000 funerals.
Our church continues to have many hard-working volunteers, for special events, Religious Ed Classes, we have Cursillo, Youth Group, Emmaus and Peace, church choir and prayer groups. All of which have very talented leaders and CCD teachers.
Our annual events include Valentines Dance in February, cozido a portuguesa is a week or so before Easter. On May 12, we have the candlelight procession and sell roses for the moms to bring up to the altar on mother’s day.  In June, we have our annual picnic outdoors which is usually on father’s day.  On or about September 23rd, we have our church anniversary with outdoor mass, procession with statues, marching band and then food and entertainment the rest of the afternoon. On October 12^th of each year we have the candlelight procession to honor Our Lady of Fatima.  In November the Festa de Sao Martinho is a big hit with traditional sardines and chestnuts along with music and dancing. In December, we used to have a Christmas dinner dance held in the church hall with music and dancing.

While we have been witnesses to many changes in our church as well as other churches.  Our faithful community continues to work hard and be generous to see our church continue to grow and  to have its doors opened.