Catholic Community Hosts "Giving Thanks Celebration" for Karlene Duffy, Popular Religious Educator

One day after Thanksgiving last month, hundreds of local Catholics gathered at Westwood's Council on Aging for a casual, drop-in “Giving Thanks Celebration” event, during which attendees brought donations for Westwood Food Pantry at the request of Karlene Duffy, the beloved and reluctant subject of the celebration.

When Ms. Duffy was suddenly terminated from her duties as director of faith formation at Westwood's St. Joan of Arc parish in mid-September, it came as a shock to her, along with many in the church community. Many of them are still struggling to accept the news. The "Giving Thanks Celebration" was an opportunity for much needed connection.

Attendance at the event numbered over three hundred, estimated Lou Rizoli, a long-time member of Westwood’s St. Margaret Mary, now merged with Westwood’s St. Denis to become St. Joan of Arc. Guests dropped in at various points in time – some for five minutes, some for an hour.

Photo by Connie Rizoli. Karlene Duffy (center) gives the thumbs up with a group of young men - Timmy Donovan, Matty Donovan, and Brian Sullivan.

“The nice thing is that there were so many college kids and high school kids,” said Mr. Rizoli. From his observation, Ms. Duffy was elated. “She was flying high, as she should have been that day,” he said.

After about 20 years of service at St. Margaret Mary, Ms. Duffy had outlasted many changes of clergy at that church. After St. Margaret Mary combined its youth education classes with Westwood’s St. Denis, Ms. Duffy became faith formation leader of the combined program. Ms. Duffy held her position when the two congregations officially merged as St. Joan of Arc parish of Westwood. By the testimony of hundreds (as demonstrated in a recent petition to restore Ms. Duffy to her former staff position), it is indisputable that Ms. Duffy had touched many lives in her position as director of faith formation.

So, when Ms. Duffy was suddenly terminated from her duties by St. Joan of Arc’s newly incoming priest late this past summer, it sent the church community reeling. The Reverend Matthew Norwood, one month before his official installation at St. Joan of Arc, announced that he was letting Ms. Duffy go, and that he would be taking the church’s faith formation program in another direction.

While Father Matt declined to be interviewed by Westwood Minute for this article, he acknowledged his September 26, 2024 letter to the families of St. Joan of Arc parish titled, “Ongoing Vision for Faith Formation” could be an appropriate reference. In the letter that is dated about a week and a half after Ms. Duffy’s firing, Father Matt highlighted a declaration by Pope Francis, noting that as social bonds fray, “the family” is also undergoing a “profound cultural crisis.” 

Father Matt went on to highlight an elevated role for parents in a revised faith formation program.  “[P]arents are the first and best teachers for their children. This is especially true about the life of faith, because faith is first passed on by parents, and parents have the most time with their children to help them learn and grow.” He noted that the vision for faith formation at St. Joan of Arc is “to empower parents in their role as teachers of the faith to their children so that it can be lived at home, in the Church and in every facet of family life.” Therefore, Father Matt noted that parents are being asked to be involved in the St. Joan of Arc faith formation program “on a more regular basis.”

Photo by Connie RIzoli. Karlene Duffy (right) joins two supporters at an event held in her honor in November 2024.

Before her firing, Ms. Duffy was considered by many to be the face of the St. Joan of Arc community and youth education at the church. In a petition to reinstate Ms. Duffy initiated by Westwood High School Sophomore Maeve Curtin, there are roughly 250 separate answers to the question of, “What message would you like us to send to St. Joan of Arc Parish about the importance of bringing Karlene back?” Many of the answers reference Ms. Duffy’s central role to the church as a “pillar” and “light.”

Sheila Matthews, a supporter of Ms. Duffy’s, compared the current faith formation program to when Ms. Duffy was director. She noted her understanding that students are now more frequently taught by both their parents and priests.

However, taking Ms. Duffy out of the picture as leader of the program did not sit well with Ms. Matthews or her family. Ms. Matthews said that she – like a number of other church members – no longer attend St. Joan of Arc’s, because of disappointment over Ms. Duffy’s firing. She described the implementation of the new faith formation program “a really big pivot.”

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“This is my home church. . . . My daughter sang there, I did the coat drive, I was pretty active, I thought,” Ms. Matthews said. “Our kids are devastated. We’re very sad. They couldn’t imagine going to church anymore. It has shaken my faith in the institution of the church, but not my faith in God or Jesus,” she says.

Ms. Duffy was a widely popular figure in the church community. In the petition referenced above, respondents were asked to name their favorite thing about Ms. Duffy. Responses expressed common themes. “She has a remarkable ability to connect with people, making everyone feel valued and heard,” remarked one respondent. “She was the most welcoming face for the St. Margaret Mary parish community,” states another response. “[S]he instantly makes you feel special and loved,” writes another.

Photo by Connie Rizoli. Karlene Duffy (right) gives the thumbs up with the group of young ladies - Emma Conway, Natalie DeMaio, Charlotte DeMaio, and Emilie DeMaio.

For any staff member, and especially a beloved one like Ms. Duffy, Ms. Matthews suggests that a staff transition could have been less abrupt and involved more communication with parishioners.

As it stands, it appears that Ms. Matthews – and many of Ms. Duffy’s supporters – feel shocked and hurt on Ms. Duffy’s behalf. The supporters of Ms. Duffy believe that her termination was marked by a lack of dignity and honor that supporters believe is her due.

As described by Ms. Duffy, she was asked to a meeting in mid-September with Father Matt, which she believed to be related to program planning. She was speechless when instead she was informed of her termination. Father Matt kept his eyes on a “script,” was Ms. Duffy’s impression, while she says another person at the meeting – an unfamiliar young woman whom Ms. Duffy believes is from the diocese - followed by offering a severance package.

Ms. Duffy says she was given until the end of the day to wrap up business, and hand in her keys to the building. She said she was told she would be escorted from the church.

“I found my voice and said, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong. I want to make sure my name and reputation and personal record are pristine,’” she said she told Father Matt.

Ms. Duffy said she did her best to keep her composure during that meeting, but when she made it back to her office, the shock and grief immediately set in. “It didn’t seem pastoral at all. I’d never been married. I was married to the church. The [ ] church was my family,” she said, explaining the enormous impact of the sudden, unexpected loss of her position. There was no time for goodbyes.

The event in November offered an  opportunity to put to peace some unresolved feelings and to say words left unsaid between Ms. Duffy and the church community.

Photo by Connie Rizoli. Karlene Duffy (center) with two supporters at a party held in her honor at Westwood's Council on Aging in November 2024.

“I was very much against it,” says Ms. Duffy of the idea of the celebration party in her honor. “I’ve been the face of the church for a while,” she recognizes, and says she understood that the event was an opportunity to provide her beloved community with a pastoral service. “People wanted a chance to tell me they were upset, or loved me, or wished me well. I was blessed and humbled. . . . I was very overwhelmed to lose my job, but the support by the hundreds of people who came through, it lifted my spirits,” she says.

Ms. Duffy notes she is not part of any organized advocacy efforts on her behalf, but she understands why such efforts like the party and the 100+ member Facebook group, Karlene’s Angels, have formed. She says the organizing efforts have helped create a community of Catholics.

“They’re my family. They’re my kids. People are grieving like I’m grieving, and it shows itself in different ways. That’s what they felt they needed to do,” she says.

But while Ms. Duffy’s supporters have created a community among the like-minded, some of them are breaking away from the church community of which they had been a part.

Former St. Joan of Arc attendee Tina Collins said she has pulled her two children from the St. Joan of Arc faith formation program, and the family is currently attending St. Catherine’s in Norwood. Reportedly, at least eight families have left St. Joan of Arc for other churches after Ms. Duffy’s termination.

Photo by Connie Rizoli. Tina Collins (right) and family join Karlene Duffy (third from right) at the November Giving Thanks Celebration.

“Anyone who knows Karlene for any amount of time loves her,” said Ms. Collins. “My kids adored her. My youngest son was devastated. She always made the kids feel special.”

Ms. Matthews said her family has been trying out different churches locally, but have not yet settled on one. Returning to St. Joan of Arc is not off the table.

Supporters have called on the archdiocese to reinstate Ms. Duffy, and even the transfer of Father Matt. The community sentiment would seem to point to a mutually exclusive choice of one or the other.

Right now, Ms. Duffy says she doesn’t believe that working together with Father Matt would be possible. However, she is concerned that if she were to return to St. Joan of Arc, her return would create an even greater distraction.

She remains troubled about what she calls “misinformation” from the parish which she fears could erroneously lead one to believe that her firing was due to a moral failing. “I wouldn’t have brought this to the public except people urged me to say something because the communication could leave people with the impression that I did something wrong. If I want to do this [faith formation related work], my reputation and personal record need to be clear.”

Photo by Connie Rizoli. Karlene Duffy (middle) is pictured with friends Mary Layden and Pat Ford.

“I’m upset because of the way it was done and subsequently the way it was handled,” says Ms. Duffy. On the suggestion by some that she meet with Father Matt and mediators to find closure and talk, she says, “I don’t know if I’m there yet. My faith has not been shaken by this, but it’s been a struggle not to go down a path of anger,” she says.

“It’s really sad. It’s hurt a lot of families. It’s hurt the church,” said Ms. Collins of how events have transpired. “I do hope something happens to bring about healing.”

Ms. Duffy’s current action plan includes praying and fasting, looking for a job, and trying to figure out the next chapter in her life.

“The hardest part is I lost my parish,” says Ms. Duffy. She is in search of a new spiritual home. She is also trying to stay active, taking the advice of “a very supportive priest,” who has encouraged her to do what she has always done.

Following November’s celebratory party in her honor, with her army of supporters behind her, Ms. Duffy undertook a successful toy collection drive for Saint Teresa of Calcutta in Dorchester. In the near future, she also plans to organize a trip into Boston to minister to the homeless on the city streets. She and a group will pass out blankets, gift cards, mittens, and other needed items. It’s something she says she’s done for decades. She plans to continue.

Thanks to Karlene Duffy, Sheila Matthews, Lou Rizoli, and Tina Collins for being interviewed for this article, and to Connie Rizoli and photo subjects for sharing these images with Westwood Minute.

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