Agnes Sheehan Community Service Award

This Award is dedicated in loving memory of the late Agnes Sheehan, a charter member of the Parade Committee, and the first woman to be chosen as the Parade’s Grand Marshal. In keeping with the traditions of Agnes, the Community Service Award This award recognizes an individual who has given of him or herself to help improve the community. 

The Doyles were born and raised in Cambridge, MA. They moved to Northboro in 1972 when Walter went to work at Data General in Westborough. Walter was a call fireman in Northboro and served as the interim town administrator, while Kathy was busy raising their four children: Michele, Mark, Kerri, and Elizabeth. 

Walter entered the Permanent Diaconate Formation Program of the Diocese of Worcester in 1978. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon on June 6, 1981. During his education, Kathy attended classes with Walter, and it was during this time that they completed their family with the birth of their fifth child, Lisa.   

While in formation, Walter and Kathy decided to take advantage of an opportunity offered by Diaconate Director, Fr. Paul Tougas, to help sponsor a Vietnamese “boat family” through Catholic Charities in Worcester. It was this experience that opened them up to the needs of the “least, the last, and the left out.” It has been 46 years since that experience, and Kathy and Walter are still giving their time to “just helping … the least, the last, and the left out.” 

From the humble beginnings of sponsoring one Vietnamese family, a significant ministry has developed. The name has changed from the Refugee Apostolate of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate to the Refugee Apostolate to the Urban Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope. 

The work has also gone through constant change. From sponsoring families to filling some of the needs of newly-arrived families through an ever-expanding thrift store and adding a weekly outside Flea Market from April through September, the Urban Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope has endeavored to keep in touch with the needs of refugees, immigrants, and those struggling in the Worcester area.  Their thrift store has grown from serving 5 or 6 people a week to almost 100 customers six days a week, and the Flea market attracts over two hundred customers every week.  A food pantry inside the Little Store serves neighborhood people and patrons of the Little Store. 

Also keeping to their mission of serving newcomers, they continue to offer immigration services and training under the name of the Sr. Alice Petty, R.S.M.Program for Vocational Training.  To its credit, it has helped produce over 250 U.S. citizens, reunite countless families by helping U.S. citizens and green card holders sponsor their families, and make more than 100 job placements. A relatively new program, the Student Incentive Program for refugee and immigrant high school honor students, provides a weekly community service/work experience at any of the Urban Missionaries’ programs. 

43 years ago, they began distributing Christmas gifts to the children of 7 refugee families to help the families obtain winter clothing. Throughout those 43 years, this passion has evolved.  Last year the  Christmas program worked with about 40 Worcester diocese parishes, as well as other churches, businesses, and individuals, to distribute over 8,000 gifts to 1,500+ children with the help of 150 volunteers. 

In 2021, the organization received funds to purchase a three-family house in Worcester for recently arrived immigrants. This program offers lower-than-market rents, coupled with a monthly training program for the tenants, enabling them to learn how to purchase a home of their own. To date, three of the families have purchased their own homes. 

They have also been distributing funds through their Pastoral Outreach Program. Through this program, they have purchased appliances, paid rent, helped with travel expenses, and provided funds for families to bury their loved ones. 

The needs of such a ministry propelled both Walter and Kathy to return to school for graduate studies.  Walter obtained a Master’s in Pastoral Counseling in 2008, and Kathy obtained a Master’s in Social Work in 2002, going on to work part-time at Community Healthlink’s Vietnamese Clinic for 19 years. 

Their five children spent many a Saturday helping out at the Little Store, food pantry, or Christmas program.  Even though a lot of “grumbling” was heard when they were teenagers, they all seem to have an appreciation for helping those less fortunate, which, to Walter and Kathy, means they did at least one thing right.  Fourteen grandchildren now round out the family.  They are hoping to live to see a great-grandchild.