Immaculate Conception Church (Lawrence, MA)

The first mass celebrated in the new Town of Lawrence occurred in 1845 at the home of Michael Murphy at 7 Newton Street in South Lawrence.  The first church built by and for Catholics was a small wood frame church located near where the Church of the Immaculate Conception would later stand.  The brick church shown here was erected in 1854.  In the 1970’s Immaculate Conception became a mission of Saint Mary Parish and provided services for thew growing Hispanic population.  Saint Mary Parish became Saint Mary-Immaculate Conception Parish denoting the unity of the parish.  The brick church shown here was erected in 1854.  The church was torn down in the early 1990s.  The property was sold to Mary Immaculate Health Care Services and is presently a parking lot serving Mary Immaculate.

Caraballo Square (Lawrence, MA)

Fr. Erbio J. Caraballo (1917-1989) was born in Cuba. He was accepted as a postulant at the Augustinian Academy in Staten Island, NY and made his novitiate at New Hamburg, NY. Three years later, in 1950, he made a solemn profession at Villa Nova College where he had just graduated. He was ordained in Washington, DC in 1953. Fr. Caraballo returned to Cuba in 1954 where he taught at Santo Tomas College in Havana. He fled Cuba and the Castro regime, to the United States in 1959 and served parishes in New York and New Jersey. In 1971 he came to Lawrence where he was assigned to Holy Rosary Church, an Italian Church with a growing Hispanic population. Fr. Caraballo worked with the Hispanic community even after his retirement. He is buried in the Augustinian plot in St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Cemetery.