Rev. M. A. Harris

Michael Alphonsus Harris was born in Saint John on October 30, 1897. He attended St. Joseph’s University and Holy Heart Seminary, Halifax and was ordained a priest on April 5, 1924. His initial appointment was to St. Bernard’s Parish, Moncton. He became pastor of St. Anne’s Parish, Kingsclear in 1938 and pastor in Hampton in 1948.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church was originally located on the Hampton Road, near the present Catholic cemetery. Built in 1857 after the railway first ran through the district, it was destroyed by fire on June 8, 1941 and replace by the church that served from 1942 to 2004. The latter church was replaced by the new church on the Gondola Point Road.

In 1953, Rothesay was erected into a parish and Father Harris was appointed the first pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and served there until his death on February 28, 1965.