Fr. D. Joseph Manship, chaplain at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion and St. Mary’s Residence, will retire as of January 1.

Effective December 28, Fr. Paul H. Dumais has been appointed as chaplain at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion and St. Mary’s Residence, all located in Lewiston. He currently serves as a three quarter-time chaplain at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) in Lewiston and a quarter-time parochial vicar at Prince of Peace Parish in Lewiston. To ensure that adequate pastoral care is provided to patients at CMMC, Fr. Dumais, along with priests from local parishes, will continue to provide chaplaincy services at the hospital until a successor can be named.

Born on February 5, 1972, in Fort Kent, Fr. Dumais attended Madawaska Middle and High Schools before moving on to the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, from which he graduated with a B.A. in theology. His graduation from Franciscan University of Steubenville was delayed until 1997 after he spent three years working on a farm in Kansas.

Fr. Dumais earned an M.A. in philosophy from Boston College and entered St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1999, where he completed his academic preparation for ordination with a M.Div. and M.A. in theology. Fr. Dumais was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Richard J. Malone on May 29, 2004, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Madawaska.

Since his ordination, he has served at parishes in Waterville, Winslow, Oakland, Fairfield, Vassalboro, Bridgton, Fryeburg, Windham, Gorham and Westbrook. Fr. Dumais has also been active in campus ministry as a chaplain at Bates College and Saint Joseph College and in prison ministry as a chaplain at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Also effective December 28, Jonathan Hoffman, a lay chaplain who assists Fr. Dumais at CMMC, will increase his weekly work hours from 12 to 32 to help assess and triage patients, enabling priests to best meet the patients’ pastoral needs. Hoffman studied theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore and has also completed a year-long assignment of supervised ministry in a hospital setting.

Effective January 1, Fr. D. Joseph Manship will retire from active ministry. Fr. Manship is currently the chaplain at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion and St. Mary’s Residence, all located in Lewiston. Born on January 20, 1945, in Caribou, Fr. Manship attended high school in Moncton, New Brunswick, Caribou, and Boston, Massachusetts.

He received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Ottawa before earning a B.A. in theology and a master’s degree in pastoral studies from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. He also attended the School of Spiritual Direction at Benedictine Abbey in Pecos, New Mexico, where he was certified as a charismatic spiritual director, and Emmanuel College in Boston, where he earned a master’s degree in clinical pastoral counseling. Fr. Manship was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Edward C. O’Leary on September 3, 1976, at Holy Rosary Church in Caribou.

He served as associate pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Brunswick and St. Mary Parish in Bangor before being appointed temporary administrator of St. Mary Parish in Westbrook in 1998. In 1999, he was named pastor of St. Mary Parish. In addition to his pastoral duties at St. Mary, he was appointed pastor of St. Edmund Parish in Westbrook in 2003 and St. Hyacinth Parish in Westbrook in 2004. In 2005, Fr. Manship became administrator of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Saco, a parish he served before assuming his current assignments in Lewiston in June 2007.