EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — The Rev. Joel Cyr, 69, pastor of Christ the Divine Mercy Parish and St. Benedicta Parish, will retire from active ministry on Dec. 1, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland announced Wednesday.
The Rev. Bruce M. Siket, 60, a parochial vicar at the parishes in Hancock County who lives in Bucksport, has been appointed to replace the retiring priest. The Rev. Olusola H. Adewole, 45, a member of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph the Worker in Nigeria, who is a parochial vicar in Portland, will replace Siket.
Cyr was born on Christmas Day in 1944. He attended St. Louis School in Fort Kent. Cyr entered St. Joseph’s Seminary in Bar Harbor, studied philosophy at Ottawa University in Canada and continued his theology studies at the University Seminary in Ottawa.
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter L. Gerety at St. Louis Church in Fort Kent on May 29, 1971. In addition to serving parishes in Auburn, Mexico, Madawaska, Grand Isle, Eagle Lake, Limestone, Fort Fairfield, Brewer and the Millinocket area, Cyr served as state spiritual director for the Catholic Order of Foresters. He has been in his present position since 2007.
Siket is a Madison native who graduated from the University of Maine in 1976. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 20, 2007. Siket has served as a parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Parish, which is made up of churches in the Waterville area. He has served the Hancock County parishes since July 2009.
Nicknamed Father Sola, Adewole was ordained on April 5, 2003. Since December 2013, he has served as parochial vicar, with weekend responsibilities in the Parish of the Holy Eucharist in northern Cumberland County and with responsibilities at Maine Medical Center and in the Portland Peninsula & Island Parishes during the week.
Before arriving in Maine, Adewole served as parochial vicar in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he also worked in campus ministry at Dickinson College. Before that, he served as a chaplain at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.