Bishop Deeley announces retirement of Our Lady of Snows parochial vicar 

PORTLAND — Bishop Robert P. Deeley has announced that  Fr. Mark Nolette, parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Dover-Foxcroft/Dexter will retire from full-time active ministry effective July 1 for medical reasons. For the foreseeable future, he intends to continue celebrating Mass, on a limited basis, in his current parishes where he will continue to reside.

A native of Biddeford, Fr. Nolette attended grammar school at St. Joseph’s and St. Andre’s before graduating from Cheverus High School in Portland. He completed his clerical studies at Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts and St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.

Fr. Nolette

Fr. Nolette was ordained to the priesthood on August 1, 1987, at St. Joseph Church in Biddeford. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Augustine Parish in Augusta. In 1989, Fr. Nolette studied canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. When he returned from canon law studies, he was assigned to full-time ministry in the Diocese of Portland’s Tribunal in June of 1991. The Tribunal handles adjudication in cases involving canon law of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Nolette served as temporary administrator at St. Gregory Parish in Gray from late September through the end of December 1991, in addition to Tribunal work. In January of 1993, he was named as administrator of Sacred Heart/St. Dominic Parish in Portland, where he served until June of 1993 while continuing Tribunal work. Fr. Nolette served in the Tribunal full time after June of 1993 until he was named pastor of St. Mark Parish in Ashland in 1994.

In July of 1999, he was named vice chancellor of the Diocese of Portland, where he would serve until June of 2001 when he was appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Calais (2001-05), which included St. Ann Parish in Pleasant Point from 2001-03. In February of 2004, he was also named pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Lubec and St. Timothy Parish in Campobello. In July of 2005, Fr. Nolette became pastor of Holy Name Parish in Machias, which included Sacred Heart and St. Timothy in addition to St. Michael Mission in Cherryfield.

In October of 2008, Fr. Nolette was appointed administrator of Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Dover-Foxcroft/Dexter and St. Agnes Parish in Pittsfield. From 2010 to 2013, he served as parochial vicar of St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Camden while living at Transfiguration Hermitage in Windsor. In 2013, he celebrated weekend Masses and funerals at St. Michael Parish in Augusta.

In November of 2014, he returned to serve at Our Lady of the Snows Parish and St. Agnes Parish, where he was named parochial vicar of both parishes in October of 2015.

In addition to his parish assignments, Fr. Nolette served in the Diocese of Portland’s Tribunal, which handles adjudication in cases involving canon law of the Catholic Church, as a judge, associated judge, procurator advocate, promoter of justice and defender of the bond. He also served as a sacramental minister at the Augusta Mental Health Institute, a vicar forane and as a member of the Diocese of Portland’s Presbyteral Council and College of Consultors. In addition, Fr. Nolette is a contributing writer to “Harvest,” the magazine of the Diocese of Portland.