The long-awaited appointments of three priests to serve as pastors of newly realigned parishes in Dorchester and Mattapan are expected to be made public this weekend. The assignments will be announced at parish Masses on Saturday and Sunday, the Reporter has been told.

Last fall, Cardinal Sean O’Malley accepted the resignations of four pastors – Revs. Jack Ahern, Vincent Daily, William Joy, and Daniel Finn – as part of a reorganization to create new collaborations among the parishes. It is expected that some of them may be reappointed to the realigned parishes.

The new parish alignment includes: St. Gregory, St. Matthew and St. Angela; St. Mark and St. Ambrose; and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Holy Family, and St. Peter. Two other Dorchester parishes, St. Ann and St. Brendan were previously realigned, and Rev. Jason Makos will remain pastor there.

The appointments will complete the third phase of archdiocese’s nine-year process of reorganizing its parishes – a move necessitated by a shortage of priests coupled with a steady drop in churchgoers.

The pastoral reorganization plan – dubbed Disciples in Mission – is overseen by Rev. Paul Soper, the former pastor of Blessed Mother Teresa Parish. He told the Reporter last summer that any priest in the archdiocese can apply to be pastor at any new collaborative. The required resignations, he said, “make the collaborative an open parish and allow the process to go forward in deciding who should be the pastor.”