After six years of presiding over both Sacred Heart Parish in Manchester and St. John the Baptist Parish in Essex, the Rev. Wallace Blackwood has accepted a new assignment from the Archdiocese of Boston.

And a priest who now heads a parish in Amesbury is set to take his place later this month.

After fulfilling his six-year term — a typical time period for a Roman Catholic priest to stay in one parish, officials say — Blackwood made an announcement to both his parishes that he had requested the Archdiocese to reassign him to another parish. But he didn't know the exact timing of when he was going to leave.

At last week's Mass, Blackwood updated his parishioners by saying he had accepted a new appointment in Haverhill offered by the Archdiocese, and that he will be leaving in two weeks.

"I've worked hard for six years," said Blackwood of his time at Sacred Heart and St. John, separate parishes. "I love the kids and seeing the parishioners every week, but I feel like it is someone else's turn to take over the parishes."

Blackwood said he is comfortable with the move because the parish he has been assigned to in Haverhill needs his help.

"There are processes within the Archdiocese and one of them is that (priests are) appointed to different parishes," Blackwood said. "This appointment happened very quickly; I was given the opportunity and accepted it."

The Rev. Jack Gentleman of Holy Family Parish in Amesbury has been assigned as administrator of the two parishes to take Blackwood's place, and will start Nov. 28.

An administrator is responsible for giving the sacraments and managing the day-to-day operation of the parish, but is not the official pastor of the parish, according to Valerie Gaudet, the business manager at Sacred Heart Parish. She said that Gentleman could be assigned the permanent pastor in the future — or he might not.

Although Blackwood says he is comfortable with his move, Gentleman said he was caught off guard by his new assignment. In a goodbye letter to parishioners, he wrote that he was leaving Amesbury with sadness but with gratitude for the friends he met there.

Gentleman said his reassignment was the wish of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, rather than his own.

"Like many that I have spoken with past week, I was surprised by the suddenness of this change," Gentleman wrote in the letter. "I did not anticipate moving at this time."

The change in priests comes amid a time of many transitions within the church.

Sally O'Maley of Essex, a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for 47 years, said she thought the Archdiocese was going to close St. John's before Blackwood came.

She said that instead of replacing the two longtime pastors in the two towns six years ago, Blackwood was tasked with managing the two churches.

"He had announced that he was leaving but we didn't expect him to leave so quick," said O'Maley. "We thought we would have him through the holidays.

"In my opinion he has done a wonderful job," O'Maley added. "He is very active in both communities. We appreciated how he's been able to work at both churches; he has been like two people in one."

Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com