Christopher Columbus, Man of Faith & Vision

Dear Parishioners:                              

Statue of Christopher Columbus.

This Monday, we celebrate Columbus Day. A holiday that celebrates the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. It is an important holiday for all Americans, but especially Italian Americans.  Unfortunately, it is either dismissed by many who do not understand its importance or by others as simply a day off from work.  

But it is also an important holiday for Catholics. While I was in Rome, I saw his picture prominently displayed in a hotel lobby.  It appears Italians still understand Columbus’ historical importance even today. While in the United States, his images are frequently removed from public display.

Yet the little-talked-about reason that spurred on Christopher Columbus’s voyages was his deep Christian belief about the “End Times.” The man we honor on this Columbus Day chose to approach India in a westerly direction because he believed it would be a quicker route.

The three ships Christopher Columbus sailed on his first voyage in 1492 were commonly known by nicknames: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Their actual full names were the Santa Clara, the Pinta (whose original name is unknown), and the Santa Gallega (also known as the Santa Maria and the Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción).

Columbus believed that Satan had settled in India and was disrupting the spread of the Gospel and delaying the Second Coming of Christ. According to his eschatological calculations, the time for the return of Christ was nearly at hand. Thus, India had to be reached by the shortest way possible so that the last bulwark of Satan might be removed through Christian missions.

Writings of Columbus’ life often paint an explorer with a voracious appetite for gold. Everywhere he went, it seems, he had more interest in the precious metal than in the salvation of souls. But, according to Carol Delaney, author of Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, a cultural anthropologist and long-time professor at Stanford University, Columbus's quest for wealth was not only for himself but for a higher purpose: to fund a crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims before the end of the world.

Honor and fortune were a large part of Columbus’s motivation, but faith was also a big part of his life. And, though he had his faults, the Admiral of the Ocean Seas was keen to instill the habit of religious observance in the men on his ships. Christianity Today notes:

“During Columbus’s voyages, the ships’ crews observed religious rites. Every time they turned the half-hour glass (their primary means of keeping time), they cried: “Blessed be the hour of our Savior’s birth / blessed be the Virgin Mary who bore him / and blessed be John who baptized him.” They finished each day by singing vespers together (although reportedly they sang out of tune).”

Columbus considered himself a “Christ-bearer” like his namesake, St. Christopher. When he first arrived on Hispaniola, his first words to the natives were, “The monarchs of Castile have sent us not to subjugate you but to teach you the true religion.”

Christopher Columbus

In a 1502 letter to Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503), Columbus asked the pontiff to send missionaries to the indigenous peoples of the New World so they could accept Christ. And in his will, Columbus proved his belief in the importance of evangelization by establishing a fund to finance missionary efforts to the lands he discovered.

Christopher Columbus was a complex man, and his actions in the New World reflected the complexities of his experiences and the time in which he lived. He was neither a saint nor the barbarian often portrayed by leftist groups with their own agendas in the modern world. So celebrate the man and his mission this Monday. It is a day of pride and honor for our nation and our Italian American brothers and sisters. Happy Columbus Day!

I returned safely from my trip to Italy. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed my time in Assisi, Florence, and Rome. However, it’s good to be back home again! Join us on Columbus Day for Devotions at 7:00 pm, as we pray the Rosary just as Columbus himself did. Be well, do good. God bless America! Happy Columbus Day! Go Pats, Go!!!

It's October! Turn to Mother Mary & Put Your Rosary to Work

Dear Parishioners:                  

October is a month dedicated to both our Blessed Mother Mary and the Holy Rosary. Since the early days of the Church, Christians have used knotted cords or prayer beads to help keep track of their prayers.          

The Rosary as we know it today evolved in the Middle Ages, when the "Hail Mary" prayer became widely known.   The term "Rosary" comes from "rosarium," or a bouquet of roses.  The prayers of the Rosary were seen as a spiritual bouquet offered to Mary. 

La Visione di San Domenico (The Vision of Saint Dominic), Bernardo Cavallino, 1640

Tradition tells us that Mother Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1274 and gave him the Rosary as an aid in his preaching against the Albigensian heresy, which denied the Incarnation of Christ.   Mary presented him with the Rosary, instructing him to preach her psalter to win over hardened hearts.  She explained that this prayer was a spiritual weapon to fight heresy and the key to reforming the world.

St. Dominic then began to preach the Rosary to both the faithful and heretics. He taught people to meditate on the mysteries of Christ's life while praying the Hail Marys and Our Fathers, a practice that began to yield conversions and a strengthening of faith.

While praying each decade of the Rosary, we meditate on key moments in Christ's life. For this reason, the Rosary is often seen as a way to draw closer to Christ through Mary.  St. Pope Paul VI taught that the Rosary helps us "meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord."  

We live in difficult and violent times. I hardly need to elaborate on the multitude of crises and evils that fill the globe. Sadly, many are being swept away by this flood of evil and succumbing to fear, anxiety, despair, and discouragement. Too many turn away from faith in God, the Creator, and from the hope and joy that only Christ offers.

But no matter how tempting it is, we must not shrink back in the face of evil and uncertainty. We must take up prayer with a living faith, a firm confidence, and great fervor.  There is no better way to do this than by praying the Holy Rosary. Saint Padre Pio taught us that "The Rosary is the 'weapon' for these times."  The Rosary is prayed at OLM every day after morning Mass.

We have a Rosary every Monday night in October at Devotions. Rosaries are available at every door as you leave the Church.  So we need to take up our Rosaries and pray.  Why?

Pope Leo XIV prays the Rosary.

Through the Rosary, a prayer of immense power, countless miracles have been obtained and victories won. We celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Tuesday. At the end of his audience on September 24, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, Pope Leo said, "I invite everyone to pray the rosary every day during the coming month of October for peace  personally, with your families and in your communities."

The Holy Father also invited us to conclude the recitation of the Rosary with the ancient invocation "Sub Tuum Praesidium" and with the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, that he may protect us and help us in the struggle against evil.

Pope Leo affirmed this prayer, citing the first book of Job, as the weapon against the Great Accuser who "goes around the world seeking to accuse. Only prayer can defeat him. The Russian mystics and the great saints of all the traditions advised, in moments of spiritual turbulence, to shelter beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God, pronouncing the invocation 'Sub Tuum Praesidium.'"

The invocation of "Sub Tuum Praesidium" is recited as follows: "We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin".  With this request for intercession, the Holy Father asked the faithful of the whole world to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle, to preserve it from the attacks of the Devil, and so that evil may not prevail in our world. 

Let us take up the Rosary daily this month.  Join us every Monday at 7:00 pm for Marian Devotions as we pray the Rosary.  Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox! Go Pats!!??

. 

Seasons Change & Feasts Arrive

Dear Parishioners:                               

Fr. Brodeur, Fr. Mahoney, & Simon Campion (OLM School Parent) enjoy the Saints & Scholars Open.

As I write this column on Monday in the final hours of summer, I look out at a beautiful morning. God has given us a great weather for our Annual Saints and Scholars Golf Open at Quidnessett Country Club. Over 120 golfers are set to play a great round of golf in support of our budding saints and scholars at OLM School.                         

I want to thank our Golf Tournament Chair, Mrs. Lee Mita, whose dedication and hard work have made the golf tournament such a success.   We also extend our gratitude to the many volunteers and parish staff who work tirelessly in preparation for this day. We also want to thank the many golfers and supporters of the tournament. In particular, we are grateful to our major sponsors, Mr. Brian Murphy of Shoreham Bank, Mr. Jeff Nelson of Palmer Industries, Mr. Frank DiBiase of the Providence Oyster Bar, and Mr. Nicholas Durgarian of Douglas Construction. We thank them for their most generous support.

The autumn season began on Monday afternoon as the golfers were playing the tournament. Soon, all the leaves begin to change color, and the crisp fall air arrives. We hope the beautiful fall weather lasts, especially for the Oktoberfest. Let's hope the rain stays away! As the great American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

It doesn't seem that life is starting over for the Patriots this season as they continue to fumble the ball. And so too the Red Sox, who continue to strike out when they need hits the most. Let's pray the crisp fall air sparks new life for both teams! 

As October arrives, we look forward to a few important feasts. On October 1, we mark the Feast of the Little Flower, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.   She lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. After nine years of religious life in the Carmelite Convent, St. Thérèse died of tuberculosis at the age of only 24, on September 30, 1897. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. St. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth."

Thursday, October 2, brings the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Their role is to represent us before God, to watch over us always, to aid our prayer, and to present our souls to God at death. We should offer this simple prayer to our guardian angel: "Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide. Amen."

St. Francis Preaching To The Birds, 1297-99 by Giotto di Bondone

On Saturday, October 4, we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint is one of the most well-known and beloved saints of all time. St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of Italy, Ecology, and Animals. On Friday, in anticipation of his feast at around 2:15 pm in the OLM School Parking Lot, Father Brodeur will bless animals, pets, and livestock in honor of St. Francis. So bring your pets, cattle, sheep, horses, and chickens to be blessed on Friday!

Next Sunday, October 5, Fr. Connors, the Rector of the Our Lady of Providence Seminary, will celebrate the 10:30 am Mass. He will be joined by the twenty-three seminarians studying for the priesthood at OLP, including OLM's own David Delbonis. I know you will give them a warm welcome. Please pray for these seminarians that they may persevere in their vocation, and also pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Providence.  

Pilgrims enter the Jubilee Holy Door.

Please note that the 5:00 pm Sunday evening Mass will resume next week. This Mass of convenience continues every Sunday until April 26. The Mass coincides with our Faith Formation Program for Confirmation. Now, there are five Sunday Masses, so there are no excuses to miss!  

This is a Jubilee Year for the Church and for me, as I celebrate 30 years of priestly ordination and 60 years of life. I leave on Sunday evening for a pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate these Jubilees. I shall remember your intentions at Masses and as I pass through the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica.   Ciao! See you in October! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!? Go Pats!!???

Celebrating Mercy! It's OLM Feast Week!

Dear Parishioners:                                

This Wednesday, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy. The devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of "Our Lady of Mercy" has its origin in the Order of Our Lady of Mercy.  The Order was founded in 1218 for the ministry of redeeming captives, a work of great Mercy, and has always attributed to Mary a special role in its foundation.  For this reason, Saint Peter Nolasco, the founder, dedicated the first church in her honor in 1249.

Our Lady of Mercy with the Mercedrains, by Francisco de Zurbarán cicra 17th Century

Mercedarians through the centuries have seen in Mary the prototype of that freedom and truth accomplished for us by Jesus in the merciful work of our Redemption. And in the words of the Magnificat, we recognize the liberating mission of Jesus, reflected in the prayerful song of His Mother:  "His Mercy is from age to age…He has lifted up the lowly, the hungry He has filled with good things."

This week is a very special week for our parish family.  It's Mercy Feast Week!  We have special events planned for each day, including a visit by our new Bishop!  I hope you can join us for at least part of this week of faith, family, and fun. On Monday, we kick off the Feast Week with the Annual Saints and Scholars Golf Open at Quidnessett Country Club.  We expect about 124 golfers to join us for a great day of golf and fun.  Pray for good weather. Good luck to our golfers, including Fr. Brodeur and the returning Fr. Mahoney.  

On Tuesday evening, we invite you for a time of prayer, adoration, and reflection on Mercy.. Join us at 7:00 pm for Eucharistic Adoration, a reflection on Mercy by Fr. Brodeur, meditative music, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is excellent way to pray for Mercy and seek the intercession of our parish patroness, Our Lady of Mercy. 

The Most Reverend Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., the Tenth Bishop of Providence

Wednesday is the Patronal Feast Day of Our Lady of Mercy.  Bishop Lewandowski will celebrate and preach the Feast Day Mass at 9:00 am.  As we continue to celebrate the 21 Days of Mercy, it is a special blessing for our parish to have the Bishop with us for the very first time.  Following the Mass, the Bishop will bless our newly renovated OLM School Library, which is dedicated to the loving memory of the late George and Annette Murray. We are grateful to the Campion Family for the generous donation that funded the renovation project.  After the blessing, the Bishop will visit with our students.  So please be sure to join us on Wednesday for our Feast Day Mass and welcome Bishop Lewandowski to OLM. 

On Thursday, we invite parishioners, including children, to join us for an Act of Mercy.  We will gather at 6:00 pm on the Lynch Field under the Oktoberfest Tent and fill backpacks for the homeless and needy.  We supply the backpacks and the needed supplies.  We ask you to please bring with you either a new pair of white crew socks or a $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card.  Join us as we put Mercy into action!

The Most Reverend Robert C. Evans, Retired Auxiliary Bishop of Providence, and Father Bernie Healey, Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church, celebrate Oktoberfest 2024!

Friday at 6:00 pm, we once again celebrate Oktoberfest as we welcome Mary's Month.  We will have German food, beer, and music! It's fun for the whole family and a great event to gather with parishioners and celebrate our parish family.   Be sure to wear your lederhosen and dirndl.  

Also on Friday night at the Oktoberfest, we will draw the winners of the "See You in September" Raffle. It will take place during the celebration of Oktoberfest.  We have five prizes totaling  $10,000!  A Grand Prize of $5,000, First Prize of $2,500, Second and Third Prizes of $1,000 each, and a Fourth Prize of $500. Tickets are $100 each and will be sold until the drawing time!  You've got to be in it to win it, so get your tickets today!

It's a fantastic week ahead of us as we celebrate Our Lady of Mercy as a family of faith.  Whether you can make it to only one event or to all the events, be sure to celebrate Mercy this week.  Pray for Mercy! Turn to Our Lady of Mercy!  Join us this week as we golf, pray, act, eat, drink, and celebrate Mercy!

I thank you again in advance for your generous support of the Second Collection this weekend for the Senior Priests' Retirement Fund. It supports the modest pension enjoyed by our Senior Priests.  I know they are grateful for your generosity. I hope to see you this week at our Feast Week events! 

Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!? Go Pats!!

21 Days of Mercy

Dear Parishioners:                                

Enclosed in the bulletin this week is a letter from Bishop Lewandowski inviting every Catholic to participate in a new initiative called “MERCY 21.” He is asking everyone to spend 21 days reflecting on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.  It begins this Sunday on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It continues until October 5, on the Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska.

Bishop Lewandowski greets a parishioner.

Also in the bulletin is the link to sign up for MERCY 21 on the Diocese of Providence website.  It is a call by our Bishop to exercise the Works of Mercy and pray for Mercy.  Bishop Lewandowski states, “I ask you to join me for 21 days of Mercy.  We will reflect on, exercise, and pray for Mercy, asking the Lord’s Mercy for ourselves, and sharing His Mercy with others.”

As a parish dedicated to Mercy and under the patronage of Our Lady of Mercy, this initiative is well-suited for us as a community of faith and Mercy.  I encourage every parishioner of every age to sign up and take this 21-day journey of Mercy!  May our Lady of Mercy guide us to respond with enthusiasm as we take up the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy!

The Works of Mercy are vital practices in Catholic life, showing how we can serve others.  The Works of Mercy are charitable actions given by Christ in the Sacred Scriptures that guide us in caring for both the physical and spiritual needs of others. These teachings are found in the Gospels, particularly in Matthew 25:31-46. They are divided into the Corporal Works of Mercy, which address physical needs, and the Spiritual Works of Mercy, which focus on the soul.

In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches that serving both spiritual and corporal needs of a person is equivalent to serving Him. “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Because of this teaching, Catholic tradition adopted the Works of Mercy.

The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are: feed the hungry by donating food, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked by donating clothing, shelter the homeless, visit the imprisoned, care for the sick, and bury the dead by ensuring the deceased are laid to rest properly.  

While the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy are: instruct the ignorant by teaching those who lack knowledge, counsel the doubtful by offering guidance to the uncertain, admonish the sinner by gently encouraging repentance, patiently bear wrongs by enduring wrongs without retaliation, willingly forgive by letting go of a grudge, comfort the afflicted by supporting those who are suffering and pray for the living and the dead.

Bishop Lewandowski is also asking us to take up the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching. These seven principles are: respect for the human person, promotion of the family, the right to own property, the common good, subsidiarity, the dignity of work, and pursuit of peace and care for the poor. Pope Leo XIV has stated:

Pope Leo XIV spent the day August 17 with homeless individuals and families in need, celebrating Mass and sharing lunch with them, along with over 100 guests and volunteers from the Diocese of Albano's Caritas programs.

“I invite you, then, to participate actively and creatively in this discernment process, and thus contribute, with all of God’s people, to the development of the Church’s social doctrine in this age of significant social changes, listening to everyone and engaging in dialogue with all. In our day, there is a widespread thirst for justice, a desire for authentic fatherhood and motherhood, a profound longing for spirituality, especially among young people and the marginalized, who do not always find effective means of making their needs known. There is a growing demand for the Church’s social doctrine, to which we need to respond.”

Next weekend, Catholics across the Diocese have a special opportunity to honor the lifelong service of our senior priests in the Second Collection. It benefits the Senior Priest Retirement Fund, a vital source of the modest pension enjoyed by our retired priests. For decades, these devoted priests have celebrated our sacraments, guided us in faith, and stood by us in life’s most sacred moments. Now it’s our turn to care for them.   

In the name of our Senior Priests, I thank you in advance for your generosity in the Second Collection next week. Please note that I retire in 2040 and Fr. Brodeur in 2073!! Your generous support today ensures we may have a small pension at retirement! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox! Go Pats!?

The Problem of Sin and Evil

Dear Parishioners:        

 We continue to be greatly saddened by the tragic school shooting that took place during a School Mass at Annunciation Catholic Parish in Minneapolis. Our hearts and our prayers go out to their entire school community. We pray for the children who lost their lives, we pray for the wounded still recovering, and we pray for the consolation of every child, every teacher, every parent, and every person who now suffers in the wake of this violence.

We remain vigilant in ensuring the safety of our parish and school community. We are in contact with the East Greenwich Police Department, which continues to be responsive to and supportive of our community's needs. We also maintain communication with the Catholic Schools Office and the Office of Compliance of the Diocese of Providence, who have been able to confirm through their law enforcement contacts that there are currently no credible threats to any Catholic school, parish, or any other entity in the Diocese of Providence.

We want our schools and parishes to be safe and secure, yet also open, inviting, welcoming, and friendly spaces to learn, play, and worship. We cannot build fortress walls to assuage our fears.  Aside from safety concerns, this evil raises many questions about guns, violence, and mental health in our nation. Why is it that so many of our young men turn to evil and violence? 

In testimony before the Minnesota legislature about school safety legislation, the Minnesota Catholic Conference testified: "While it's true that virtuous people need fewer laws, our reality is a permissive society that has become an incubator for alienation, mental illness, spiritual poverty, and other pathologies. It breeds nihilistic killers."

The Fall of Man (1628–1629) by Rubens

As we continue to grapple with these issues of sin and evil, safety and security, violence and guns, isolation and mental illness, we realize there are no simple solutions or easy answers to such complex problems.  No amount of money or new laws can ever fix such evil. For evil is rooted in sin. And sin has been with us since shortly after humanity's dawn and will challenge us until Christ appears again triumphant.

However, we have our faith in our loving Savior. We must recommit to a holiness of life and virtuous living.  Only with greater faith, hope, and charity can we ever truly combat the sin and evil so present in our world.  The best way to engage in spiritual warfare is not to pray against evil directly but to pray for what is positive. The best way to counter all that is ugly, evil, and false is to support all that is beautiful, good, and true.

In Rome this Sunday, Pope Leo will canonize two saints made to be intercessors for our times. The two young men from northern Italy to be canonized together are Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, known as the Man of the Beatitudes, and Saint Carlo Acutis, the First Millennial Saint.

They lived a century apart. One climbed Alpine peaks while the other coded websites. One served the poor of post-war Turin while the other evangelized from a laptop in Milan. Their lives were separated by time but united in love for the Lord. In canonizing them side by side, Pope Leo highlights the Church's universal call to holiness, that all are called to use their unique gifts to reach the heights of holiness.

Frassati was born in 1901 in Turin, during northern Italy's industrial boom. At 13, as World War I broke out, Frassati witnessed returning soldiers who were wounded, unemployed, and broken. He later became a member of Catholic Action and worked to apply the Church's social doctrine to the modern world.

Nearly a century later, Acutis was born in 1991, the same year as the advent of the World Wide Web. While his computer-coding peers launched start-ups, Carlo used his tech savvy to catalog Eucharistic miracles from his family's Milan apartment. These two new Saints are role models for the youth of  our anxious age.  We must commit ourselves, our children, and our parish and school to Christ with a greater devotion and urgency.  May St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis inspire us and intercede for us.

I am away at an out-of-state wedding this weekend. Be well.  Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!