Giving Thanks for the Event of Easter

Dear Parishioners:                                 

Saint Leo the Great said: “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of our Christian faith and the source of our eternal hope.” We celebrated this foundation of faith with great joy and solemnity at Our Lady of Mercy. The Church was beautifully decorated, the music was joyous, and many people were celebrating with faith, hope, and love. Holy Week was a beautiful celebration with great attendance by our parishioners.

There are so many people who make our celebration possible with their dedication and hard work.  Let us thank God and all those who helped make Holy Week 2026 a wonderful event for our parish.  Paul Anderson and his OLM Maintenance Team did a tremendous job cleaning and readying the Church. They set up and take down for each day of the Sacred Triduum.  We are very grateful for their hard work and assistance during Holy Week.

Our OLM Decorating Committee should also be thanked for making the Church look so beautiful, especially at Easter.  Our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters help with decorating and cleaning, pressing altar cloths and vestments, polishing sacred vessels, and preparing for all the many Masses and Services. We are so blessed to have them with us at OLM, and we thank them for their tremendous witness of humility, hard work, joy, and faith.

Our music was superb during Holy Week. Under the direction of our talented OLM Music Director, Henri St. Louis, the choir and musicians sang and played beautifully, as did our talented Soloist, Christiana Caprarelli.  We thank them for their hard work in lifting up our worship of God.

We thank our dedicated band of Altar Servers who help so much in making the Sacred Liturgies run so smoothly and reverently.   In particular, we thank our Master of Ceremonies, Erik Carlson, and our two OLM Seminarians, David Del Bonis and Luke Simms, for their incredible work at all the liturgies.

We also thank our Lectors who read so well, our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for their kind and dedicated assistance, and our Ushers for welcoming folks to OLM and assisting us at Mass.  We couldn’t be who we are as a parish without all of these dedicated parishioners.

A special thanks to Father Brodeur, our very talented Associate Pastor, for all he did to make Holy Week beautiful and solemn. It was his first Holy Week serving in a parish, and did he ever do a great job!  His chanting of the Passion on Good Friday was powerful. He celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass for the first time as a priest and did a magnificent job.

Those who were baptized, received into the Church, and confirmed in the faith at the Vigil were all prepared by him this past year.  We welcome them into our Church and Parish Family and offer our promise of prayers for them. May they continue to grow in faith, hope, and charity.   This Easter, in the Diocese of Providence, 336 people entered full communion with the Catholic Church. Across the United States, over 40,000 people entered the Catholic Church at Easter.

These conversions are not limited to just the United States. In France, over 20,000 catechumens were received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. A record-breaking surge of conversions. This included 8,152 French teenagers who converted to Catholicism.

. In Spain, the number of adults becoming Catholic this Easter increased by 164% compared to last Easter. In Belgium, a record number of adult baptisms occurred this Easter. It was a 30% increase from last year and 300% over the past decade. Overall, Catholic Church membership passed 1.422 billion for the first time!

The New York Times recently ran a front-page story, “Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts,” examining this growth in the Church.  I think the secularists at the Times are perplexed at the positive trend. They certainly didn’t credit the Holy Spirit!  

In his Easter message, Bishop Lewandowski provided a reflection on St. Augustine’s words, “ever ancient, ever new,” which remind us that the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection is timeless, yet always brings new life. He offered a special welcome to those who have entered the Church this Easter, rejoicing in the new life they share in Christ.

Let us join with him in welcoming so many here at OLM, in Rhode Island, and across the globe into our Church! As G. K. Chesterton said: “ Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave!”

Father Brodeur and I wish you a very Blessed Easter Season! God bless. Be Good. Stay well. Alleluia, He is Risen! Alleluia, He has Risen indeed!

Alleluia, He is Risen! Renewed in Faith & Hope

Dear Parishioners:                    

Alleluia!  Christ is truly Risen!   Lent is over, and it is now time to celebrate the great joy of Easter!     At the Easter Vigil, the Exsultet is sung as Mass begins in darkness, illumined only by candles scattered throughout the church.            

The Exsultet is a beautiful hymn of rejoicing in Christ’s triumph over sin and death.  One part states: “O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!  O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”

This line stands out because it calls the sin of Adam “necessary” and refers to it as “O happy fault.”   At first, this may seem strange.  Why is it that we refer to the sin of Adam, Original Sin, as “necessary” and “happy”? The answer is Easter.  It’s because God, in His perfect wisdom and love, took sin and the consequence of sin (death) and used them as the means of the salvation of the world.  That’s what Easter is all about!  

Without Adam’s sin, there would be no Jesus.  God would not have had to become one of us.  So even though the original sin of Adam, as well as all future sin, is evil and wrong, God in His perfect power and love chose to use it as the very means of the salvation of the world.  

How?  By allowing the sins of the world to persecute Him and crucify Him, and then, by turning that suffering and death into the very means of salvation.  Jesus destroyed sin by destroying its consequences, namely, death.  Death loses in the Resurrection!   Jesus’ Resurrection takes away the effects of all sin for those who cling to Him.

Peter and John Running to the Tomb by Eugène Burnand (1850 – 1921)

Easter is a time when we must do just that.  We must “cling” to our resurrected Lord!  We must cling to Jesus, who is alive and well.  We must cling to His Resurrection and strive to share in it.   How do we cling to our Resurrected Lord?  

There are many ways.  First, by taking joy in everything.  Even with whatever burdens us the most in life.  Whatever it is that makes us impatient, angry, sad, or depressed.  Whatever that is, it can become one of our greatest sources of grace and joy.   If the brutal Crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God, can turn out to be the greatest event in all of human history, then our personal suffering, our burden, or even our sin can very much become a source of great joy. Only if we let God transform it into part of His Resurrection! This is truly the meaning of Easter!  

Easter means that nothing can keep us from the joy that God wants to give us.  Nothing can steal that joy away from us.  At times, we struggle just as Jesus did in the Agony of the Garden and the Via Dolorosa (the Way of the Cross), but those sufferings will not win.  The Resurrection won with Christ, and it will win with us when we cling to Him.   Jesus persevered and, in the end, rose victorious.  This is Easter!

Know that God wants us to experience the joy of Easter in our lives.  Let Him fill us with hope and with the joy that only the Resurrection can bring.  God wants Easter to begin now in our lives!   Easter explains our destiny and gives our lives purpose and meaning, even amid the struggles we face. Easter tells us that love wins, not by avoiding suffering, but by going through it and coming out the other side radiant with glory. It reminds us that no matter how dark the world gets, the stone will be rolled away.

Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection by Alexander Ivanov (1806–1858),

Our celebration of Easter affirms that Christ is indeed who He said He was: the Savior of the world, the God made man who suffered, died, and rose for us. This is something we certainly need to celebrate this year as Easter comes anew to us! We rejoice this Easter for many thousands of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who will be baptized and received into the Church. We rejoice especially with the 17 men and women who are to be fully initiated into the Catholic Faith at the Easter Vigil here at OLM. 

Saint John Chrysostom said, "Easter is not just a day to celebrate, but it is a season to live with renewed faith and hope." Fr. Brodeur and I wish you a Happy and Holy Easter Season. May the glory and the promise of Easter bring peace, joy, and happiness to you and those you hold most dear. May your faith and hope be renewed. And may the Risen Christ be always by your side to bless you most abundantly and be your loving guide.  Happy Easter!

Renounce Hate & Take Up Love this Holy Week

Dear Parishioners:

During his visit to Israel in March 2000, St. Pope John Paul II went to the Western Wall and left his message between the stones. The “Note” was subsequently placed for safekeeping in Yad Vashem’s Artifacts Collection in accordance with the wishes of the Pope. In keeping with the sentiments expressed at the ceremony in Yad Vashem, the Note appeals to God with a prayer for forgiveness for the Holocaust and a wish for reconciliation.

This week is Holy Week and also the Jewish Passover Holiday. Let us take a moment to remember our Jewish brothers and sisters. I was shocked and saddened to see the incidents of antisemitic graffiti found at three East Greenwich public schools. We must reject antisemitism, racism, and hatred wherever they raise their ugly head.        

Speaking to the Jewish community in Rome, Pope Saint John Paul II made crystal clear the teaching of the Catholic Church on the brotherhood of Jews and Christians, the sinfulness of anti-Jewish hatred and prejudice, and the irrevocability of God's covenant with the Jewish people. He stated: "The Church rejects every form of discrimination and anti-Semitism. She condemns them as contrary to the very spirit of Christianity. She deplores all hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews at any time and by anyone.”

We must also be mindful of the Christians and Jews living in the Holy Land this week. Public Holy Week Services there have been postponed, and Passover celebrations may be held in bomb shelters. After praying the Angelus last Sunday, Pope Leo called for an end to violence around the world, urging everyone to persevere in prayer because “we cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, innocent victims of these conflicts.”  

Hatred and violence call for prayer and love on our part. This is the week to take up prayer more intently. It is a week of great reverence and reflection that spans the final eight days of Jesus’ life—from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It is astounding how much wisdom, insight, and inspiration are available to us during this one week.

Ecce homo (Behold the Man) by Antonio Ciseri C1860

Palm Sunday, Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem. Monday of Holy Week, Jesus is anointed with oil at Bethany. Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus is troubled by his looming betrayal. On Spy Wednesday, Jesus is betrayed by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. Holy Thursday, Jesus celebrates the Last Supper, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is arrested. Good Friday, Jesus is sentenced to death, scourged, beaten, crucified, and dies on the Cross. Holy Saturday, Jesus is buried in the tomb and descends into hell. Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead.

The history of Holy Week shows that Christians have always gathered to pray, reflect, and act out the heart of our faith. Jesus’ death and rising invite us to enter fully and faithfully into the story of Jesus’ last days. Holy Week draws us to feel with Christ as he endures his Passion, to be humbled when we see him wash our feet and feed us in the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, to stay with him as he hangs on the Cross on Good Friday, and to share his joy and life as he rises from darkness to light on Easter Sunday.

St. Josemaria Escriva said: “Holy Week cannot be a kind of ‘religious interlude’; time taken out from a life that is completely caught up in human affairs. It must be an opportunity to understand more profoundly the love of God, so that we’ll be able to show that love to other people through what we do and say.”

 Join us for the sacred celebrations of Holy Week. Come to Mass on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.  Come to Confession on Spy Wednesday and be reconciled with God. Six priests will be available for two hours beginning at 6:00 pm. On Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, join us for Solemn Morning Prayer at 8:00 am.

Attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday at 7:00 pm as we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist and Sacred Priesthood.  Feet will be washed, the Eucharist carried in procession, and Adoration at the Altar of Repose will take place until Midnight.   On Good Friday, join us for Stations of the Cross at 3:00 pm and the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 7:00 pm. The cross will be venerated on the very day our Lord died upon it for us.  

Join us for the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday at 8:00 pm as we begin the celebration of Easter in total darkness and rejoice in the Light of Christ. We celebrate the Resurrection and new life in the Church with great joy. On Easter Sunday, join us at Mass as we celebrate the glory of the Risen Lord.

A blessed Holy Week!

The Sacrament of Mercy at Our Lady of Mercy

Over the last two Saturdays, we heard First Confessions for our OLM First Communion Class.  It was a joyful celebration of  Christ’s mercy and forgiveness for the children and their parents.  Several priests joined us and heard Confessions for the adults.  During Lent, outside Confessors are also available every Monday night at 6:00 pm.  Additionally, on Wednesday of Holy Week, April 1, we will have two hours of Confession with six priests.  

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Confession is given several other important names that convey its very nature and the benefits it confers on the person who avails themself of it.  Confession is rightly and beautifully referred to as the Sacrament of Conversion, the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of Forgiveness, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

These five titles should tell us something about the magnificent “scope” of this sacrament and its aid to the human soul, human life, and the spiritual life. The Sacrament of Confession is one of only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently (the Sacrament of the Eucharist being the other). These two sacraments sustain us in our daily journey through life, regardless of one’s vocation and state in life. Whether one is single, married, widowed, or a pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, deacon, or consecrated religious man or woman, Confession greatly aids us in our journey to our ultimate end, Heaven!  

The Church teaches that Catholics should receive Holy Communion at least once during the Easter Season. Traditionally, this has been called the Easter Duty.  The Code of Canon Law states, “each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year during the Easter season.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds that this Easter duty for Catholics should be preceded by confession.  It states: “The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days and, prepared by the sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, if possible during the Easter season.”

There are many benefits to frequent Confession.  Many saints make it clear in their writings and teaching that self-knowledge is needed to grow in holiness, and Confession provides it.    This means knowing and admitting our virtues to advance them in our lives, and knowing and admitting our vices so we can uproot them. Confession also helps us to grow in the virtue of humility. The very act of making a good examination of conscience is itself very humbling  , and it also helps us to grow in self-knowledge.

 Frequent Confession helps us overcome bad habits. Confession of one’s sins brings with it a purification and peace of conscience. Through the practice of frequent Confession, our wills become strengthened to help us more frequently choose good over evil, virtue over vice, and the beneficial over the malicious. Frequent Confession makes us simply want to “do better” in all aspects of daily living. It’s the grace of the sacrament that propels us to control our lives better.

 Every sacrament, when it is received worthily, increases sanctifying grace in the soul. For Eucharist and Confession — again, the only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently — this is especially true.  When Pope Saint Paul VI promulgated the new rite of the Sacrament of Penance following the Second Vatican Council in 1973, he stated that frequent Confession “is a constant effort to bring to perfection the grace of our Baptism.”

How blest we are at Our Lady of Mercy to the availability of the Sacraments! Two daily Masses and five Sunday Masses.  Confession on Mondays and Saturdays and daily during Lent.  Certainly plenty of opportunity to make our Easter Duty.

I thank those who helped with our St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph Day celebrations. We also commend Fr. Brodeur on his excellent Italian at the Mass on St. Joseph’s Day and Father Patrick O’Connor for his excellent St. Patrick's Day sermon. Join us for Living Stations of the Cross with the OLM students on Friday at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!

Celebrating Faith & Heritage During Lent

Dear Parishioners:

You have noticed that some work is being done in the Rectory.  After over a dozen years, the carpeting in the Rectory offices is being replaced. It was quite dirty and worn out.  The installers from Ruggeri Carpet arrived last Monday and began tearing up the old carpets.  As I write this column, I hope that the new carpets will be completely installed. The cost is about $10,000. The new carpeting also led us to reorganize the Parish Office.  We have created a new filing room with some new fireproof file cabinets and moved our Parish Business Manager, Dave Cote, to a new office. File and storage space in our Rectory is at a premium, so this will help us.

Easter is early this year, on April 5, and it’s approaching, but there are still more days left in Lent for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Pope Leo, in his Lenten Message, reminds us:  “Dear friends, let us ask for the grace of a Lent that leads us to greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us. Let us ask for the strength that comes from the type of fasting that also extends to our use of language, so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others.”

Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland

Of course, in the middle of Lent, we take time to celebrate two important Feasts.  The Feast of Saint Patrick on Tuesday, March 17, and the Solemnity of Saint Joseph on Thursday, March 19. On these days, we traditionally celebrate Irish and Italian culture and heritage as we recall our immigrant ancestors who came to the US. I hope you can join us in these special celebrations this week.

 On Saint Patrick’s Day, we will celebrate Mass at 12:05 with Irish hymns and readings in the Irish language. The Mass is followed by a reception in the vestibule with Irish soda bread and Irish Coffee!

We are grateful to Mrs. Sinead Campion, who always does a outstanding job of reading in Irish.  Our homilist this year is Father Patrick O’Connor. He is a priest of Boston who serves on the faculty of Our Lady of Providence Seminary and as a Chaplain at LaSalle Academy. I hope you can join in celebrating the Irish!  

On St. Joseph’s Day, we will celebrate Mass at 12:05 with the Mass celebrated in Italian, including readings and hymns in Italian.  We are grateful to Dr. Rocky Ruggerio and Dr. Anthony Bruzzese for once again reading in Italian.   Our celebrant and homilist for the Mass is our own Father Brodeur.  After five years of study in Rome, he assures me he can celebrate Mass in Italian like Pope Leo!!  A reception follows in the vestibule, featuring tasty zeppoles and Italian coffee.  See you there as we celebrate the heritage and faith of our Italian brothers and sisters.

Saint Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the Patron Saint of the Universal Church.

If your conscience is bowed down in anticipation of breaking your Lenten fast on St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day.  Not to worry, I am happy to grant you dispensation for these most important Holy Days so that we can all celebrate joyfully with an Irish or Italian coffee and some sweets!

In the name of the poor and needy, I offer my deep gratitude to the 289 parish families who made a gift to the Catholic Charity Appeal.  We have gone over our goal of $199,500.  Our total pledged to the Appeal thus far is $207,634. Last year, we raised a total of $274,848 from 449 families.  We’ve got a ways to go to reach that total!  

We hope that all 1,200 registered families at OLM will support the Catholic Charity Appeal, as it is an important charity.  All Catholics should generously support the Church's good works and charity.  If you have not yet made your pledge, please do so today.  It is a great way to give alms this Lent. As Saint Angela Merici said, “We must give alms. Charity wins souls and draws them to virtue.”

The Holy Week Schedule at Our Lady of Mercy is in this week’s bulletin. Please note that during Holy Week, the Monday Confessions have been moved to Spy Wednesday due to the Chrism Mass.  On Wednesday, April 1, we will have two hours of Confession with six priests.  Also note that the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday begins at 8:00 pm as we welcome 17 people into the Church.

See you at Stations of the Cross on Friday. Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and Happy Saint Joseph’s Day

The Winds of Blizzards & War

Dear Parishioners:                                 

OLM Maintenance Director Paul Anderson and crew clearing snow at OLM.

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks.  First, we had the storm of the century with the Blizzard of 2026! And then we awoke last Saturday to the news that we are at war with Iran.  If ever there was a time to take up the Lenten practice of prayer more fervently, it's now.  The blizzard was as big as predicted, and people abided by the travel ban.  In fact, the emergency alert announcing the travel ban went off during the 5:00 pm Sunday Mass. Suddenly, hundreds of phones beeped, including mine. It was louder than the organ! And then, as predicted, the storm came with a fury.

I again wish to thank Paul Anderson and the maintenance crew who went to work right away.  They spent hours and days shoveling, plowing, and pushing the three feet of snow.  They worked in the dark, the snow, and the cold, and did a tremendous job of clearing the OLM physical plant of snow and keeping it safe for parishioners and students. You may have noticed the traffic cones in front of the Church.  The stones have risen due to frost, so we ask that you be extra careful as you come in, as there is a risk of tripping.   We hope that the stones will settle back in place once the warmer weather arrives.

Our school reopened last Monday with smiling parents and eager students returning after two weeks away. The blizzard arrived on a Sunday night, always a delight for schoolchildren, so the February Winter Break was extended by an extra week.  But now our students and faculty are back in the classroom, striving to be saints and scholars. Of course, the blizzard pales in comparison to the war being waged in the Middle East.  Attacks and bombings in Iran and other countries have caused many casualties and much destruction. We pray for the U.S. soldiers who were killed and for the protection of our troops and innocent civilians. Let us also pray for the end of oppression in Iran, and for peace throughout the world, especially in the Middle East.

Pope Leo XIV delivering his weekly Sunday Angelus Address in Rome.

Our Holy Father, Pope Leo, commented on the war during his Angelus Address last Sunday, saying:  “I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time. Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue.

Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm. May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.”

I hope you had a chance to attend the Lenten Mission last week. Our Mission Preacher, Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, was outstanding.  We thank him for traveling from Rome to be with us and preach the Mission.  He is a talented young priest who does great work for the Dominican Friars, the Order of Preachers. Hopefully, our Mission produced much spiritual fruit for our parish and helped each of us to grow in faith, hope, and charity.

Seminarians pray at Eucharistic Adoration in the Our Lady of Providence Seminary Chapel.

Fr. Brodeur is leading a Discernment Retreat at Our Lady of Providence Seminary this weekend.  Twenty-five young men, high school seniors and college-aged, are expected to attend. Please pray for Father and for young men discerning a call to the priesthood.   As you know, we have two seminarians from OLM currently in formation at OLP Seminary, David Del Bonis and Luke Simms. David is currently a senior at Providence College and has just been assigned by Bishop Bruce Lewandowski to continue his theological studies next year at St. John’s Seminary in Boston.  Luke will return to OLP Seminary and continue his philosophy studies at PC next year.  Pray for them and all seminarians that they persevere in their vocation.

I hope you’re keeping the Lenten call to pray, fast, and give alms. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow the Lord.  As St. Catherine of Siena said: "Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring." Lenten Fridays are for fish and Stations of the Cross! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!

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