Giving Our Pence to Peter

Dear Parishioners:

We welcome  Father John Callan, Sch.P, to Our Lady of Mercy this weekend.  He is a member of the Piarist Fathers. Also known as the Order of the Pious Schools, they are the oldest religious order specifically dedicated to providing free education to children, especially the poor and disadvantaged. Father is preaching at all the Masses about the Piarist Missions and the good work that they do, preaching the Gospel across the globe.  

The Second Collection this weekend is for the Piarist Missions as part of our participation in the Missionary Cooperative.   There is no envelope for this collection. If you are not prepared to contribute this weekend, you may make a check payable to OLM with “Mission Co-op” in the memo line and drop it in the collection basket next week. I thank you in advance for your generous financial support of the Piarists’ Missions and your prayers for Father Callan and the Piarist Fathers.  

Next week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, August 15.  It remains a Solemnity, but this year it is not a Holy Day of Obligation as it falls on a Saturday.  There will be only one Mass on Saturday at 8:30 am.  

Also next weekend we will take up the Peter’s Pence Collection. From his first appearance after his election in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV has called upon Catholics to live in peace and unity with one another within the Church and to share this invitation to peace and unity with the whole world. Catholics have always shared the peace and unity of Christ with the world by proclaiming the Gospel and performing works of mercy that bring comfort to the poor and vulnerable. Pope Leo XIV, in his first homily as our Holy Father, said: “Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.”

Pope Leo hosts the poor for lunch at Castel Gandolfo.

For centuries, Catholics have expressed our unity with the Pope by giving to the Peter’s Pence Collection, which supports his mission to proclaim Christ’s message of unity and peace with the world. Our gifts to the Holy Father are “concrete signs of hope” to Pope Leo XIV that fulfill the two aims of Peter’s Pence.  

It calls us to support the Holy Father’s mission, which extends throughout the entire world, from the proclamation of the Gospel in support of the poor through the promotion of education, justice, peace, and brotherhood among all peoples.

Also, Peter’s Pence supports the numerous charitable works in aid of people and families in difficulty, populations afflicted by natural disasters and wars, and those in need of humanitarian assistance.

The Pence, as a donation to the Successor of Peter, developed in the 7th century with the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. Having been evangelized by missionaries sent from Rome, they felt a strong bond of devotion tying them to the Holy Father, and began going on pilgrimages to Rome.

There in Rome, the Schola Saxonum was established. This was a kind of pilgrim house which provided spiritual and material assistance to pilgrims. To support this institution, the Saxon rulers established a collection which, according to the earliest laws of the 11th century, was collected by households on the feast days of Peter and Paul and then delivered to the Pope, who divided it equally between the Holy See and the Schola.  

In the centuries that followed, as more of Europe converted to Christianity, it developed into a contribution of devotion and an expression of unity and shared responsibility within the Church. I ask you to please prayerfully consider supporting this year’s Peter’s Pence collection as an act of hope and charity. Join our brothers and sisters in faith from around the globe to help our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, carry out his ministry to the Universal Church and reach out to the most marginalized in our world.  

The grotto in Lourdes, France

On this Sunday night, I depart for a ten-day pilgrimage to Lourdes, France.  I will celebrate Masses at the Tomb of St. Thomas Aquinas in Toulouse and on the Solemnity of the Assumption at Lourdes. I will offer Mass for you and for your intentions. Please pray for the pilgrims making the pilgrimage and me. May we travel safely and may the pilgrimage be fruitful.

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

.

About Piety and Learning

Dear Parishioners:

At Masses last weekend, the parish youth who attended the Steubenville Youth Conference shared their reflections on their faith-filled experiences. We are grateful to Lola Oberg, Jared Marroquin, Caroline Colligan, and Andrew Liawana, who offered a great witness of faith. Please pray for these young men and women as they continue to grow in faith, hope, and charity.     

Next week is the Annual Mission Cooperative Collection, and a member of the Piarist Fathers is coming to share with us about their good works. The Piarist Fathers are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Joseph Calasanz in 1617 in Rome. Also known as the Order of the Pious Schools, they are the oldest religious order specifically dedicated to providing free education to children, especially the poor and disadvantaged.

The vesting of novices into the Piarist Order.by Saint Joseph of Calasanz

St. Joseph Calasanz, the founder of the Piarist Fathers, was born in Peralta de la Sal, Spain, in 1556, and was ordained a priest in 1583. Nine years later, he moved to Rome and was deeply affected by the children there.   With permission of Pope Clement VII, he opened a free school for them in 1597. This school was opened to every child, regardless of their particular religious affiliation, and is believed by many to be the world's first free elementary school. It stressed piety and learning; thus the Piarist motto, "pietas et litterae".

In 1617, with the permission of Pope Paul V, St. Joseph Calasanz and fourteen other men became the first members of a new religious congregation. In 1621, Pope Gregory XV raised this congregation into the rank of a religious order under solemn canonical vows, calling it the Order of the Pious Schools. The abbreviation "Sch. P." following the name of a Piarist comes from the Latin words "Scholarum Piarum" (of the Pious Schools).

In the late 1940's many Piarists from Eastern Europe emigrated to the United States. With the help of Bishop John O'Hara of Buffalo, they established their first American community in Derby, NY in 1951. Within the next decade, they established Piarist schools in Buffalo, NY, and Devon, PA, and a diocesan school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Piarists profess the three evangelical religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In addition, they profess a fourth vow to dedicate their lives to the education of youth. Today, over 1,300 Piarists are teaching 131,000 students in 26 countries around the world.

In 1990, the Piarists founded a college preparatory school in eastern Kentucky for the youth of the impoverished area. The Piarists are committed to working among the poor in Appalachia, providing a free education and the best and perhaps only hope of bringing poverty to an end.  The school began with one first-year class, and added a class each year until the 1993-1994 school year, when the school had its first four-year program.

Next weekend, Piarist Father John Callan, Sch.P., is preaching at all Masses about the good works of his order, especially in Appalachia. Father is a native of the Philadelphia area, where he graduated from the Piarists’ Devon Preparatory School in 1975.  He then entered the Piarists’ seminary just 2 months after graduation.

Piarist Father John Callan, Sch.P.,

Father Callan earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from both Villanova University and Florida Atlantic University. He was ordained a priest in September 1982. And then he taught theology and mathematics at Devon Prep for 16 years and at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale for 27 years.  For the past 2 years, he has served as Headmaster of The Piarist School in eastern Kentucky, Appalachia.  I am certain that you will give Father your usual warm welcome.

Please be prepared to support the second collection next weekend, which is for the Piarist Fathers.  There is no envelope designated for it, and checks should be made payable to OLM. All monies collected are forwarded to the Piarist Fathers.. Annually, every parish in the Diocese participates in supporting the missions through the Mission Cooperative. Each parish hosts Missionaries who tell us about the good works of the Missions in spreading the Good News of the Gospel

In the name of Fr. Callan, the Piarist Fathers, and the poor they serve, I thank you for your generous support. Father Brodeur is away on vacation this week. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!!!!

.

The Steubenville Experience

Dear Parishioners:                               

In 1976, Franciscan University of Steubenville held its first youth conference on its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. This summer, the Catholic university celebrated 50 years of a conference that has changed many lives. Since its founding, the youth conferences have helped over 1 million young people encounter Jesus Christ through dynamic talks, the Mass,  adoration, confession, prayer, and fellowship. Fr. Brodeur and a group of youth from OLM, along with Fr. Mahoney and the youth of St. Pius X Parish, attended this conference just two weeks ago.

According to the Center for Applied Research (CARA) in the Apostolate’s 2026 survey of newly ordained priests, 18% of priests ordained this year attended a Franciscan University of Steubenville Youth Conference during their vocational journey. Fr. Brodeur attended the conference when he was a teenager at St. Pius.

Separate CARA studies found that 21% of women religious and 15% of religious brothers who recently professed perpetual vows also attended a Franciscan youth conference. Combined, 18% of newly professed religious men and women reported participating in a Steubenville Youth Conference — more than any other Catholic conference ministry in the United States. Clearly, this Youth Conference is bearing good fruit for the Church and for those who attend. I would like to share with you reflections from the young people who attended the conference this summer.

One OLM youth writes: “Living in such a secular society, this conference gave me hope for Gen Z. Whether it was the amount of devotion in adoration, or the worship and praise throughout the weekend, it was inspiring to see so many young teens, not only coming back, but running with wide open arms towards God.” Another writes: “When we participated in the first Mass of the trip in Steubenville, I felt this deep conviction, one that I hadn’t felt in years, and I broke down crying. I felt the hardness of my heart shattered; it melted upon hearing the music and the scriptures.

This got even more powerful once we entered adoration, and it was just too much. The wafer broke me down; I was weeping and weeping. I remembered God’s love for me because it wasn’t a wafer; it was Jesus. I came back with both tears of sorrow and joy. I was so ignorant, but I had finally seen the power of Jesus. I never felt love like this; I wanted to share it with you, the one present in the Eucharist, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus.”

Another writes: “This was my second time going to Steubenville and I am extremely glad I went to it! As a Catholic teen in today’s world, there is always that judgment factor. I have always felt extremely nervous about sharing my faith with my friends, but seeing so many other teens there with the same purpose was amazing. Everybody was trying to get closer to God. The speakers were so open about what they were saying, and I didn’t know how unconditional God’s love is.

A speaker, Paul, gave us an amazing talk, but I won’t get into details. It was truly inspiring and definitely made me realize I needed a closer relationship with Jesus. Adoration was also so incredible, and I could just see Jesus walking beside the priest holding the monstrance. When we were in Steubenville, we went to confession, and I just felt so much closer to God afterward and so happy. Anyways, I truly love this conference, and I can’t wait for next year!”

Another writes: “Even though the Steubenville retreat only lasted a couple of days, I learned so much. I believe God led me there so that I could become closer to Him and a better person. I already feel like I’ve gained more of that “Jesus spark,” and I can’t wait for that connection to grow. I’m so glad I went on this trip. Thank you to the chaperones for this amazing experience! I can’t wait to share my experience with my friends, my family, and my community.”

We are grateful to God for this opportunity for these young people. We thank Fr. Brodeur and Fr. Mahoney for organizing it, the chaperones who gave of their time, those who financially donated to the trip, and the young people from OLM who took up the challenge to attend. As you can see, it bears good fruit! Be well. Do good. God Bless.

“If it could only be like this always, always summer.”

Dear Parishioners:

OLM Young Pilgrims pray and worship at Eucharistic Adoration at the Steubenville Youth Conference

Father Brodeur and the young pilgrims who traveled to the Steubenville Youth Conference had a great experience of prayer, faith, and fraternity.  It was a fantastic time of fellowship and even some fun.  On the way back, they stopped at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania!             

 We thank the many parishioners who generously offered financial support for this pilgrimage.  Also, we thank Fr. Brodeur and the many adult chaperones who attended for their dedication and hard work in making this a highly successful time for our parish youth. No sooner are Father Brodeur and I back at OLM than our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters are gone for two weeks! They departed early this past Tuesday morning to drive to their Annual Retreat and Community Chapter meeting at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

There, they gather with their Community’s Superiors from the Philippines and with other Sisters from Peoria and Lincoln.  Of course, they will see our old OLM friend, Sister Emma!  Continue to pray for a fruitful retreat and meeting for the Sisters and for their safe return to OLM.

Monday night at 7:00 pm is our fourth and final night with our visiting Dominican Friars and their outstanding series, “Why Catholicism Still Matters.” These weekly Faith Formation events over the last month have been an outstanding time of learning about the faith and celebrating fellowship with one another.  We are truly grateful to the Friars, Brother Roland, Brother Anselm, and Brother Clement for their time with us at OLM.

Their Godward program has kept them busy in Rhode Island this summer.  Offering the program across the Diocese in nine parishes from Tiverton to Pawtucket to Narragansett! They had two programs a day for four weeks and traversed the Ocean State preaching the Gospel and answering questions of every kind! A busy way to spend June and July, but a truly beneficial way to build up the faith here in the Diocese of Providence!  We thank the good Friars, and I invite you to join us this Monday for this great program.  The Friars will take up a free-will collection with the proceeds going directly to fund the education and formation of Dominican Friars.  I know you will be generous in supporting their good works. 

Also, please pray for them as they prepare to be ordained Transitional Deacons next year. And then, please God, they are to be ordained Priests of Christ and serve as members of the Order of Preachers. We are most grateful for their presence and preaching at OLM. We wish them well in their studies and ministry. Ad multos annos!

The Hillbilly Thomist Bluegrass Band

More Dominican Friars are coming to Rhode Island this week! The Friars’ bluegrass musical group, called the Hillbilly Thomists, is coming to town. Inspired by Flannery O'Connor's phrase "Hillbilly Thomist," this bluegrass band of Dominican Friars’ music reflects the Thomistic belief that God's grace is present in the ordinary. I have seen them perform, and they are truly outstanding musicians and great performers. They are appearing this Friday, July 24, at the McVinney Auditorium. Tickets for this show are available online at the McVinney website or by calling 401-278-4588.  It is a great time for the whole family, and all the proceeds support the Friars' education at the Dominican House of Studies. You don’t have to like bluegrass to enjoy the show and support the Friars! 

“If it could only be like this always, always summer.”

It seems like summer just started, but July is winding down quickly. Now’s the time to get to the beach, read the new book, hit the golf course, take the boat ride, visit Block Island, or get away on a vacation! Even Pope Leo is on vacation this month at Castel Gandolfo in the Apostolic Palace overlooking Lake Alban. Don’t let the summer pass too quickly without getting some rest and recreation.  

On your vacation, be sure to use masstimes.org to find a Sunday Mass. When you attend Mass at another parish, be sure to take a bulletin from the parish and throw it in the collection basket when you’re back at OLM. I enjoy seeing where people have traveled, as well as what other parishes are doing.

Be well. Do good. God Bless. Enjoy the summer while it lasts! As the English Catholic writer, Evelyn Waugh said: “If it could only be like this always, always summer, the fruit always ripe.”

“Always forward, never back.”

Dear Parishioners:      

Our summer Faith Formation Series with the Dominican Friars is going very well.  If you haven’t made it to a Monday night session yet, try this week, as there are only two sessions left.  We’ve had good turnouts so far, but there’s plenty of room for more people.   We are grateful to the Friars for their hard work in making this a successful event in our Diocese.

Catholic Youth from across the country gather for the Steubenville Youth Conference in Ohio

Our parish youth, along with Fr. Brodeur, departed early Thursday morning for the ten-hour drive to the Steubenville Youth Conference in Ohio. They are traveling along with Fr. Mahoney and the youth from St. Pius X in Westerly. After a 5:00 am Mass at St. Pius X in Westerly, they set off on their journey.

Over 30 people are traveling for the conference. These youths participate in prayer, adoration, Mass, and powerful talks about faith. We are grateful for all those who donated to help defray the costs of this trip.  Keep these young pilgrims, chaperones, and priest chaplains in your prayers. May their time be spiritually fruitful and may they return safely.

While Father Brodeur is away in Steubenville, I am also away at the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors' Annual Summer Meeting.  This summer our meeting is being held in Monterey, California. I, along with nearly 40 Catholic Conference Directors from across the country, gather to discuss public policy, legislation, and strategies for advancing the Church’s social agenda.  

Our meeting also includes talks from experts on the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit and educational choice. Also, we will receive an update on Federal legislation from the staff of the U.S.  Conference of Catholic Bishops, which advocates for the Church before Congress and the Trump Administration.

Father Serra Celebrates Mass at Monterey; painting by Léon Trousset, 1877

During our time, we are also blessed to visit the burial site of Saint Junípero Serra and celebrate Mass at the Carmel Mission.   We celebrated Saint Junípero Serra on his  Feast on July 1. He was a Spanish Franciscan Missionary Priest who widely evangelized California in the 18th Century. He founded the many Spanish missions in California, earning him the title "Apostle of California." He was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on September 23, 2015. His personal motto was, “Always forward, never back.”  

A few years ago, a small group of radical revisionists tried to discredit the saint and called for the removal of St. Junípero statues. Some even toppled statues and smeared them with red paint and called the Saint a racist. The historic Mission Churches in California experienced a spate of arson-related fires. Much like Christopher Columbus, St. Junípero Serra should be placed in historical context, and the many falsehoods about him must be refuted.  

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, writing about St. Junípero, stated:  “He was a man of prayer and a lover of nature. He preached God’s compassion, fought for the dignity of women and the rights of America’s native peoples, and he was probably the first person in the Americas to make a moral case against capital punishment. Three years before the Declaration of Independence, Father Serra had already written a bill of rights for indigenous Californians.”

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Río Carmelo established in 1771.

While considered a historical landmark, the Carmel Mission remains an active Catholic parish today. I  look forward to visiting the Mission Church, praying at the Tomb of St. Junipero Serra, and offering Mass there. Please know I will offer the Mass for your intentions. May Saint Junipero Serra intercede for us and our parish.

Our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sisters Lourdes, Jane, and Flora,  leave this week for their Annual Retreat and Community Chapter Meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska. As they drive across the country, please pray for their safe travel and a fruitful retreat.

While Fr. Brodeur and I are away this weekend, the Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese, Fr. Nathan Ricci; the newly appointed Chaplain at URI, Fr. Patrick Ryan; and our neighbor and retired pastor of St. Sebastian Church in Providence, Monsignor Montecalvo, are covering the Masses. We are very grateful for their kind and generous assistance that allows us to be away from OLM.

Be well. Do good. God Bless. See you next week!

Independence 250 Years Later! Happy Anniversary USA!

Declaration of Independence, John Trumbull, 1819

Dear Parishioners:

Happy 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Independence Day is an opportunity for every citizen, especially Catholic citizens, to reflect on important lessons at the heart of virtuous living and faithful citizenship.                                                    

I fondly remember the Fourth of July as a child with its cherished cookout complete with hamburgers, saugy hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob, and watermelon.  Then came the sparklers and fireworks my older brothers had bought in Silver Lake.  Finally, we made the trek from our house to Narragansett Bay by the RI Yacht Club to watch the giant blazing bonfire supervised by the Pawtuxet Volunteer Fire Company. They were happy times.

But an important lesson of Independence Day was imparted to us by our parents.  Both had lived through the Great Depression, and my Father also served in combat in Italy during the Second World War.  My mother worked at the Quonset Base during the war, and her three brothers all served in the Second World War.  Their example calls us to remember that our freedom isn’t free, and good things are worth fighting for. Freedom is a fragile reality.

Our Catholic faith and the American experiment assert that freedom is our inheritance as the children of God. Of course, this requires that freedom be rightly and fully understood. Freedom is a summons placed within the heart of every human person to live a life of virtue, self-control, and goodness. Freedom is not the power to do whatever we want. It is the power to do what is right and good. 

Freedom always runs the risk of captivity, however, either by our own fallen hearts through sin, or by governments and regimes that repress authentic liberty, self-determination, and a creativity born from virtuous living. St. Paul describes the struggle for freedom in our hearts in his Letter to the Galatians: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Mount Rushmore with the images of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln

These lessons are not only those of a young child living in Edgewood fifty years ago. They are the lessons that all people of goodwill are called to discern, discover, and accept. They are the foundational lessons that inspire, motivate, and sustain a healthy society and a virtuous form of representative government.

Unlike my parents and their peers of the “Greatest Generation,” our contemporary culture, which indulges in moral relativism on one side and new forms of socialism on the other, often misses the inner dynamics of how freedom and goodness interact in such a way that each needs the other. Freedom and moral goodness are beloved twins who enjoy and prosper best when they are together and in harmony with one another.

Our Founding Fathers rightly understood this 250 years ago when they signed the Declaration of Independence. They considered liberty and its exercise in pursuit of the flourishing of themselves, their families, and their communities. Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence, on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary, said:

Minute Man

“Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ our Lord, he has conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation, and upon myself in permitting me to live to the age of eighty-nine years, and to survive the fiftieth year of American independence and my approbation of the Declaration of Independence of which I am now the last surviving signer, I do hereby recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document, as the best earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath to them; and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured to my country may be perpetuated to the remotest posterity and extended to the whole family of man.”

Let us celebrate this hard-won liberty on the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which freed us from the shackles of English Royal Tyranny with gratitude, pride, and joy! God Bless the USA! Happy Independence Day!

!