Dear Parishioners: It was great to see so many come out for the Holy Day Masses on the Solemnity of the Assumption this past week. Certainly those who turned out for 7:30AM Mass right in the middle of the torrential downpours on Wednesday morning are to be commended for their great witness! Unfortunately for many Catholics, Holy Days of Obligation and even Sundays seem to be more of an option than an obligation. So perhaps those of us who come to Mass each week and strive to attend Mass on Holy Days might reach out to our friends, neighbors, fellow parishioners and even our own family members and invite them to join us at Mass. In the meantime, let us commit to praying for all those who choose not to be with us at Mass that they too might come to realize what a grace and blessing coming to the Eucharist truly is for us!
Father Shemek reports a great group showed up for the OLM Family Picnic Planning meeting last Sunday and are ready, willing and able to help us have a great event on September 23rd. They came up with some great ideas and set up committees to help the Picnic run smoothly. If you are interested in helping or volunteering in any way, please see the bulletin for contact information. This is the First OLM Family Picnic but we hope that it will lead to an annual gathering for our parish family on the Feast of our Patroness, Our Lady of Mercy. By the way, we checked the schedule and the Patriots have a Sunday night game so there is no excuse for not coming to the Picnic! Father Shemek has promised to prepare some Polish food and teach us how to play soccer the Polish way! So if you can help out, please sign up and if you can’t help, please show up to celebrate our faith and our community.
Next Saturday night at the 5:00PM Mass we welcome home the newly ordained, Father Eric Bennett, to Our Lady of Mercy Parish. Father Bennett was ordained a priest this past June for service in the Archdiocese of Boston but he is a native of OLM and his family are parishioners. His brother Brian is presently a seminarian studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence. It is a great privilege for our parish to have Father celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish. So I hope you might join us for the Mass and the Reception to follow in Mercy Park. Please pray for Father Bennett as he begins his priestly ministry at the Parish of St. Bridget and Gate of Heaven in South Boston. Also I encourage you to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. I have no doubt that God is calling many young men and women to serve his Church, let us pray for them.
Have a great week! Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the Family Picnic on September 23rd! God Bless.