Dear Parishioners:I awoke last Sunday morning at 4:00AM to thunder, lightening and a downpour of heavy rain! However, thanks to your prayers and the intercession of our parish patroness, Our Lady of Mercy, the storms and rains subsided by Noon and the sun was shining brightly! It was a beautiful day for our OLM Parish Picnic! Over three hundred parishioners, friends and neighbors gathered for a great afternoon of good food, good fun, and good friends!
I am grateful to our crack OLM Maintenance Team and a great group of volunteers from the parish and school PTG everything was ready to go and then quickly cleaned up afterwards. In your name, I thank the Galleshaw Family of Wright’s Chicken Farm for donating their tent for the picnic, the Dunkin Donuts on Main Street for donating all the coffee, the Knights of Columbus for manning the 
grill and cooking the burgers and dogs all afternoon. Without the help of so many great parishioners who volunteered and benefactors who were so generous we would not have had such a great day. It was a great afternoon of pony rides and games for kids, good food and ice cream for all and a wonderful time celebrating our parish family. We are grateful to Fr. Connors for his truly talented display of juggling including the juggling of flaming batons! It was one of the highlights of the day. Also we congratulate Fr. Connors and his team of youth who were victorious over Team Healey in the tug-of-war! There will be a rematch next year! We give thanks to God for this wonderful parish and for providing our parish family such beautiful weather and good times!
On Tuesday of this past week we had a solemn celebration of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mercy at the 7:30AM Mass. Our parish soloist Deirdre Donovan provided beautiful music for the special feast including a truly beautiful hymn dedicated to patroness. May Our Lady of Mercy continue to intercede for our parish and guide and protect our parishioners. It’s hard to believe that the month of September is coming to a close and fall has arrived. Soon the leaves will be changing colors and falling down.
October at OLM is full of events and special feast so please take a look in the bulletin. We will have October Devotions each Monday during the month at 7:00PM with spiritual reflections. Also we will offer all-day Eucharistic Adoration this Friday following the Frist Friday OLM School Mass. I hope you can spend some time on Friday in prayer and adoration of Jesus Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration will conclude at 7:00PM on Friday night. 
Also beginning in October there will be an extra hour of Confessions each week. Beginning on Monday, October 7th, Fr. Connors and I will hear Confessions on Monday nights at 6:00PM. For those who cannot make it to Confession on Saturday afternoon, you can now stop by on the way home from work on Monday evenings. Frequent Confession is good for the soul!
The congregation at our new Sunday 5:00PM Mass has continued to grow each week. We are in need of regular volunteers to help usher and take up the collection. So if you are interested in helping out at one or two Sunday evening Masses a month, please let me know. Also remind your friends, neighbors and family members that OLM now has the last Sunday Mass in the area!
On Sunday, October 6th at the 5:00PM Mass Bishop Evans is to confirm nearly 100 of the young adults of parish. I ask that you please commend them to your prayers that as they receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit they will continue to grow in grace, faith and holiness and stay close to Christ and His Church. Deacon John Dowd underwent double knee replacement surgery this past week and will be away from the parish for a few weeks to recover. Keep him in your prayers that the surgery is successful and the he returns soon to his ministry at OLM. God Bless. Have a great week. Go Sox! Go Pats!!