Dear Parishioners:
We had a beautiful celebration of First Communion last Saturday. Even the weather was beautiful! We congratulate our 95 First Communicants on receiving the Lord Jesus truly present in the Eucharist for the very first time. We hope and pray that this will be the start of a life-long love of the Eucharist! On Sunday we celebrated Mothers’ Day with the May Crowning at the 10:30AM Mass. It was so nice to see the Church full of First Communion Families, their guests and our parishioners celebrating together our Blessed Mother!
We continue to celebrate our Blessed Mother Mary during this month of May on Mondays with Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary. Last Monday at May Devotions Fr. Connors prayed for Harvard University which was scheduled to hold a “Black Mass.” A “Black Mass” is a ritual performed as a religious travesty and mocking of the Catholic Mass by the followers of Satanism. This outrageous and offensive action was originally slated to be performed on the campus of Harvard but fortunately it was cancelled. Unfortunately it was not cancelled by the Harvard Administration but by the organizers themselves after the outcry against it. Harvard President Drew Faust said the satanic Mass is "flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory" but refused to cancel such an event on the campus because of “free speech.”One wonders if there was to be an offensive event that attacked, ridiculed and mocked African-Americans, followers of Judaism or Islam, or homosexuals she would have permitted it under the guise of “free speech.” People may have “free speech” rights to spew hatred and evil but it doesn't have to be accepted and permitted at institutions of higher learning. The great historian and advisor to President John Kennedy, Arthur Schlesinger, himself a graduate of Harvard, suggested: “Anti-Catholicism was the last acceptable prejudice.” It appears that might be true at the nation’s leading university. Sean 
Cardinal O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston stated: “It’s just very disappointing and disturbing. You know, there’s a great fascination with evil in the world. It doesn’t lead to anything good.” Let us continue to pray for those at Harvard and all over the world who mock and attack our Catholic Faith. Listen to Pope Francis: “Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the devil! Please, let us not do business with the devil! He seeks to return home, to take possession of us. Do not relativize; be vigilant! And always with Jesus!”
Now that First Communion is over our Religious Education Program has ended for the year. I am truly grateful to Mickey St. Jean and Doug Green who did such a tremendous job leading the program this year. We thank all those who participated in our RE Program and especially thank the teachers who volunteer so much of their time and talent to teaching the Catholic Faith to the future of our Church and Parish. There is a flyer in this week’s bulletin introducing a new and exciting opportunity for the children of our parish. We are offering a Vacation Bible School at OLM in late June. We invite all 
children of the parish from Grade K through 6 to join us for this great week of fun and faith! Our Summer Seminarian, Nicholas Robenhymer, arrives at OLM this week. He will be with us for a few weeks, living and working with Fr. Connors and I. He is from Narragansett and graduates from Providence College this weekend. He continues his priestly studies this fall at St. John’s Seminary in Boston. When you see him around the parish or around town please be sure to give him your usual warm OLM welcome. I hope you will join us on June 18th for a celebration of Sister Jeanne’s many years of dedicated service to our school and parish. Details are in the bulletin this week so be sure to mark your calendar. Have a great week! Remember Mondays are for Mary! Welcome Nicholas! God Bless. Go Bruins??!!