Dear Parishioners:
Across the country we celebrate “Catholic Schools Week” beginning this Sunday. It is always a great week of activities and celebrations of the great contribution our Catholic Schools make to our Church, our nation and our local community. Once again we begin the week with an Open House at OLM School where you can meet and greet students and faculty. OLM School offers an opportunity for parish families to consider educating their children in an disciplined environment that excels in academically, supports Catholic service and develops Catholic virtues. In age when God and religious faith are being marginalized in the public square, OLM School begins and ends every day with prayer. OLM School Students are taught in a loving, nurturing and truly Catholic atmosphere. Amidst the many sports programs,
science programs, robotics programs, social clubs, musical clubs, and community service projects the Catholic Faith is passionately taught and boldly lived every day! There is tuition assistance available from the Diocese of Providence as well as from the Parish. In fact, last year we gave out nearly $75,000 in tuition assistance to parish families. So I invite you stop by and take a look around OLM School and discover the OLM Advantage!
I was recently reminded when reading about the actor Michael Keaton about how many different people have benefited from a Catholic School Education. He just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in movie Birdman. I haven’t seen the movie but I did see his comments about Catholic School and I believe they reflect many Catholic School grad’s experience. Keaton was raised one of seven children with parents who worked two jobs to send him and his siblings to the local parish school. In the interview he said: “I liked going to Catholic school. It kind of builds who you are. It was a good experience for me. It does shape who you are and what you believe in.” I encourage you to take a look at OLM School during the Open House on Sunday. Also please read the message from our new OLM School Principal Scott Fuller on behalf of our great school and faulty.
I am grateful to Fr. Connors for organizing the Day for Prayer for the Protection of Unborn Children and the for the many parishioners who turned out to pray for 
life. This week we put our prayer into action as the RI Right to Life Committee holds its Annual Pro-Life Rally at the RI Statehouse. On Wednesday you can join the hundreds gathered to make the vulnerable voice of the unborn heard in the halls of power. You can join with local pro-life leaders, pro-life elected officials and area clergy as they remind our state leaders that the unborn have the right to life! I’ve attended this rally for many years and it is always a powerful witness for the state’s elected officials to see how many people still respect human life and are 
willing to stand up in protection of the unborn. It is a gathering of people of all ages, races and religions united with the common goal of ending legalized abortion. They pray, sing and shout for life! Won’t you join them? Again Pope Francis reminds us of the urgency of promoting life and standing against the culture of death. In a speech last year to group of Catholic Doctors he stated: “Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection. And every elderly person…even if they are ill or at the end of their days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the ‘culture of waste’ suggests!” Celebrate Catholic Schools Week! Discover the OLM Advantage! Rally of Life! God Bless. Go Pats!!!! Superbowl here we come! It was a great season!