Dear Parishioners:
Pope Francis in his morning homily on Monday reminds us of the importance of prayer during this global crisis. He said: “Faith, perseverance and courage. In these days, it’s necessary to pray more. Imagine if we were to pray like this. With faith – that the Lord can intervene; with perseverance and with courage. The Lord never deceives. He makes us wait. He takes His time. But he never deceives. Faith, perseverance and courage.”
We called to be people of faith, perseverance and courage as Catholic disciples. In many ways this time of isolation and quarantine is a time of renewal of our faith. It is a Lent within a Lent, a time we are forced to refocus the priorities of our lives. It is time for us to focus on what is truly important and essential, the health and well being of ourselves, our family, friends and our community. The health and well being not only in the physical and financial sense but also in the spiritual sense.
While being in a comfortable and secure location, all of us might be tempted to reduce this time of lock-down into an opportunity to catch up on sleep, reading, or even our hobbies. We must fight these temptations and choose instead to renew our commitments to prayer, sacrifices and worship. There are many opportunities to support these efforts available online. We can reflect upon the Word of God and the truths of the Faith.
At the OLM parish webpage (olmparish.org) you will find links to resources to help you with prayer and worship while at home. These include Word on Fire with Bishop Barron, Magnificat which is offering free access and Formed which offers informative ways to be formed in the Catholic Faith. We are expecting to install a new live-streaming system at OLM. We hope this will help us as a parish family as we are able to live-stream Mass at OLM. More information about this is available on the parish webpage (olmparish.org).
Also we are signing up for a new communication system for parishioners called Flock Notes. This will enable us to email or text parishioners updates and invitations on a regular basis. It is easy and efficient and we hope to launch it this week. In the meantime, I encourage you to read the bulletin online at the parish webpage. We have a limited number of bulletins being printed but it will be posted weekly on the webpage along with any updates or messages, please check our parish website daily.
I must thank Fr. Barrow for his technological genius and help with all these matters. Much of this is new to me as I expect it is to many of us of a certain age and generation. However, it is the best way for us to stay connected in these strange times of separation. Fr. Connors has returned to OLM as St. John Seminary has closed. He is living with us and teaching his classes via the internet much like our dedicated faculty at OLM School. It’s good to have him home with us!
I commend our OLM School Principal, Patrick McNabb, and our faculty for the great job of implementing the distance learning for our parish school students. The teachers are teaching and the students are learning! We are grateful for the hard work, dedication and cooperation of our school family!
OLM Outreach continues to supply food and assistance to those in need on a daily basis. If you are in need or know someone who is, please contact Doug Green at 401-884-4410 or reach him via email at outreach@olmparish.org
As your parish priests, we are truly heartsick that we cannot minister directly to our flock. However, Fr. Barrow, Fr. Connors and I offer Mass privately everyday for you and your intentions. We are joined by our good sisters who daily pray for you. Please continue to pray for us.
I ask you to please mail in your budget envelopes or put them in the newly installed depository in the vestibule. I ask all parishioners to please consider giving online sign up at Parish Giving at olmparish.org. We need your continued financial support in this time of crisis as we still have employees and bills to pay. I thank you for your continued support.
St. Padre Pio reminds us: "Pray, hope, don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayers." Be well. Do Good! Stay safe. God Bless. Oremus pro invicem!