Fr. Healey and Fr. Barrow
Dear Parishioners:
We had a great “Farewell” send-off for Father Barrow last weekend. After five happy years of priestly ministry at OLM, he leaves us to begin his first pastorate at St. Teresa Parish in Pawtucket. We say farewell and thanks and promise him our prayers.
I am grateful to our OLM Staff and volunteers for arranging the fabulous receptions in Fr. Barrow’s honor. Thanks to the quick thinking of Doug Green, the Saturday night reception wasn’t rained out by the massive thunderstorm but held in the Church vestibule! Sunday’s reception had beautiful weather and a great turnout of parishioners to wish Father well! I am grateful to all those who acknowledged his priestly ministry here at OLM with their good wishes!
“My God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!”
Our new Associate Pastor, Father Mahoney, has begun to move his belongings into his rooms. He begins his duties here at OLM on July 1 and begins celebrating Masses this week at OLM.
Bishop Tobin ordained Father Mahoney on Saturday, June 5, 2021, at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. He grew up in Wakefield and attended Saint Francis Parish. His father is a retired Naval Officer, his mother a retired school teacher, and they now reside in Arizona. He has two brothers who live in Reno, Nevada, and a sister who lives in Rhode Island.
He studied for the priesthood at Saint John’s Seminary in Boston, where our own Father Connors taught him. He is an alumnus of Providence College and South Kingstown High School. And while he roots for the Pats, he is a Green Bay Packer fan as his mother is a native of Wisconsin! I know you will give him a warm welcome as he begins his first priestly assignment.
Father Healey and Father Mahoney.
It is a great privilege and joy to have a newly ordained priest assigned to our parish I am deeply grateful to Bishop Tobin for sending us Fr. Mahoney. We look forward to many happy years of faithful and fruitful ministry from him.
Over twenty years ago as a newly ordained priest, my first parish assignment was an exciting time. Finally, I was able to put the years of seminary formation and studies into priestly practice. It was also a privileged time to celebrate Masses, hear confessions, baptize babies, anoint the sick and dying, and celebrate weddings often for the first time.
God has truly blessed my priesthood with fantastic parish assignments. I am truly blessed to be serving at OLM with outstanding young priests such as Fr. Shemek, Fr. Connors, and Fr. Barrow. Now I look forward to many happy years serving with Father Mahoney. It is an exciting time for him as a new priest but also for us as a parish.
This week a seminary classmate and long-time friend, Father Ferdi Santos, is visiting. Thirty years ago we studied in the seminary together at the American College in Louvain, Belgium. He is from the Philippines but has been working in the U.S. for the last fourteen years. He spent four years teaching philosophy and theology at Providence College while living with me at St. Ambrose. Then, over the last ten years, he served as a Philosophy Professor and Rector at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida.
Now Father Santos is returning home to the Philippines to be closer to his parents and family. He is leaving behind the seminary and academic life to serve as a parish priest. His bishop has assigned him to serve as pastor of a parish located in one of the most impoverished areas of his diocese. Please pray for him.
This past Thursday on my anniversary I offered thanks to God for my twenty-six years of priesthood and offered Mass for your intentions. I also give thanks for the gift of my brother priests. I have had the great joy to serve with great priests and to serve wonderful parishioners. It is a blessing indeed!
In his homily last week, Fr. Barrow quoted “The Priest “ by the French Dominican Father Henri Lacordaire, I do so again:
La messa al campo, (1938) by Emilio Rizzi.
“To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; To heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; To teach and to pardon, console and bless always. My God, what a life, and it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ.”
Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!