Dear Parishioners:
On Monday, August 1, I marked my tenth anniversary as Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church. It's incredible to realize that I've been here a decade! I am most grateful to Bishop Tobin, who assigned me to this wonderful parish, and certainly grateful to God for the blessing of serving here at OLM.
I am most thankful for the fine priests I have served with these last ten years, Fr. Shemek, Fr. Connors, Fr. Barrow, and now Fr. Mahoney. Each of them has been a blessing in my life and a true joy to serve and live with at OLM. I also thank Bishop Evans, our neighbor here at OLM, for his joyful fraternity and faithful witness to the priestly ministry.
I am certainly grateful for the outstanding staff at OLM who are so dedicated to this parish. Our excellent OLM maintenance staff keep God's house clean and beautiful, fix the broken things that continually arise, and are always willing to lend a hand to any project. We are blessed to have such an excellent Religious Education Program led by Mickey St. Jean and Doug Green. I am grateful to our OLM Business Manager, Dave Cote, and Parish Secretary, Sandra Demers, who help me administer to the parish. I am thankful to our Music Director, Henri St. Louis, for his tremendous talent and music. Of course, our good Sisters who faithfully and humbly serve the parish are a true joy!
We are blessed to have an excellent parish school. Our outstanding Principal, Patrick McNabb, continues the fine tradition of former principals, Sister Jeanne Barry, RSM, and Scott Fuller. We have an excellent and dedicated faculty, wonderful students, and supportive parents who make it an academically excellent, lovingly nurturing, and truly Catholic school where students strive to be saints and scholars.
And, of course, I am truly blessed to serve you, the good people of OLM, who continue to inspire me with your deep faith, joyful hope, and generous charity. I am humbled daily by the example of many parishioners who faithfully know, love, and serve God and neighbor.
Much has changed over a decade. There have been three different Presidents and three Governors, each truly unique!! We've had a Pope retire and elected the first Jesuit Pope from South America. And at the parish, while things do change much remains the same.
We've happily celebrated hundreds of Baptisms, Communions, Confirmations, and Weddings. For a decade, I've had the great privilege to celebrate Holy Mass for this faith-filled community as we worship and joyfully praise Almighty God, Sunday after Sunday, during blizzards, heatwaves, and even pandemics!
Sadly we've had hundreds of funerals over the decade, including for young parishioners, taken too soon, and tragically. But we've also celebrated funerals for faithful parishioners who led long lives dedicated to their God, faith, family, and parish. I've also had the great joy and privilege of anointing those facing the trials of sickness and those preparing for their eternal reward. And at this parish dedicated to mercy, I've had the remarkable privilege to offer God's forgiveness in the Confessional. For ten years, hundreds of people have sought out God's mercy as they humbly confess their sins and receive the grace of the Sacrament.
As I reflect upon ten happy and joyful years serving as Pastor of OLM, I am reminded of the poem entitled "A Priest" by the French Dominican Father Henri Lacordaire, one of the greatest preachers of the nineteenth century. It reads:
"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 have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity To teach and to pardon, console and bless always. My God, what a life; and it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ."
I give thanks to God for my pastorate at Our Lady of Mercy and pledge my continued prayers for you and your families. Please pray for me. Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us! Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!!!