Dear Parishioners:
Father Joseph M. Brodeur at this Ordination Mass on June 29, 2024 at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Providence.
As announced last weekend, we are grateful to Bishop Lewandowski for assigning Father Joseph M. Brodeur as our new Associate Pastor. Father begins his priestly ministry at OLM on July 1 after his return from Rome, where he is presently finishing up his theological studies. Born and raised in Westerly, he is the youngest of four children. He is a native son of Saint Pius X Church, where Father Mahoney currently serves as Pastor. Fr. Brodeur attended the parish school from kindergarten to eighth grade before graduating from Westerly High School in 2016.
He then entered the Our Lady of Providence Seminary for his priestly formation during his college years. He is an alumnus of Providence College, where he earned his B.A. in Philosophy and Classics in 2020. Following college, Father undertook his priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas ('Angelicum'). He was ordained a priest on June 29, 2024, by then Bishop Henning.
Last summer, he served as Associate Pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Mary Parishes in Bristol before returning to Rome to complete a Licentiate in Liturgical Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross ('Santa Croce'). He has been living at the Casa Santa Maria, the American priest graduate house in Rome. We certainly look forward to his arrival and having Father Brodeur with us at OLM. I know you will give him your usual warm welcome when he arrives in July. Keep him in your prayers.
This weekend, we welcome Sister Angelina Giramma, M.P.F., to OLM for the Missionary Cooperative. She is speaking at all Masses on the good work of the Filippini Sisters in the Missions. The Institute of the Religious Teachers Filippini was founded by Saint Lucy Filippini and Marcantonio Cardinal Barbarigo in Italy in 1692. The Filippini Sisters serve in parishes, schools, universities, and social work with those in need in the U.S., South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Pope Leo recently said that we need to "recognize the fundamental importance of the missions and supporting our brothers and sisters in those areas of our world where the Church is young and growing."
The Second Collection this weekend is for the Filippini Missions, and it is a way for us to recognize and financially support the important work of missionaries. I thank Sister Angelina for speaking to us this weekend, and I also thank you in advance for your generous support and prayers for the Filippini Sisters. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
Although we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Church emphasizes its importance with a special feast. It was Pope Urban IV who first extended the feast to the Universal Church in 1254. Corpus Christi is one of the few feasts in which we observe a procession and a sung "Sequence." We will have a Eucharistic Procession following the 10:30 am Mass next Sunday. Corpus Christi is a threefold feast: the Feast of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Feast of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the Feast of the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament.
Father Healey carries the Eucharist in the Corpus Christi Procession in May 2024.
It is a doctrinal feast established to give God collective thanks and gratitude for Christ's abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor Him there. It is meant to instruct us in the Mystery, Faith, and devotion surrounding the Eucharist. And to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice.
Within the three-year cycle of the Sunday liturgy, a different theme is featured each year for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. In Cycle A, the theme is the Eucharist as our food and drink; in Cycle B, the emphasis is on the Eucharist as the sign of the covenant; and in Cycle C, the theme focuses on the priesthood of Jesus.
Also, next Sunday, at 10:30 am Mass, I mark my 30th anniversary of priestly ordination. They have been joyful and happy years of service to the Church. I humbly ask for your continued prayers for me and my priestly ministry. Be well. Do Good. God Bless.