Dear Parishioners:

We welcome Bishop Mark Spalding of Nashville to OLM this weekend. He is here to celebrate our Confirmation Mass and confer the Sacrament upon 45 young adults of our parish. Please pray for them as they receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and are confirmed in their Catholic Faith.

Pope Leo, addressing a group of Catholic youths, said: "Dear young people, aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. Then you will see the light of the Gospel grow every day, within you and around you." Wise words for the newly confirmed from our Holy Father.

We continue to pray for our Holy Father as he recovers from surgery and his cancer. We turn to Our Lady of Consolation, the patroness of the Augustinian Order, and Saint Peregrine, the patron saint of cancer patients, seeking their intercession for healing and strength for Pope Leo.

You may have recently read that the Providence Journal is no longer publishing holiday editions and will likely begin mailing the Sunday paper via the U.S. Postal Service. Most likely Sunday’s paper will arrive Monday or Tuesday!

In a similar fashion, Bishop Lewandowski announced that effective November 1, the Rhode Island Catholic will now be published bi-weekly instead of weekly. It will be delivered only to paid subscribers for a rate of $40 per year.

Most RI Catholic subscribers receive it free of charge because they have donated to the Catholic Charity Appeal. However, due to increased costs, all subscriptions must be paid, including priests. You can access the RI Catholic online and subscribe at thericatholic.com.

The diocesan website, dioceseofprovidence.org, also has news and current events about the Diocese of Providence. You can find more information about diocesan agencies and initiatives there. There is also a sign-up for a weekly email that provides Catholic news, events, informational, and inspirational material.

I also encourage you to visit our parish website, olmparish.org, to learn more about parish life, events, programs, and links to Catholic educational sites. We use an email system called Flocknotes to send important information and announcements. Links to Flocknotes, as well as our Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, are available.

This bulletin is our primary way of communicating about parish life and events. Please take a copy home after Mass and read it. It is also posted on the parish website. We continue to announce parish events at weekend Masses.

If you are interested in learning more about the Catholic Church in the United States, I encourage you to visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website, usccb.org. There, you can learn about the US Bishops' initiatives, as well as their agencies and offices. They also have an email update you can sign up for to receive important news.

Finally, if you're interested in Pope Leo and the Vatican, visit Vatican News at vaticannews.va/en. They also offer a daily email newsletter you can sign up for to get the latest news. From that website, you can find links to Papal and Church documents.

However, none of this will help you get news and important information about the Church, the Diocese of Providence, or Our Lady of Mercy Parish if you do not read the emails, websites, and parish bulletin.

I often hear parishioners say, “I didn’t know about that!” “Nobody told me!” or “I wish I knew about that event.” This will continue if people don't use the many ways available to get information and actually read them.

Newspapers like the Providence Journal are quickly disappearing. For good or bad, modern media is digital and online. I am sure the weekly parish bulletin will also become obsolete in the future. To paraphrase the Canadian Philosopher Marshall McLuhan, if you want Church and Parish news, "log on, sign up, and tune in!”

Our new Altar Server bootcamp begins this week. Pray for our new servers. We offer our heartfelt congratulations and prayers for our newly Confirmed. May the Holy Spirit guide and protect them!

Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!! !

Log on, Sign up, Tune In!