Celebrating the Work of our Senior Priests!

Dear Parishioners: Labor Day Weekend has come and gone and so it seems has summer!  It’s good news and bad news!  The good news is that now we get to see and meet many parishioners who have been away at those “summer parishes” but the bad news is we meet summer’s end.  It’s good news too that the Patriot’s Season Opener is Sunday after all the bad news about the Red Sox!!  The good news is that after just a month here at Our Lady of Mercy I am now beginning to settle in a bit but the bad news is I still don’t know everyone’s name yet! It’s certainly good news to welcome Father John A. Kiley who is with us this weekend to preach on behalf of the Senior Priests’ Retirement Fund.  The fund which provides a modest pension for Senior Priests of the Diocese of Providence is greatly underfunded and is in critical need of financial support.   Father Kiley was a long serving and distinguished pastor in our Diocese who retired last June and now serves as one of our finest Senior Priests.  He provided great help to me while I was Pastor at St. Ambrose and he continues to serve there regularly. In addition to that he also serves many other parishes as a supply priest as well as helping out the Chaplains at Rhode Island Hospital.  Father Kiley never says “No” when it comes to serving God’s people! Father Kiley still writes his weekly column in The Rhode Island Catholic entitled The Quiet Corner and he is a frequently published letter-to-the-editor writer to The Providence Journal.  With credit to General McArthur’s Farewell Address to Congress let me paraphrase: “Old priests never die nor do they fade away!” For as you can see by Father Kiley’s exemplary example, Senior Priests in the Diocese of Providence are vital to the continued life and ministry of our Church and the many parishes of our Diocese.  In their name and my own, I ask you to please be generous in next week’s Second Collection for the Senior Priests’ Retirement Fund.  Consider your gift as an act of thanksgiving for the priests you’ve known over the years and the many Senior Priests today who like Father Kiley have served and continue to serve so faithfully in our Diocese. It seems ironic that the very weekend I am to be officially installed as the seventeenth Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church; we are having a second collection for retired priests!  I am far from retiring as I am only 47 years old and cannot even consider  retirement until I am at least 70 and then only if the Bishop allows it!  So I am here to stay and hope in the years ahead we can together continue to build upon the fine tradition of faith and good works at Our Lady of Mercy Parish.  Bishop Evans is to officially install me as Pastor next Sunday at the 10:30AM Mass. If you cannot be present at the Mass, I humbly ask for your continued prayers for my pastorate.  May Our Lady of Mercy, our Parish Patroness, continue to guide and protect us as we serve her Son and His Church.  God Bless. Go Pats!!!

Holy Days, Picnic and Native Son Returns

Dear Parishioners: It was great to see so many come out for the Holy Day Masses on the Solemnity of the Assumption this past week.  Certainly those who turned out for 7:30AM Mass right in the middle of the torrential downpours on Wednesday morning are to be commended for their great witness!  Unfortunately for many Catholics, Holy Days of Obligation and even Sundays seem to be more of an option than an obligation.  So perhaps those of us who come to Mass each week and strive to attend Mass on Holy Days might reach out to our friends, neighbors, fellow parishioners and even our own family members and invite them to join us at Mass.  In the meantime, let us commit to praying for all those who choose not to be with us at Mass that they too might come to realize what a grace and blessing coming to the Eucharist truly is for us!

Father Shemek reports a great group showed up for the OLM Family Picnic Planning meeting last Sunday and are ready, willing and able to help us have a great event on September 23rd. They came up with some great ideas and set up committees to help the Picnic run smoothly.  If you are interested in helping or volunteering in any way, please see the bulletin for contact information.  This is the First OLM Family Picnic but we hope that it will lead to an annual gathering for our parish family on the Feast of our Patroness, Our Lady of Mercy.  By the way, we checked the schedule and the Patriots have a Sunday night game so there is no excuse for not coming to the Picnic!  Father Shemek has promised to prepare some Polish food and teach us how to play soccer the Polish way!  So if you can help out, please sign up and if you can’t help, please show up to celebrate our faith and our community.

Next Saturday night at the 5:00PM Mass we welcome home the newly ordained, Father Eric Bennett, to Our Lady of Mercy Parish.  Father Bennett was ordained a priest this past June for service in the Archdiocese of Boston but he is a native of OLM and his family are parishioners.  His brother Brian is presently a seminarian studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence.  It is a great privilege for our parish to have Father celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish.  So I hope you might join us for the Mass and the Reception to follow in Mercy Park.  Please pray for Father Bennett as he begins his priestly ministry at the Parish of St. Bridget and Gate of Heaven in South Boston.  Also I encourage you to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  I have no doubt that God is calling many young men and women to serve his Church, let us pray for them.

Have a great week! Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the Family Picnic on September 23rd! God Bless.

The Bread of Life

First Homily at Our Lady of Mercy as New Pastor

Father Bernard A. Healey August 5, 2012

Today’s Gospel from St John is part of the lengthy Bread of Life discourse. The crowd in the Gospel has many expectations of Jesus and is curious about him. The questions from the crowd in the Gospel are what drive the discourse. They have an expectation already in mind and so they wish to question Jesus to see if it’s correct.

Managing people's expectations is one of the challenges of successful living. This is true no matter whether it happens within a marriage, at work, or, indeed, in a parish. All sorts of people put expectations upon us; expectations that we may not have the slightest clue are a condition for their relationship to us. When we don't measure up to what they want or need from us, even if we are completely unaware of it, then we are in for trouble.

So it occurred to me that the crowd at OLM today like the crowd in the Gospel might be curious about who this man is before them. After all I am the new priest on the block; even Fr. Shemek has been here longer than me! I’m sure you have lots questions for me and about me: questions about who I am, what I might do, if I am likeable and approachable, and even questions like when did I lose all my hair?

The crowd in the Gospel wasn’t really all that different than the congregation here in East Greenwich this morning/this evening. Their first question posed to Jesus is: “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Interestingly enough Jesus chooses not to answer, but you too might be wondering, “Father, when did you get here?” It is no mystery, late Friday night!

However, I have been to OLM many times during my seventeen years of priesthood. And over the last month I have visited here frequently, spent time with Fr. Shemek and getting to know the staff, and received a warm welcome by all (it helps that they’re all Red Sox fans, although I’m not sure about Sister Rose!).

I’ve met a few parishioners and have known a few already, but I am looking forward to meeting all of you and learning your names! Give me a week or so for that.

I’ve been listening about what makes OLM the great parish it is and I’ve seen firsthand the dedication and pride in being part of this parish family. It is a distinct privilege and a great joy to be here and serve as your pastor. I am excited and truly look forward to sharing in your pride and dedication of this parish family.

In the Gospel crowd then asked Jesus: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus, challenged his listeners to set their minds and hearts on one work only: that of believing in him.

You might ask the same question of me, “Father, what can we do to undertake the works of God in East Greenwich?” The answer remains the same, that of believing in him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

With this belief as our firm foundation, I pray and hope that together we all might wade deep into the waters of faith, deep into the life of God, deep into our call to Christian discipleship, and deeper into the sacramental life of the Church.

Together, with the help of God, we can continue to expand and improve the services offered by the parish, maintain this beautiful church in its all its splendor, further educate ourselves and our children in the rich teaching of our Church and strive always to serve our brothers and sisters in creative and compassionate ways so that by our actions we may witness to believing in him.

Finally, the crowd asks Jesus, “So what can you do?” It might be the very question on your mind as well. “So Father Healey what can you do?”  Well, I can do nothing without your help. I can accomplish little without your support. I can achieve even less without your firm faith in Jesus Christ and His mission.

But just as it was the wrong question 2000 years ago, it remains the wrong question today.  We should rather ask: “Father Healey, What can we do together for the Lord?”

It is a question for both priest and parishioner, it is a question for both parent and child, and it is a question for all of us! Whether we are 80 or 8 years old, we must ask that question every day of our lives. How can we serve the Lord and serve our neighbor today more than we did yesterday?

Our work is cut out for us, as it is and has always been for every disciple of Christ. Jesus invites us today as he did the crowd 2000 years ago to be taught, to be fed, and to be one with him, the Bread of Life.

Each time we gather as a parish family around this altar of sacrifice to remember and to give thanks for all that God has given us in Jesus, our faith is strengthened but also challenged anew. To remember Christ in this way is more than a ritual act of worship, it is to accept living under the sign of the cross and in the hope of the resurrection. It is to accept the meaning of a life that was given over to death for the sake of others.

Once it is accepted. Each of us are called to proclaim it at every Eucharist and to live it every day by committing to loving and serving every member of the Body of Christ. Christ reminds us of this call in the Gospel today: “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Receiving the Bread of Life is a commitment to the life. When we come to communion we are bound by the Presence within us to live the life of the Lord in a way that bears witness to His Life in our world. For the committed Catholic disciple, religion is not a sometimes affair, not just a once a week happening.

For us religion means being bound to Christ. The very word religion comes from the Latin word ligare which means to be bound. Our faith is who we are, people bound to Christ. This is what it means to be a priest and this is what it means to be a parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy Parish.

As we strive to grow in the Life of the Lord every day, we are reminded of what St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly before his death: “A Christian is not their own master. Our time is God’s.”  My time here, our time together is truly God’s time.

My friends, there is a part of us that knows in the core of our very being that this is true. It is the part of us that cries out with the people in today’s Gospel, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

Settling in

Dear Parishioners: It is a great joy to be here and begin my priestly service as the seventeenth Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in East Greenwich.  Since 1853 when Bishop Bernard O’Reilly sent Father Patrick J. Lenihan to the mission territory that was then East Greenwich, sixteen priests have had the great privilege to serve this parish.  I offer my thanks to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin for assigning me as your new pastor and I pledge to him and you that I will strive to serve faithfully, lovingly, zealously and enthusiastically during my pastorate.

Like Fr. Lenihan who arrived over a hundred and fifty years ago, I arrive to Our Lady of Mercy as a stranger to you and to the community around us.  Also like the first pastor, I arrive committed to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in this parish and throughout the community around us.  My first duty and greatest joy is to announce the Gospel in all its power and with all its demands.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, and our common mission as Disciples of Christ is to bring the Gospel to all we meet. Indeed, Christ commands us to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and that is our Great Commission: to be evangelists.  Evangelization is not something undertaken only by priests and religious or only by missionaries in foreign lands. Evangelization is the common mission of the entire Church, and every Christian shares in the duty and privilege of sharing the Gospel with all people.

In order to evangelize in the 21^st century we must use not only the time tested means of preaching and teaching but also adapt to the technological advances in our world.  Therefore, we will soon launch our new parish website at www.olmparish.org .  It will contain lots information about the parish, the Catholic Church and what we have to offer our community. I will be posting my weekly column there as well as blogging on a regular basis.  I would like to eventually establish a parish Facebook page and I may even try my hand at Twitter!  This is only the beginning or our mission to spread the Good News of the Gospel throughout East Greenwich, Kent County, Rhode Island and the world!

I am very happy to begin my pastorate at OLM. God is good and I give Him thanks for the many blessings that are Our Lady of Mercy Parish.  See you around the parish and perhaps even around town!  God Bless!  And Go Sox!!

Father Healey

A New Pastor for OLM

Dear Parishioners: Bishop Evans asked that I write the column this week as I prepare to move into Our Lady of Mercy.  I am looking forward to beginning my pastorate especially to meeting you in the coming weeks.  Over the last month I have visited the parish several times and met with the staff to learn more about them, the parish and the schedule for the upcoming year. I am looking forward to working with them in serving you and the needs of the parish.  Father Shemek and I are also getting to know one another.  We are both excited to be part of the OLM parish family.  He is still trying to get me to take a ride down Main Street with him on his motorcycle but I told him not until he gets a sidecar!

I am not unfamiliar with OLM as three of my nephews made their First Holy Communions here several years ago and my niece graduated from OLM School in 2006.  I remember the graduation Mass very well because I had to deliver the homily off the cuff as the scheduled homilist got the wrong time and failed to make the Mass on time.  Sister Jeanne also remembers my niece as one of her favorite students!  Over the years I have also presided at weddings and funerals of friends at Our Lady of Mercy and I know many parishioners already but I truly look forward to getting to know many more in the months ahead.  In fact, one of my many cousins is a parishioner of OLM and he tells me he and his family are at Mass every week.  If he’s not, he soon will be!

Of course, I was also a friend of your late Pastor, Monsignor Lolio, and was often a guest at OLM.  As you know, he was a generous host and frequently after some delicious pasta prepared by Monsignor we would play cards with friends Monsignor Albert Kenney and Bishop Matano. I have very fond memories of Monsignor Lolio who I knew to be a gracious host, a good friend, and a fine priest.  He has left an outstanding legacy at Our Lady of Mercy and I pray that I might continue to build upon the strong foundation he left behind.  May his noble soul rest in peace.

Since I am a little familiar with Our Lady of Mercy let me try to acquaint you with a little more about me.  I have been a priest for seventeen years and I truly love being a priest and serving God’s people.  Being a part of the Catholic Church and following Jesus Christ have been a source of great pride and joy throughout my entire life and the priestly work of preaching, teaching, and sanctifying are things that I thoroughly enjoy.

Over the years I was blessed to serve as the Assistant Pastor at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Parish in Narragansett and St. Augustine Parish in Providence with two great pastors and mentors, Father Donald Bourassa and Monsignor Barry R.L. Connerton.  I loved working in the large school at St. Augustine where I spent seven years. The last nine years I have very happily been serving as the Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in the village of Albion which is located in Lincoln, Rhode Island.  My first pastorate was a great blessing in my life and I am grateful for it.

For the last twelve years I have also served as the chief lobbyist for the Diocese of Providence at the R.I. Statehouse and I serve as the Director of the R.I. Catholic Conference which advocates and educates on public policy issues for the Church. I also write the editorials for the weekly diocesan newspaper, the Rhode Island Catholic, so make sure you have a subscription (www.thericatholic.com)!  And I serve as the Chaplain to the men and women of the R.I. Capitol Police Department.  I will continue these other part-time assignments while serving as Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy.

Now that’s what the official resume says but let me share with you some more personal information about myself.  I grew up in the Edgewood section of Cranston and I am the youngest of nine children, the uncle of thirteen nieces and nephews and the grand-uncle of two great nieces.  I was educated in the Cranston Public Schools.  Both my parents are now deceased as my Mother died when I was a senior in college and my Father passed away in May 2011 at the age of 88.  They instilled in me a love of the Catholic Faith that continues to grow stronger. They always practiced their Catholic faith and had a deep respect for marital love and family life that has been the foundation of my life as their son and as a son of the Church.

All of my brothers and sisters live in Rhode Island except for my sister and brother-in-law and their three daughters who reside in Saratoga, New York.  Unfortunately my brother-in-law and his three daughters (my nieces!) in New York are fans of the evil empire known as the New York Yankees and New York Giants (please pray for my sister who remains true to her Rhodey roots!).  I am a diehard Red Sox fan so it continues to be a long summer!  However, I am looking forward to the return of the NFL Football Season and the New England Patriots who I also passionately follow.  My family is a very important part of my life and you may see some of them around the parish from time to time.  Some of my nephews have informed me that they are excited about the playground and basketball courts at OLM!  We are a close family and I am blessed to have most of them nearby in Warwick, Jamestown, and West Greenwich. Although Saratoga is not a bad spot during the Horse Racing Season!

Without a doubt you are to learn more about me in the months ahead just as I hope to learn more about you and your families and this wonderful parish of Our Lady of Mercy.  Once again let me tell you how very pleased I am to have the great privilege to serve you as the Seventeenth Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish.  Indeed I am very excited to begin my priestly ministry here with and for you and I look forward to the chance to meet you in person at Masses next weekend. Until then please know of my prayers for you as I humbly ask for your prayers for me.  God Bless.

Celebrate religious freedom

Dear Parishioners:On the Fourth of July we conclude our national Fortnight of Prayer for Religious Freedom. This special time of prayer, education and action began with a beautiful Mass at our Cathedral on June 20th with Bishop Tobin, twenty priests and over 500 Catholics praying together for religious liberty. The Mass was followed by a Prayer Breakfast with a keynote address by Law Professor Dwight Duncan who suggested:

“It’s a bit of a Paul Revere moment. Only this time it’s not the British that are coming. It’s Big Brother. Or, if you prefer, think of Rosa Parks. We can go along and sit quietly in the back of the bus, or we can stand up for human dignity and the rights of conscience. When it comes to our precious heritage of religious freedom, we must either use it or lose it. “

In his homily at the Mass, Bishop Tobin told those gathered to defend religious freedom – “a right that belongs to every human being” and “a right bestowed on us by almighty God.” He called on the faithful to lead the defense of religious liberty guided by and inspired by the church’s pastors. He told the large crowd that “this is your work, your mission.” Bishop Tobin is right that this defense of religious liberty is for all of us to engage in not only bishops and priests. However, the effectiveness of defending our religious liberty ultimately depends on the vitality of our own Catholic faith – in other words, how deeply we believe it, and how honestly we live it.

The defense of religious liberty is not new at all, our first bishop in the United States, Archbishop John Carroll — whose cousin, Charles, signed the Declaration of Independence — constantly urged the tiny Catholic flock of his time to pray in thanksgiving for the freedom promised us to exercise our faith without harassment from anybody, government included, and to pray for its protection. Nor is it uniquely American, for that matter. What people of every faith have always longed for — the liberty to worship God and live out their religious convictions without oppression — finally came to be fulfilled in the country whose 236th birthday we will observe this July 4th.

Happy Independence Day! Enjoy the holiday on Wednesday, enjoy the picnics and the fireworks but please pray and proudly defend your religious liberty too! God Bless. God Bless America!