I invite you to join the Our Lady of Mercy Parish Community in celebrating Thanksgiving Day with Mass and Blessing of Bread at 9:00AM! Bishop Robert C. Evans, Auxilary Bishop of Providence, is our celebrant and Father Bernard A. Healey, Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, will preach. Please bring your bread for your Thanksgiving Day Meal for the blessing of bread at the Mass. Happy Thanksgiving! Give Thanks to God!
Dear Parishioners:It’s hard to believe but this week we celebrate that great American holiday of Thanksgiving. A day for us to give thanks to God for the blessings in our lives. President George Washington in his Thanksgiving Day proclamation declared “it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty god to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.” President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as “a day of national thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent creator and ruler of the universe.”
There is no better way to give Almighty God proper thanks and praise than coming to Mass on Thanksgiving morning. Our Thanksgiving Day Mass is to be celebrated on Thursday morning at 9:00AM by Bishop Evans. I hope you join us as we give God thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon Our Lady of Mercy Parish. It is also a time to remember all those who find the holiday especially difficult due to grief, sadness, sickness, distance or financial hardship. As we give thanks for our own blessings may we also remember in prayer the burdens of others and ask our loving and merciful God to comfort the afflicted and help the needy.
I offer my thanks to the many parishioners who have been filling out and returning the parish surveys sent out a few weeks ago. As we continue to comb through the hundreds of returned surveys in the coming weeks we hope to gather more information about ministry, educational and social activities. Our review of the helpful input so many parishioners took the time to send to us is of great assistance. The surveys have also aided in updating the parish mailing list. I am grateful for the constructive feedback that so many of you sent our way. It is truly helpful as Father Shemek and I begin our priestly ministry here at Our Lady of Mercy.
Let me also offer my thanks to the many parishioners who have thus far donated to the Annual Parish Collection. As you know this collection is new to OLM but also very important for our parish. The response so far has been outstanding and I am grateful for your generous support of your parish. The Annual Collection is scheduled for next weekend and I look forward to your generous response. Thank you in advance.
If you are travelling for Thanksgiving, please know you are remembered in prayer for a safe arrival. I will be heading to my sister’s home in Saratoga, New York for Thanksgiving Day dinner after Mass on Thursday morning and return on Saturday morning. Have a Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends! God Bless. God Bless America! Go Pats!
Dear Parishioners: It was quite a big crowd of our Catholic Athletic League (CAL) Basketball players, coaches and families joined us at last Saturday’s 5:00PM Mass. Their season begins this weekend and we were able to offer our prayers, support and a special blessing for them last week. My thanks to the CAL coordinators and coaches who volunteer so much time and energy for our youth. Best of luck to all the players for a great season! Go OLM!
On Sunday Father Shemek and I attended the OLM School CAL Cross Country Team Banquet. The Boys’ Team were the State Champions and the Girls’ Team were the Divisional Champions this year. At the banquet, Ryan Meehan, a graduate of OLM School where he ran for the Cross Country Team, offered some very inspirational words to our young runners. Ryan is now an outstanding NCAA athlete at Harvard where he studies Math and Economics. It was a great celebration on Sunday and I offer our thanks to the coaches for their dedication to providing such a great opportunity and terrific program to our school children. A sincere congratulations to all of our OLM runners on a great season!
Next weekend students from our Confirmation Class are holding a Coat Drive at all Masses looking for some gently used winter coats. Interestingly enough on November 11th we celebrate the Feast of St. Martin of Tours. The story told of St. Martin is that on a bitterly cold day he met a poor man with 
no coat trembling in the cold and begging at the city gate. Martin, a pagan Roman solider, had nothing but his weapons and his clothes. He drew his sword, cut his cloak into two pieces, gave one to the beggar and wrapped himself in the other half. Later that night in his sleep Martin saw Christ dressed in the half of the garment he had given away, and heard him say, "Martin, still unbaptized, has covered me with his garment." Perhaps inspired the example of St. Martin you might consider giving an extra coat to someone in need.
No doubt we are all still concerned and praying for all the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Many parishioners have asked about helping people with relief efforts. If you would like to help , I ask you to please write a check payable to OLM with “Hurricane Sandy” in the memo line, place it in an envelope marked “Hurricane Relief” and throw in the regular collection basket. All the funds collected from OLM will be sent to the Diocese and distributed to those in need. Let’s keep praying for the victims. We have a bulletin this week thanks to a generator in New Jersey!
I am away this weekend in Baltimore at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Annual Meeting where I serve on a subcommittee for the Defense of Marriage. Hope you have a very Happy Veterans Day! My thanks and prayers to all veterans, please pray for them. Please also pray for our country and our newly elected leaders. God Bless America. God Bless.
Lord God, as the election approaches, we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our cities, states, and country, and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters, one and equal in dignity, especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty. We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned, Men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender. We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom. We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word, live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our bulletin company asked that we get the weekly bulletin to them early this week due to Hurricane Sandy. So I write this column on Sunday night as our state and much of the East Coast prepare for Sandy’s arrival. Due to the declared State of Emergency we had to cancel all our planned events and close the office on Monday. Rhode Island is preparing for the strong winds and heavy rainfall and I pray that no human life is lost and property damage is minimal. Fr. Shemek and I have battened down the hatches, stocked up on bottled water and non-perishables and like you, hope to sit out the hurricane safely! This Tuesday is Election Day and we will elect leaders for our town, state and nation. Our Church teaches that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation." So in order to exercise this virtue we must vote and participate in the election. We are called not simply to vote for anyone but rather to carefully examine each candidate and learn about their positions on the important moral issues that face our own lives and the life of our state and nation. Where candidates stand on issues such as the sanctity of human life especially the unborn, the protection of marriage between one man and one woman, and the dignity of the human person especially the poor and vulnerable should help us determine who we vote for as Catholics.
As Catholics Tuesday’s election offers us a valuable chance to consider how the messages of the Scriptures and the insights of Catholic teaching can be applied to the priority issues of our society. The U.S. Catholic bishops have urged us to recognize the moral and ethical dimensions of the issues and "to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically, and to choose political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self interest.”
I have included a reflection by Archbishop Charles Chaput on Catholic Citizenship in this week’s bulletin for your review before the election. The Archbishop recently encouraged Catholics “minimally to vote, maximally to run for political office, and make sure that they’re Catholic prior to being Democrat or Republican and that they put that into practice politically. We do believe in the separation of church and state, but we don’t believe in the separation of faith from our political life. It’s very important for Catholics to make distinctions when voting that they never support intrinsic evils like abortion, which is evil in all circumstances.” Sound advice for us as we prepare to vote on Tuesday.
So as we prepare to vote in the election, may we also pray for our town, state and nation and for all who hold or seek public office. God Bless. God Bless America!
Dear Parishioners: The month of October is coming to an end and so we await the celebrations this week of Halloween, the All Saints Holy Day and the Feast of All Souls. As we turn the calendar to November, we are called by the Church in to pray for our departed brothers and sisters. November begins with the great feast of All Saints, a holy day of obligation for all Catholics, and a day we recall in faith all those who are known officially as saints and those saintly people known only to God. I hope you make every effort to come to one of the four Holy Day Masses this week.
On Friday, we celebrate the Feast of All Souls, when we recall all our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory. Prayer for the dead is a spiritual work of mercy and it is an essential part of our witness to God’s love and mercy. Prayer for the dead both honors the memory of the dead and expresses our continuing love of them by assisting them to be freed of any temporal punishment due to sin and to reach their lasting home with God. Let us pledge our prayers for our beloved dead as we recall of the words of Saint John Chrysostom in the 4th Century: “Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”
In a very special way on Friday night at 7:00pm we gather to pray for our fellow OLM parishioners who have died in the last year. I invite you to join the families of these good souls as we gather as a parish to pray for all those who grieve and to offer Mass for the repose of the faithful departed of Our Lady of Mercy. A reception follows in the OLM School Cafeteria. If you cannot attend, please remember to pray for them and for all the dead during this All Souls’ Month of November.
On Halloween night I will be giving candy out to any children from Our Lady of Mercy and from the local neighborhood in costume. Trick or Treaters are welcome to stop by the Third Street Rectory door from 6:00pm until 8:00pm for an old fashioned, full-size candy bar! Of course, for those parish children who come to the All Saints Vigil Mass on Tuesday night at 5:00pm, there might just be an extra treat! So please stop by if you are heading out for tricks or treats on Halloween!
A Day of Adoration and Prayer for Election 2012 is scheduled for this Monday, October 29th. Eucharistic Adoration begins after the 7:30am Mass and all throughout the day parishioners are invited to stop by Church and spend some time in prayerful adoration before the Eucharistic Lord. In a special way we pray for all candidates for public office and for our town, state and nation as we prepare to vote. We conclude the day with October Devotions including a homily on “Faithful Citizenship” by Father John Codega. Hope to see you in Church this week. Happy Halloween! Happy All Saints!! God Bless.
