Blizzards, Blessings and Superbowls!!

Dear Parishioners: As I write this column I am looking out the window at the Blizzard of 2015! It’s been snowing for over 24 hours, the winds are whipping, snow drifts are piling up, and the temperatures are dropping! Juno is sure leaving a mess to be cleaned up in the next few days. However, we can give thanks that nobody has died and electrical outages haven’t been wide scale. Fr. Connors and I have been hunkered down in the Rectory watching the snow fall and watching the local news and the Weather Channel for the latest developments on the blizzard. At the time of this writing schools have been cancelled for both Tuesday and Wednesday. It is a good thing because our crack snow removal team led by Paul Anderson have been working all day and night plowing and removing snow. They cannot seem to remove it quickly enough as it keeps falling and falling. They tell me the snow drifts are terrible and difficult to shovel. I am grateful for their tremendous hard work and dedication to keeping OLM clean, clear and safe!

Just in time for this time of the season for cold and snow we mark the Feast of St. Blaise. He is the patron of throat diseases and all ailments of the winter. In honor of his feast we are blessing throats this weekend at the end of all Masses. His feast is celebrated on February 3 but we will anticipate it this weekend. And so we turn to St. Blaise and pray: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness. Amen.”

I recently received a communication from Bishop Tobin about the spread of influenza conditions. He suggests ways for pastors to deal with the widespread effects of the flu and other seasonal illnesses. They include eliminating the Sign of Peace, asking those who are seriously sick and ill to stay at home and praying for the Lord’s protection from illness. They are all good suggestions for us to follow. However, my experience has shown when we eliminate the Sign of Peace from Mass, many people continue to offer it to one another. I think a more practical approach is simply to rely on your own good judgment and prudence when extending the Sign of Peace. So we will continue to offer the Sign of Peace at OLM but I urge you to use prudence in doing so. If you are sickly then simply offer it with words not with your hands. And if someone doesn’t offer you a hand to shake at the Sign of Peace then just assume they are exercising prudence not being rude. Also we urge everyone attending Mass to wash their hands prior to Mass, and also use a hand sanitizer before Mass. Hot water, soap and scrubbing still works on getting rid of germs!

I hope you were able to stop by OLM School for the Open House last Sunday. We had many new families stop by and take a look around. I met a Grandmother who graduated from OLM School in 1966 and she was bringing her grandchild for a look around and to register for next year! While some things in the school have changed since 1966 the commitment to excellence in academics and a strong Catholic environment have certainly not changed. If you didn’t get a chance to do so, just contact our Principal, Mr. Scott Fuller, to arrange a tour for you and your family.

Our own Fr. Connors has been bouncing off the walls all week in anticipation of the Superbowl. He has had enough of the so-called “deflategate” and is ready to move on to Phoenix. Not a day goes by when he isn’t talking about Bill Belicheck, Tom Brady and the Patriots. I’ve tried to get him to talk about theology, philosophy, and public policy but its all Patriots all the time! I don’t know what to do with him other than to join in! Go Pats! Let’s hope the Blizzard is the last of the season and let’s pray everyone is able to stay safe and secure during this terrible weather. May God protect us especially our first responders, snow plow operators and snow removal teams! God Bless. Good-bye Juno, Hello Superbowl!!

Catholic Schools Week, Celebrate the OLM Advantage!

Dear Parishioners: Across the country we celebrate “Catholic Schools Week” beginning this Sunday. It is always a great week of activities and celebrations of the great contribution our Catholic Schools make to our Church, our nation and our local community. Once again we begin the week with an Open House at OLM School where you can meet and greet students and faculty. OLM School offers an opportunity for parish families to consider educating their children in an disciplined environment that excels in academically, supports Catholic service and develops Catholic virtues. In age when God and religious faith are being marginalized in the public square, OLM School begins and ends every day with prayer. OLM School Students are taught in a loving, nurturing and truly Catholic atmosphere. Amidst the many sports programs, science programs, robotics programs, social clubs, musical clubs, and community service projects the Catholic Faith is passionately taught and boldly lived every day! There is tuition assistance available from the Diocese of Providence as well as from the Parish. In fact, last year we gave out nearly $75,000 in tuition assistance to parish families. So I invite you stop by and take a look around OLM School and discover the OLM Advantage!

I was recently reminded when reading about the actor Michael Keaton about how many different people have benefited from a Catholic School Education. He just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in movie Birdman. I haven’t seen the movie but I did see his comments about Catholic School and I believe they reflect many Catholic School grad’s experience. Keaton was raised one of seven children with parents who worked two jobs to send him and his siblings to the local parish school. In the interview he said: “I liked going to Catholic school. It kind of builds who you are. It was a good experience for me. It does shape who you are and what you believe in.” I encourage you to take a look at OLM School during the Open House on Sunday. Also please read the message from our new OLM School Principal Scott Fuller on behalf of our great school and faulty.

I am grateful to Fr. Connors for organizing the Day for Prayer for the Protection of Unborn Children and the for the many parishioners who turned out to pray for life. This week we put our prayer into action as the RI Right to Life Committee holds its Annual Pro-Life Rally at the RI Statehouse. On Wednesday you can join the hundreds gathered to make the vulnerable voice of the unborn heard in the halls of power. You can join with local pro-life leaders, pro-life elected officials and area clergy as they remind our state leaders that the unborn have the right to life! I’ve attended this rally for many years and it is always a powerful witness for the state’s elected officials to see how many people still respect human life and are willing to stand up in protection of the unborn. It is a gathering of people of all ages, races and religions united with the common goal of ending legalized abortion. They pray, sing and shout for life! Won’t you join them? Again Pope Francis reminds us of the urgency of promoting life and standing against the culture of death. In a speech last year to group of Catholic Doctors he stated: “Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection. And every elderly person…even if they are ill or at the end of their days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the ‘culture of waste’ suggests!” Celebrate Catholic Schools Week! Discover the OLM Advantage! Rally of Life! God Bless. Go Pats!!!! Superbowl here we come! It was a great season!

Praying for Peace, Life and Priests!

Dear Parishioners:Last week we watched in horror as yet more innocents were killed by terrorists. This time it was in France but we have seen it in United States, Spain, England, Australia, Pakistan and across the Middle East. These horrific attacks by Jihadists should cause us all to pause and pray. We pray for the many victims and their grieving families, we pray for the police and military who protect us from such attacks, and we pray for peace and justice among peoples and nations. We even pray for the terrorists and all those filled with hatred and violence that they may have a conversion of heart. Praying for our enemies is never easy yet we know we must do so as Christians. So let us pray for all those who seek to do us harm, all those who kill in the name of religion, all those who persecute and oppress peoples and nations, that the God of love might guide them away from violence and hatred to His peace and justice. Prayer must be the weapon we use to wage war on hatred, violence, terror and injustice!

I invite you to join with us in prayer this Thursday as we mark the anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court Decision Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in our nation. This is yet another sad occasion that calls for our prayers, We join Catholics and many others across the nation in observing a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Thousands are to attend the March for Life in Washington, DC on Thursday to support the right to life for the unborn and rally in defense of life. Pope Francis reminded us of the great and urgent need to defend life when as Archbishop of Buenos Aries he said: “Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you.” I hope you can stop in Church on Thursday and offer prayers in support of life.

This weekend we are privileged to have with us one of our outstanding young priests, Father Chris Murphy. Fr. Murphy serves as Chaplain at Hendricken High School and also as Assistant Vocations Director for the Diocese of Providence. These two important jobs keep him busy and so I am grateful that he was able to take some time to be with us at Our Lady of Mercy. Father is here to preach at all Masses about his important work in promoting vocations to the priesthood. We are blessed to have a vocation from the parish as Brian Morris of Our Lady of Mercy continues his studies at St. John’s Seminary in Boston. We continue to pray for him and his vocation. However, we must also take up prayers for more vocations to the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence. Presently there are twenty  young men preparing for the priesthood for our diocese. This June we are scheduled to ordain three young men to the priesthood. However, we may have as many as six priests retiring from active ministry this year. So you can see there is urgent need for more vocations! We are blessed at OLM with two priests, a deacon and even a seminarian from the parish. However, many other parishes have just one priest for two churches and sometimes even just one priest for three churches! There is a great need for more priests to serve God’s people here in Rhode Island. So I urge you to please pray for more vocations to the priesthood. Also please encourage your sons, grandsons, nephews, brothers and any young man you may know to consider the priesthood.

I hope you survived the cold and frigid weather over the last week. We saw temperatures below zero with cold, snowy and gusty winds! Thankfully the new gas boiler in church was working overtime. It is hard to keep the heat at a high level in our large church but the new boiler sure did a great job. The old boiler in the Rectory had a more difficult time but Paul Anderson, our crafty maintenance man, managed to apply some Band-Aids to it and keep the heat on for us! We hope to replace the Rectory boiler in the spring. Have a great week. Pray for peace, in defense of life and for vocations! Welcome to OLM Fr. Murphy! I am away on vacation this week. God Bless. Go Pats Go!!!

Celebrating and Renewing Our Baptism

Dear Parishioners: We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord this weekend. This is the end of the Christmas Season and on Monday we begin to take down the beautiful decorations. The crèche is to be put away for another year, the trees put in storage and the beautiful poinsettia plants are to find a new home. At first glance, the Baptism of the Lord might seem an odd feast. Since the Church teaches that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for the remission of sins, particularly Original Sin, why was Christ baptized? After all, He was born without Original Sin, and He lived His entire life without sinning. Therefore, He had no need of the sacrament, as we do.  However, in submitting Himself humbly to the baptism of St. John the Baptist, Christ provided the example for the rest of us. If even He should be baptized, though He had no need of it, how much more should the rest of us be thankful for this sacrament, which frees us from the darkness of sin and incorporates us into the Church, the life of Christ on earth! His Baptism, therefore, was necessary--not for Him, but for us.

It is a time for us to recall our Baptismal promises to live the faith, to regularly receive the Sacraments of the Church, and to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. At the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism the parents of the child are asked: “You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?“ Over the last twenty years I have performed hundreds of baptism and each time the parents answer “Yes”! Sadly many of these parents along with their children drift away from the Church. It always saddens me when that “Yes” proclaimed with such joy, hope, and faith fades away and good people drift away from God and His Church.

Last week while celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on New Year’s Day, Pope Francis spoke about those who seek to live their faith outside the Church. He said the faith "is not an abstract doctrine or philosophy, but a vital and full relationship with a person: Jesus Christ. Where can we encounter him? We encounter him in the Church. it is the Church, which proclaims Him; it is in the Church that Jesus continues to accomplish his acts of grace which are the sacraments. No manifestation of Christ, even the most mystical, can ever be detached from the flesh and blood of the Church, from the historical concreteness of the Body of Christ. Without the Church, Jesus Christ ends up as an idea, a moral teaching, a feeling. Without the Church, our relationship with Christ would be at the mercy of our imagination, our interpretations, our moods." Today as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord As and begin this New Year may we commit to praying for those who have drifted from the Church. Let us pray they might return to the fold and once again be part of our community. Let us also invite those we know back, welcome them home and encourage them to keep the faith in the Church!

Father Christopher Murphy, Chaplain at Bishop Hendricken High School and Assistant Vocations Director is to preach at all Masses next weekend. He is an outstanding young priest and I think you will find him a dynamic preacher. He is to preach to us about his work promoting vocations to the priesthood. We continue to grieve and mourn the tragic death of two of New York City’s finest while our nation continues to grapple with issues of violence, race and justice. So I invite you to join with members of the many diverse faith communities of our state along with the members of state and local police departments for a Prayer Vigil for Peace. Certainly prayer is a positive way for all of us to respond to the violence that continues to plague our nation. The Prayer Vigil is to take place this Tuesday night at 7:00PM at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. God Bless! Go Pats!!!!

Welcoming a New Year and the Wisemen!

Happy New Year! I hope and pray that 2015 may be a year of blessings for all of you and for our parish. It is hard to believe that it’s already a new year. Where did 2014 go? I thank the Carparco Family of the Hill Funeral Home for once again sponsoring our parish calendars. These beautiful Catholic calendars were distributed last weekend at all Masses. We are grateful for them and hope you put them to good use in your homes. On the Epiphany of our Lord, according to an ancient practice of holy Church, the movable feast days are announced. The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts on Epiphany dates from a time when calendars were not readily available. It was necessary to make known the date of Easter in advance, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on its date. The number of Sundays that follow Epiphany, the date of Ash Wednesday, and the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost are all computed in relation to Easter. Although calendars now give the date of Easter and the other feasts in the liturgical year for many years in advance, the Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year. It can be found in this week’s bulletin, so be sure to mark your calendars! The Rhode Island General Assembly begins its new legislative session on Tuesday, January 6th. Also on that day our new Governor and all the of the General Officers are to be sworn in and begin their duties. We wish them well and commend them all to Almighty God. We pray that they may truly serve our state with integrity and honesty and serve the common good of all citizens. We pray that they ensure the protection of the most vulnerable among us: the poor, the elderly, the refugee, the sick and the unborn. And may Saint Thomas More inspire them and intercede for them. As the General Assembly resumes its duties in January so also do I resume my duties as the Director of the RI Catholic Conference and chief lobbyist for the Church on Smith Hill. Once again the Church’s advocacy for the unborn, the immigrant, the poor and the most vulnerable among us continues on. Without a doubt there is much work to be done by our state leaders on the economy but also ensuring the sanctity of all human life and respecting the human dignity of all. I ask for your prayers for me and for the work I do with our elected officials.

This is the final week of the Christmas Season as it ends next Sunday on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. So take a good look around the Church at the beautiful decorations, plants and the crèche. After next Sunday they are to be put away until next Christmas! I received many positive comments about the new outdoor crèche in Mercy Park. It certainly is beautiful and I am grateful to Paul Anderson and Doug Green who designed and constructed the barn for the figures. The design and the lighting of the crèche invite you to stop, reflect and pray to the Holy Family. This beautiful nativity set was purchased at Tally’s just before Christmas and is available to be memorialized if anyone is interested please contact me.

We celebrate the great feast of the Epiphany this week. What the Church celebrates today is the manifestation of our Lord to the whole world. He is revealed to the Magi who have come from the East to adore Him. The Epiphany is an affirmation of universal salvation. Pope Francis reminds us: “The destiny of every person is symbolized in this journey of the Magi of the East: our life is a journey, illuminated by the lights which brighten our way, to find the fullness of truth and love which we Christians recognize in Jesus, the Light of the World. Like the Magi, every person has two great ‘books’ which provide the signs to guide this pilgrimage: the book of creation and the book of sacred Scripture. What is important is that we be attentive, alert, and listen to God who speaks to us, who always speaks to us.” Happy Epiphany! God Bless.

Join us in Rejoicing This Christmas!

Dear Parishioners: We did a lot of rejoicing last weekend on Gaudete Sunday! On Saturday our All Day Confessions had hundreds coming all day long to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. There were four priests at all times and a steady flow of people for the entire six hours. We rejoice that so many received the grace of the Sacrament of Confession. It is the best Christmas gift that money cannot buy! I wish to thank Father Connors who organized the entire day and arranged all the priests and volunteers who helped to make the day a great success. We thank the many priests who heard Confessions for hours and the volunteers who helped people feel welcomed and made Confession easy. We hope to have another All Day Confessions during the Season of Lent and also schedule another day next Advent.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception our Holy Father, Pope Francis, lit the Vatican Christmas Tree. During the ceremony he spoke about Confession. He said: If you have something dark in your soul, ask the Lord for forgiveness. Christmas is  a great opportunity to cleanse the soul, eh! Do not fear, the priest is merciful, forgiving all in the name of God, because God forgives everything. let light be in your hearts, in your families, in your cities. And now, with this wish, turn on the light.” This Monday night we are adding an extra hour of Confessions for those who have not yet made a good Confession before Christmas. Two priests are available from 6:00PM until 8:00PM . If you haven’t yet, seize the opportunity to give yourself the best gift of Christmas, a clean soul!

We also rejoiced last Sunday with our twelve new Altar Servers. These fourth graders are all trained and were formally installed at the 10:30AM Mass last week. They begin their service at God’s Holy Altar in January. Keep them in your prayers as they serve our parish in this very important ministry.

On Monday night we rejoiced with Bishop Evans on the fifth anniversary of his ordination as a Bishop. For these five years he has faithfully served our Church of Providence as our Auxiliary Bishop. I thank Bishop Evans for presiding at the Vespers on Monday night and Father Richard Valentine for his inspirational homily. Ad multos annos, Bishop Evans!

Advent is soon to end as Christmas arrives this Thursday! I pray and hope that you have been able to take some time to pray with God in silence and reflect on the true meaning of the great feast of the Nativity of the Lord we soon celebrate. Christmas invites us to pause before the manger and place our aspirations and needs before the Prince of Peace. Christmastime calls us to consider the Word which became flesh, dwelt among us, and freed us from sin. There never has been, is not now, and never will be anyone not saved through the merits of Jesus Christ.

The Christmas Mass Schedule at Our Lady of Mercy is in the bulletin. I invite you to share it with your family, friends and neighbors who may not come to Mass or have slipped away from the practice of the faith. Invite them to come to God’s House this Christmas to experience the joy and peace of the Christ Child. The more the merrier but remember that the 4:00PM Vigil is usually standing room only. You might consider the Midnight Mass or attending a Mass on Christmas Day where there is more seating available. If you are traveling and are to be away from OLM at Christmas, please know that Fr. Connors, Deacon Dowd and I will keep you in our prayers. I ask you to please pray for the sick and shut-in of our parish during this Christmas Season. And also for those who find the holiday a time of grief and sorrow. On Christmas kindness and truth, justice and peace meet; they have become incarnate in the child born of Mary in Bethlehem. That child is the Son of God; he is God appearing in history. His birth is a flowering of new life for all people. May every heart and home receive the kindness and truth, the justice and peace of Christ. A Happy and Holy Christmas to you and your loved ones!