Dear Parishioners:
The unexpected passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was sad news. Justice Scalia was a brilliant jurist and a important figure in the legal history of our nation. He was a husband, the father of nine children and the grandfather of twenty-eight grandchildren. Justice Scalia was the first Italo-American to serve on the US Supreme Court. He was also a committed Catholic whose son is a priest of the Arlington, Virginia Diocese. He was just one of six Roman Catholic justices on the Supreme Court, but in his devotion to the faith he was second to none.
Many years ago I had the great privilege to hear him speak here in Providence to the Justinian Legal Society of Rhode Island. He 
possessed not only a keen intellect but a tremendous sense of humor and a sharp wit. Afterwards my father and I were able to speak with Justice Scalia for a few moments. We shared a good laugh when I told him that I was the ninth of nine children, a priest and also the son of a Judge. We offer our prayers and condolences to the family of Justice Scalia. May his noble soul rest in peace!
In his Annual Message for Lent, Pope Francis suggested: “For all of us, then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favorable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practicing the works of mercy. In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, 
sheltered, visited; in the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated. By touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering, sinners can receive the gift of realizing that they too are poor and in need. “
One of the greatest ways the corporal works mercy and the spiritual works of mercy are lived out is through the many good works done by our local Church. The various offices and agencies of the Diocese of Providence daily practice the works of mercy for the poor, the stranger, the ill, the imprisoned and the needy. Whether its at the Emmanuel House for the homeless, celebrating the sacraments for prisoners, tending the ill and infirm in nursing homes, or helping resettle refugees and welcome immigrants, the many offices provide good works for all of God’s children. This is truly something we can be proud of as Catholics. Our Church is the second largest provided of social services in the nation behind only the government.
Here in Rhode Island our Church is the largest Church provided of services to the poor and needy. In the name of Christ and the Catholic Church, each day hundreds are helped through the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy. Each year during Lent we are asked to give alms. Perhaps one of best ways we can do that is support the Catholic Charity Appeal. This Appeal helps finance the good works of the Church across the state. It is only through the tremendous financial support of Catholics across Rhode Island that such good works can continue to serve God’s people.
Next weekend we begin the Annual Catholic Charity Appeal at all Masses. We are asking each parish family to consider pledging a gift of $300. This means that for just $25 a month, the poor and needy, the imprisoned and forgotten, the sick and the infirm continue to be served. I ask that you prayerfully consider making this pledge next week. We are called to give alms not simply out of our surplus but sacrificially out of our love. I am deeply grateful to Kevin and Nancy McDevitt who serve as the Chairs of the Catholic Charity Appeal here at OLM. Also I thank Stephen and Antonia Zubiago who serve as the Chairs of the Bishop Partnership in Charity. Our parish goal this year is $193,00, an amount we have traditionally surpassed. I am sure we can do so again with your generosity and I thank you for your support of the CCA. It’s Lent! Remember Fridays are for fish and Stations! Pray. Fast. Give Alms. Be well. Do Good. God Bless.
As he announced at Masses last weekend, Bishop Tobin recently informed Father Connors that he is to be transferred from OLM Church effective July 1, 2016. He has been assigned to pursue studies beginning next fall for a Doctorate in Moral Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome, Italy. Upon completion of his doctorate Father is to be assigned to the faculty of St. John’s Major
Seminary in Brighton, MA. It is truly a great honor for Fr. Connors to be recognized for his great intellectual gifts and his tremendous priestly zeal. It is a further testament to the trust and confidence of both His Excellency Bishop Tobin and His Eminence Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston to entrust the training, education and formation of many of the future priests of New England to Fr. Connors. 
Lent has begun! The forty days that lead us to the glory of Easter are underway. Lent and Easter are early this year. In fact Easter is very early on March 27. However, no matter when it falls these forty days of prayerful penance and preparation is truly a time for us to take stock of our world and our souls. Is the secular world shaping us or are we with our faith and good works shaping the world around us? It is during Lent we acknowledge the struggle with evil in our world and in our own lives. We strive to overcome it not with fear but with faith and good works. Undoubtedly we all face temptations and sin in our lives and at times even fall to the lure of evil.
also the Beatitudes and ask how well we are living them out in our daily lives? Do the people around us at work, at home, at school or at church recognize the difference our Catholic Faith plays in our lives? Are we a people of faith, hope and love? Do we preach the joy of the Gospel in our words and deeds? Yes, Lent is our time to take stock of our commitment to Christ and His Church.
It is also a time to renew our relationship and our friendship with Christ. We must pray more, become more penitential and be more charitable during Lent. We do so not to beat ourselves up but rather to truly convert our minds, hearts and souls to Christ. We must willingly take up the discipline of these Lenten forty days. We can do so by coming to Mass faithfully, going to Confession more frequently, praying daily, making the Stations of the Cross on Fridays, and generously giving to the poor. This deepens our friendship with the Lord and then truly Easter will be all the more glorious and joyful for us!
Catholic Schools Week has ended and it was a grand celebration this week. The OLM School students speaking at Masses last weekend did a superb job and truly captured the spirit of our school. The OLM School Open House drew lots of visitors exploring the great opportunities offered at our parish school. Every day this past week OLM School celebrated Catholic Schools Week with a different event such as Mass on Monday, a Book Fair, a community service project and teacher appreciation day. On Tuesday the students had went bowling with their class.However, two of our OLM School Fifth Graders sacrificed going bowling with their class to volunteered to serve a Funeral Mass being celebrated at the same hour. What a great witness to what OLM School is truly all about, “becoming saints and scholars so that mercy might flourish.”
We also have added times for the Sacrament of Confession at OLM. On our normal Monday night Confessions at 6pm we are adding a guest priest confessor each week. Also Confessions are to be heard every weekday during Lent. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays just before the 12:05PM Mass, Confessions are to heard from 11:45am until Noon. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays we are to hear Confessions before the daily 7:30AM Mass from 7AM until 7:20AM. In celebration of the Year of Mercy, All-Day Confessions are taking place on March 5th across the state. OLM is once again hosting All-Day Confessions from 9AM until 3PM with four priests hearing confessions all day on March 5th. So please tell your friends and neighbors who have been away from the Church or the Sacrament of Confession, invite them to experience God’s mercy, love and forgiveness!
happy to announce that Fr. Joe Upton, Chaplain at URI and Prout, is to lead the Mission. He is a dynamic preacher and a terrific young priest, so mark your calendar now for the Mission, March 7-9. Lent means prayer, fasting and alms giving. The guidelines for fasting and abstinence are in the bulletin. Please remember Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence and all the Fridays of Lent in a spirit of sacrifice we are to abstain from eating meat.
In the spirit of alms giving I encourage you take home a cardboard Rice Bowl and fill it with donations during Lent. All the money you give and sacrifice supports Operation Rice Bowl in their efforts to feed the hungry of the world. The great work of Catholic Relief Services benefits greatly from your generous donations to the Rice Bowl.
reminded that we “are dust and unto dust we shall return.” As we take up the cross of Lent with faith and sacrifice, let us truly commit to more prayer in our lives, more profound fasting from things that keep us from God, and a greater generosity in giving alms. Pope Francis reminds us: “Let us not waste this season of Lent, so favorable a time for conversion! Pray. Fast. Give Alms. Be well. Do Good. Celebrate Lent! God Bless.
As the late, great Yogi Berra once said: “It’s déjà vu all over again!” Big snowstorms on the weekend are back again! I was hoping they might not reappear but alas Mother Nature dashed all hope last weekend. Let’s pray it won’t happen as often as it did last year.
celebration is: “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.” Catholic schools offer academic excellence and faith-filled education for students nationwide. National test scores, high school graduation rates, college attendance and other data show that Catholic schools frequently outperform schools in both the public and private sectors.
School are speaking at Mass this weekend to share their positive experiences attending OLM. There is an Open House at OLM School on Sunday from 10:00AM until Noon. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore what our school offers. Under the dynamic leadership of our Principal, Scott Fuller, lots of new, exciting and innovative things have been happening at OLM School and I encourage you go to the OLM School webpage (olmschool.org) to find more information. Also take a look at the terrific new promotional video about OLM School. 
“Our Mission at Our Lady of Mercy School is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church as we pursue excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. In the midst of a safe and nurturing environment we seek to develop a good moral character built upon the teachings of the Catholic Church. We strive to be Saints and Scholars who serve the evangelical mission of our parish so that Mercy may flourish.“
children impacts enrollment in our schools. The expense of running a parish school continues to increase as costs for health insurance, pensions, and utilities rise. Keeping tuition affordable for all and helping those who need aid is also a real challenge for our schools. As we continue the mission of OLM School in making saints and scholars in the future, we have established the Saints and Scholars Fund. It helps with the expense and also builds a stronger endowment for the future. This new fund is the second collection this weekend, I thank you for your generous support.
the New York Jets, choose to send his children to a Catholic School even though his family wasn’t Catholic. A fellow school parent asked him why he sent his kids to Catholic School even though he wasn’t Catholic. He answered, “My wife and I believe that a school where they love God will love my children.”
This week at the RI State House the RI Right to Life Committee and other committed pro-lifers are to gather to give voice to the voiceless unborn. The Right to Life Rally is to take place on Wednesday, January 27 from 3:00PM until 4:00PM in the State House Rotunda. It is a tremendous opportunity to call upon the state’s political leaders to work to protect and respect all human life.
national school reform leader Kevin P. Chavous. He is a former Washington, DC City Councilman and was instrumental in helping DC establish a school voucher for economically disadvantaged children.
Speaking of choice in education next Sunday we kick-off Catholic Schools Week. There is a great week of events planned at our parish school. Our excellent students are to speak at all Masses next weekend about OLM School and its many benefits. Also on next Sunday we are hosting an Open House at OLM School from 10:00AM until 12:00PM for any families who might be interested in exploring our school. All parishioners are invited to stop by and take a tour of the school to see the many great things that are going there.
or "OLM" People understood that the success of a parish school was tied to the success of the parish. The same is true today. When our parishes flourish, our schools flourish. When there are more people at Mass, when more families understand the mission of Catholic schools, they succeed.
vital part of our parish today.
In his address to the Joint Session of the US Congress last September, Pope Francis praised four Americans: the Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, the Peace and Poverty Activist Dorothy Day, President Abraham Lincoln and the Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He called them "four representatives of the American people." Pope Francis lauded Day, King, Lincoln and Merton for using their dreams of justice, equal rights, liberty and peace to make America a better place.
the civil rights and equality of African Americans In speaking of Dr. King, Pope Francis said: "I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery 50 years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his 'dream' of full civil and political rights for African Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of 'dreams.' Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people."
On Friday, January 22nd, we remember the continued injustice of legal abortion in our nation as we mark 43rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade US Supreme Court Decision. The great tragedy and injustice continues as millions of unborn children lose their innocent and precious lives to abortion every year.
Protection of Unborn Children on this Friday. All-Day Eucharistic Adoration begins at 9:00aM and at 6:00PM it concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Also at 6:00PM we are to offer Prayers of the Protection of the Unborn, and URI Chaplain Father Joe Upton is to offer a reflection on “Living the Gospel of Life.”
political leaders that they may have the courage and conviction to work to protect all human life. And may we pray for the legal protection of unborn children in our nation and across the globe. Prayer is a powerful instrument in helping to end abortion so please join us on Friday as we commit to defending life and praying for the protection of the unborn.
Just as the battle for civil rights for African Americans was born of religious faith so too is the battle for the right to life of the unborn. In an age when many falsely contend that faith has no place in the public square, our history and experience teach us differently. The voice of religious leaders and people of faith is needed today as much as it was when Dr. King spoke out so passionately for justice and equality. Let us give voice to the voiceless as we call out for justice and equality for the unborn child threatened by abortion.