Dear Parishioners:
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.” This is the Psalm we sang at our First Communion Masses on Saturday. We rejoice and give thanks for such a joyful and faith-filled celebration. Sixty-five of our parish children came forth for the first time in their young lives to receive Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist! It is a great day for these children, their families and 
for our entire parish family. We offer them our prayers and our heartfelt congratulations. As the name implies, it is their First not their only nor is it their last Communion. Each Sunday we have the great privilege to come together as a parish family to worship God at Mass and to worthily receive Christ in Holy Communion.
This past week I read about an Iraqi priest named Father Ragheed Ganni. He celebrated Sunday Mass for his parish community every week despite the constant threat of terrorism. He prepared the
children of his parish for First Communion in a basement for fear that Islamic jihadists might kill them if they did it openly. Sadly Father Ganni would be killed by terrorists for being a Catholic Priest. A year before he was killed by terrorists, he wrote these profound words: “Without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live. The terrorists might think they can kill our bodies or our spirit by frightening us, but, on Sundays, churches are always full. They may try to take our life, but the Eucharist gives it back. When I hold the host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in his boundless love.”
As we rejoice in the celebration of First Holy Communion that took place yesterday, let us truly give thanks for the gift of our Catholic Faith and also for the gift of being able to go to Sunday Mass each week free from any fear or terror. With great joy and hope we pray that the First Communion received by our parish children on Saturday might be just the beginning of a lifetime of weekly Communions. St. Maximilian Kolbe once said: "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."
The First Communion Class gathers on Sunday morning at the 10:30am Mass for the May Crowning Ceremony. This beautiful ceremony takes place appropriately enough on Mother’s Day. We sing beautiful Marian Hymns as the children process with fresh gladiolas and a crown to place upon the Blessed Mother May. They crown her Queen of Heaven and Queen of the May! Of course, we wish all our OLM Mothers and Grandmothers a happy and holy Mother’s Day. May God bestow his abundant blessings upon you and your families! O sweet and lovely, Virgin May, Holy Mother of God, Queen of all Mothers, pray for our Mothers!
In his 1995 Letter to Women, Saint Pope John Paul II said: “Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique 
experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God's own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child's first steps, who helps it to grow and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life. “ We echo his words in thanking all Mothers, living and deceased, on this Mother’s Day!
The Month of May is quickly underway! We had a decent crowd for May Devotions on Monday. Do you have thirty minutes to spend in prayer and reflection on Monday nights? Join us on Mondays at 7:00pm as we adore Jesus truly present in the Eucharist, pray the Rosary, listen to meditative music, and receive Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It’s a great way to start the week and God knows we need more prayer in our lives and for our broken world. In the name of the poor who benefit so greatly, I offer my thanks to the parishioners who helped us surpass our parish goal for the Catholic Charity Appeal. Hope to see you at May Devotions! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
The Month of May is here! We begin this month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother Mary with May Devotions this Monday at 7:00PM. We gather together in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and pray the Rosary. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be offered. So please join us every Monday night at 7:00PM for May Devotions. It is a great chance to pray together, adore the Eucharistic Lord, and venerate the Blessed Mother.
and education in the Catholic Faith for the children of our parish. We offer our thanks to Mickey St. Jean and Doug Green who lead our excellent program. We are grateful to our many volunteer teachers and aides who donate so much time and talent teaching our children. And we thank the many families who so faithfully participate in our excellent program.
The children of our RE Program celebrate Frist Communion at 10:00am and the OLM School First Communion Mass at Noon. On next Sunday, Mother’s Day, the entire Frist Communion Class celebrates the May Crowning at the 10:30am Mass. I ask you to please continue to pray for the First Communion Class as they celebrate this great occasion of faith and joy, receiving Jesus Christ for the very first time. First Communion is a great day for our children and their families but also for our Parish Family too. These 64 children will experience the power and the glory of the Eucharistic Lord in their lives for the very first time.
Pope Francis instructed a First Communion Class in Rome, suggesting: "The Eucharist is such a great gift. That's why going to Mass is so important. Going to Mass not just to pray, but to receive Communion, the Bread and Body of Christ. It saves us, forgives us and it makes us one with the Father. How beautiful!”
Masses for the holyday. The Vigil of the Ascension is on Wednesday at 5:00pm and on the holyday itself there is a 7:30am Mass, 9:00am School Mass and 7:00pm. Certainly ample opportunity for us to get to Mass.
Most Reverend James Checchio as the Bishop of Meutchen. Bishop-elect Checchio served as the Rector of the North American College in Rome where Fr. Connors completed his seminary studies. He has been a friend of mine for many years. He is one of the youngest bishops in the country, having just turned 50. The ordination is on Tuesday and we return on Wednesday in time for the holy day! Please pray for the Bishop-elect. Remember May is for Mary! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
pastoral care of the family. Marriage and family are such important topics for the Church today. I am so glad that our parish has a vibrant Young Families Group that meet monthly to discuss issues of marriage and Catholic parenting. The future of the Church depends on strong Catholic families! Weekly attendance at Holy Mass, regular Confession, and family prayer are the important building blocks of any Catholic family.
Later, the Pope says: “Love always gives life. Conjugal love “does not end with the couple... The couple, in giving themselves to one another, give not just themselves but also the reality of children, who are a living reflection of their love, a permanent sign of their conjugal unity and a living and inseparable synthesis of their being a father and a mother”. The family is the setting in which a new life is not only born but also welcomed as a gift of God. Each new life “allows us to appreciate the utterly gratuitous dimension of love, which never ceases to amaze us. It is the
beauty of being loved first: children are loved even before they arrive”. Here we see a reflection of the primacy of the love of God, who always takes the initiative, for children “are loved before having done anything to deserve it”
concentrated on invitations, clothes, the party and any number of other details that tend to drain not only the budget but energy and joy as well. The spouses come to the wedding ceremony exhausted and harried, rather than focused and ready for 
the great step that they are about to take. The same kind of preoccupation with a big celebration also affects certain de facto unions; because of the expenses involved, the couple, instead of being concerned above all with their love and solemnizing it in the presence of others, never get married. Here let me say a word to fiancés. Have the courage to be different. Don’t let yourselves get swallowed up by a society of consumption and empty appearances. What is important is the love you share, strengthened and sanctified by grace. You are capable of opting for a more modest and simple celebration in which love takes precedence over everything else. Pastoral workers and the entire community can help make this priority the norm rather than the exception.”
marriage, and more to reach out anyone who feels marginalized. No teaching of the Church has changed—contrary to many media reports and no pastoral practice has been altered. But the Pope wants us all to do more for families, more to support marriage and more to live our faith in the world today. One thing we can all do is to pray for our families and pray for strengthening of married and family life in our parish. Perhaps we might take up praying the Rosary as a family. As the late Father Peyton always said: “The family that prays together, stays together!” Join us every Monday in May as we pray the Rosary before the Eucharistic Lord. May Devotions are a great way to pray together, please join us. Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
This week April School Vacation begins for our students and teachers. These school vacations continue to be reexamined and some communities have opted out of February and April vacations for a longer break in March. East Greenwich continues the traditional vacation periods. So this week OLM School and public schools are closed.
A great event on the horizon is the Annual OLM School Play. If their past performances are any indication this should be another great event for our community. The last two shows, the Wizard of Oz and the Lion King, were spectacular and quite entertaining. This year the OLM School Drama Club is planning a production of the Little Mermaid, Jr. We are grateful to the RI Youth Theater program for producing the play. Our talented students from almost every grade participate in this great opportunity for fun and drama. I hope you might come out for a performance and watch the students display their talent for all to see. The Little Mermaid, Jr. is to have two showings. One on Saturday, June 11, at 7:00pm, and the second on Sunday, June 12, at 4:00pm. Both performances are to be held in the East Greenwich High School Auditorium. Mark you calendar to come watch a Broadway style show!
our school. We are grateful for his generous spirit in giving to OLM School these great devices from his company, ServPro of Providence. Our excellent Technology Teacher, Mrs. Bea Lukens, is already putting them to good educational use! Thank you Frank and family for your generous support of OLM School. Implementing the use of these IPads in our school’s curriculum is another step in moving forward technologically. OLM School now has complete Wi-Fi for our faculty and students and these IPads are an excellent addition to enhancing our technology at the school. Just another great thing about our excellent school to be proud of as a parish.
This weekend we mark Good Shepherd Sunday which is also the Annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Please take some time to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Pope Francis suggests: “Dear young friends, how wonderful it is to be surprised by God’s call, to embrace his word, and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus in adoration of the divine mystery and in generous service to our neighbors! ” A continued Happy and Holy Easter Season! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
One such occasion for rejoicing was on April 1st. Our oldest living parishioner, Mrs. Claire Sharpe, celebrated her 106th Birthday! Fr. Connors and I were privileged enough to celebrate Mass with Claire and her daughters at their home. We were joined by our soloist, Deirdre Donovan, and members of our Children’s Choir. It was a truly joyous occasion. Claire also received a very special visitor after the Mass. Bishop Tobin stopped in for a visit to celebrate
Claire’s birthday and also his own. They share April 1st as the date of their birthdays. We had beautiful and delicious cakes for them both. We listened as Claire shared her wisdom and faith with us. Happy Birthday to Claire, may God continue to grant His abundant blessings upon her.
celebrating our school and its mission of developing saints and scholars for the Church and world. Of course, the night included good food, good conversation and a lively auction. We are grateful to OLM”s own Gene Valicenti for serving as our Master of Ceremonies for the evening. There were lots of great auction items including Patriot’s box seats, golf outings at exclusive country clubs, sailing and fishing trips in Narragansett Bay, VIP tickets to Good Morning America complete with hotel and lunch, Gym Teacher for a day and Principal for a day. They all raised much needed funds for our school. Some of the other auction items included dinner the OLM Priests in the Rectory.
with Sister Jeanne, our former OLM School Principal, and our Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sister Emma and Sister Lourdes, in the Franciscan Convent. We look forward to some great evenings with our generous donors. We are grateful to our Spring Fling Committee for the hard work they did ensuring a truly great night and grand celebration. We thank our many generous donors who gave us such great auction items. Also we thank the many school parents who bid so generously on the auction items. We give thanks for our school, its excellent administration, faculty and staff and our biggest asset, the wonderful children who make up our school.
I received word from Bishop Tobin that we are to receive a Summer Seminarian again this year. Our Seminarian for the summer is Billy Burdier who is finishing his second year of theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He arrives to OLM in early June after completing his exams. I know you will give him your usual warm welcome when he arrives. Also I ask you to please mark your calendars for a very special event for our Diocese and our Parish.
Providence. Brian joins us the next day for 10:30AM Sunday Mass to preach for the first time as a newly ordained Deacon. It is a great day for his parents, John and Marybeth, and his family as well as for our OLM Parish Family. Keep Brian in your prayers as he continues to prepare for diaconate ordination.
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” So sings the Psalmist on Easter Sunday and so sang the large crowds at our Easter Masses. It was truly a day of rejoicing in our faith and hope in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Our Holy Week was truly a beautiful celebration here at OLM. Our Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sister Emma and Sister Lourdes, enjoyed their first OLM Holy Week. They offered our parish a compliment when they said it reminded them of the Philippines because it was “so solemn and so many people attended!”
gathered for the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week. It began with a beautiful performance of the
Living Stations by our OLM School Middle School students. If you have never made it to this moving event, please put it on your calendar for next Holy Week. The students did a terrific job offering a very prayerful and meditative Living Stations of the Cross.
We are grateful to Bishop Evans who baptized two people, received four baptized Christians into the Catholic Church and confirmed two adult Catholics on Holy Saturday at the Vigil Mass. It was a beautiful and joyful celebration of faith for our newly initiated and for our parish family. It was a solemn but joyous celebration of the Easter Resurrection alive in the Sacraments. We had large crowds at our Easter Sunday Masses and had the great celebration of a baptism at the 10:30am Mass. It truly was a day to rejoice and be glad!
Church look so spectacularly beautiful for Easter. We thank our team of Sacritisans for ensuring everything is set-up, cleaned, polished and starched. Also thanks to Paul Anderson and our hard working crew for all the work in cleaning, preparing, setting-up, taking-down and ensuring all things are spic and span for Holy Week and Easter. We thank our choirs and musicians, Henri St. Louis and Deirdre Donovan, for their great gift of music which contributed such joy, beauty and solemnity to our celebrations.
We also thank our Altar Servers, perhaps the best in the Diocese, for their reverent and solemn service at the Sacred Liturgies! We thank our ushers for their welcome and hospitality to our many parishioners and visitors. We thank our Lectors for their solemn proclamation of God’s Word. We thank our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for ensuring the reverent distribution of Holy Communion at Mass and to the many ill and shut-in of our parish.