Dear Parishioners:
On Saturday morning, Father Connors and I attended the Ordination of our new Deacons. Three young men, Steven Battey, Joseph Brice and OLM’s Brian Morris were ordained as Transitional Deacons for the Church of Providence by Bishop Evans. We wish them our prayerful best wishes and heartfelt congratulations!
We celebrate the great Solemnity of Corpus Christi this weekend. It is a feast in which we renew and rededicate ourselves to the real
presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Pope Emeritus Benedict XV in a homily on this feast reminds us of its great importance in the life of the Church and in the life of every Catholic.
He states: “At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood, the Memorial of his Paschal Sacrifice. By so doing he replaced the ancient sacrifices with himself, but he did so in a rite which he commanded the Apostles to perpetuate, as a supreme sign of the true Sacred One who is he himself. With this faith, dear brothers and sisters, let us celebrate the Eucharistic Mystery today and every day and adore it as the center of our life and the heart of the world. “
This Corpus Christi Feast is always a good time for us to deepen our devotion to the Eucharist and renew our own commitment to dutifully attending Sunday Mass. We might ask ourselves, how important is Sunday Mass each week in our lives? Do we skip it casually out of indifference or apathy? Do we strive to faithfully attend Sunday Mass even when traveling or away on holiday? The Eucharist is truly the source and summit of our faith as Catholics so it must always be central in our lives. The worship and praise of God at Sunday Mass should be the highlight of our week not just something we do out of mere obligation or habit. 
Yet often we take Mass for granted. We are truly blessed to be a parish that offers a full schedule of Masses and live in a nation where we can come to Mass freely and without fear. Many Catholics in our world often have limited opportunities to have Sunday Mass due lack of priests, great distance or remote locations. Many other Catholics courageously face violence or terror in practicing their faith. Sunday Mass is a real blessing and a true privilege for us. Yet do we truly act as if it is? Do we arrive to Mass early to pray and prepare spiritually or do we simply rush in at the last moment or casually arrive late? Do we dress as if we are going to a banquet with God or are we dressed for the beach or golf course? Do we recite the prayers with faith and joy or mumble through them? Do we join in the joyful singing of hymns?
Such a review is good for all of us to conduct from time to time. Whether priest or laity we always need to strive to deepen our devotion to the Eucharist with prayer and proper reverence. But we also need to show our deep devotion by making Sunday Mass truly central in our faith lives and the highlight of our week. Corpus Christi is a time when we Catholics offer our total love and commitment for Christ in the Real Presence by honoring Him in a very public way. We do this with our Corpus Christi Procession of the Eucharist. Together we carry Christ truly present in the Eucharist to the world outside with praise, thanksgiving, solemnity and faith.
On Monday we celebrate the important civic holiday of Memorial Day. This Federal Holiday is a
time for us to remember in prayer and with thanksgiving the men and women of the armed forces who have given their lives in service to our nation. East Greenwich has a parade like many other towns. Across the nation people visit cemeteries to lay flowers, place flags and pray for the honored dead. President Ronald Reagan said of Memorial Day: “We owe our freedom to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. We are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.” Congratulations to our new Deacons especially Brian Morris! A Blessed Corpus Christi! Happy Memorial Day! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
In the name of the Junior Legion of Mary, I wish to thank the many parishioners who generously donated to their Toiletries Drive for the Homeless. The response was excellent and I know that the young men and women of the Jr. Legion were overjoyed with the support they received. All the donated items are to be distributed to the 
homeless who gather on Friday nights at the Cathedral for the weekly outreach ministry there and to the Woonsocket Women’s Shelter where there is also great need. I thank Angela Toljan who coordinates the Jr. Legion for all her hard work and commitment to this project and so many other good things the Jr. Legion does for our parish and Church. Thank You Junior Legion of Mary!
men, Brian Morris, is from Our Lady of Mercy Church. His parents, John and Marybeth, are active parishioners here and Brian and his brothers are graduates of OLM School. So not only is it truly a great day for the Church of Providence but also for OLM!
funerals without a Mass, and preach a homily at Mass.
June 7 at 6:00Pm in OLM Church. Keep these students in your prayers as they prepare to embark to high school
Be sure to give him your usual warm welcome when he arrives. And also mark your calendars for the weekend of June 18/19 as that is to be Fr. Connors final weekend here at OLM. We are to honor him and thank him as a parish with a reception in Mercy Park on Sunday, June 19 following 10:30am Mass. Please be sure to come!
Mother Nature was kind to us for last Saturday’s celebration of First Communion. No rain showers to dampen the day. The sixty-five children were well prepared and eager to receive the Eucharistic Lord for the very first time. The Church was decorated beautifully, the music was superb, the children angelic and the First Communion Masses truly a celebration of faith, hope and love. I offer thanks to all who helped to make the day so meaningful and beautiful especially our First Communion Class teachers, aides and volunteers. Also, we thank the parents and families of these children for bringing them to the Altar of God to receive Jesus Christ sacramentally for the first of many times.
to stay close to Christ and His Church. We hope that they might always find the meaning and direction in their lives by nourishing and strengthening themselves on the Sacraments. I recall the words that Pope Emeritus Benedict spoke to a First Communion Class meeting with him.
He said: “The Mass centers life. We live amid so many things. And the people who do not go to church, do not know that it is precisely Jesus they lack. But they feel that something is missing in their lives. If God is absent from my life, if Jesus is absent from my life, a guide, an essential friend is missing, even an important joy for life, the strength to grow as a man, to overcome my vices and mature as a human being. With the passing of the weeks and years, we feel more and more keenly the absence of God, the absence of Jesus. It is a fundamental and destructive incompleteness. I could easily speak of countries where atheism has prevailed for years: how souls are destroyed, but also the earth. In this way we can see that it is important, and I would say fundamental, to be nourished by Jesus in Communion. It is he who gives us enlightenment, offers us guidance for our lives, a guidance that we need.”
Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of Pentecost which celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church fifty days after Easter. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. They were able to speak their native Galilean dialect but were understood by people of many different languages and nations. It is considered as the birthday of the Church because from that point on the Apostles carried the Good News of Christ to the whole world. Pentecost is probably one of the most important days on the Church calendar, but it often gets overlooked by Catholics. 
The same Holy Spirit who filled the apostles on Pentecost comes down upon our Church of OLM. We call upon the Holy Spirit to fill us with tongues of fire, so that with passion, love and great courage, we might bring the Gospel out to our world which so desperately needs to embrace it.
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.
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.”
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!
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!