Happy Independence Day! Praying for Liberty and Freedom for All!!

Dear Parishioners: Last Saturday at the Cathedral, Bishop Tobin ordained two young men, Fathers Nathan Ricci and Jorge Rocha  as priests for service in our Diocese .  While ordaining these fine young men as priests of Providence is truly a great blessing, we must be mindful that we are not ordaining as many priests as we need.    It is a stark sign of our times that we don’t ordain enough men to replace those priests who retire from active ministry and those who go to their eternal reward. Please pray for more priestly vocations for our Diocese. Also let us thank Bishop Tobin for sending us a wonderful young priest like Fr. Josh Barrow as our new Associate Pastor.  Fr. Barrow begins his priestly ministry here at OLM this weekend.  I am sure you will find him to be a fine young priest and  give him your usual warm welcome.

On Monday we mark Independence Day in the United States.  It is a day to celebrate with family, friends and fireworks! But more importantly it is a day to celebrate our freedom from the oppression of  British despotism. We give God thanks for the blessings of our nation and for our freedom.

For some years now, the Catholic bishops here in the United States have wanted to focus our attention to the threats to religious freedom both at home and abroad. And so, beginning with the feast days of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More on June 22 and ending with on the Fourth of July, we observe a “Fortnight of Freedom.” It is a two week period of prayer and petitioning our Lord  to help us protect this most basic right, and the foundation of all other human rights, the right to religious freedom and the right to freedom of conscience.

If anyone thinks that religious freedom is not under assault in our world today, or that our concerns of our Church are a bit overwrought, I would remind you of the ongoing genocide against Christians in the Middle East. We have seen in the media images of Christians beheaded, crucified or burned alive in cages simply because they professed the Christian faith.

In the second decade of the 21st century, some 150,000 Christians are killed for their faith every year. These modern-day martyrs are victims of a despotism in its hardest and harshest form.  Yet, in this country and in others, people of faith are being increasingly subjected to a soft despotism in which ridicule, ostracism, and denial of opportunities  are being used to marginalize us.

A new religious intolerance is being established in our country. We see this when Christian pastors are stalked and threatened for being “Christian” pastors, when social scientists are expelled from universities for having turned up “politically incorrect” facts, when charitable organizations and religious schools are harassed if they take seriously their faith’s moral precepts. We see this in the refusal of the Administration to accommodate Catholic groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor and others because of their conscientious objection to subsidizing immoral activities.  The Federal Government has also refused to exempt religious groups from paying for elective abortions in their healthcare policies in the State of California.

Sometimes, we are told, “Keep your religion to yourself.” It is becoming almost the new conventional wisdom that religion is private and faith is something to be practiced in the privacy of one’s home. Religious faith is indeed personal but it should never be “private.” And professing  a religious faith should not make anybody a second-class citizen or worse.

The right to religious liberty has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person. Religious freedom is the human right that guarantees all other rights — peace and harmonious living together is only possible if freedom of religion is fully respected here and abroad.

So celebrate this Independence Day with family, friends and fireworks but also stop and pray for the protection of religious liberty too. Happy Fourth of July!   Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!

Summer is Here and Changes too!

Dear Parishioners: What a great weekend we had last week.  The weather was beautiful, all our Fathers were happy on Fathers’ Day and we had a grand send off for Fr. Connors.  It was so nice to see nearly 20 of our great Altar Servers volunteer to serve the 10:30am Mass to honor Fr. Connors.  Father is now off on retreat with the Benedictine Fathers at St. Vincent’s Archabbey in Latrobe, PA.  Please pray for him. I offer my thanks to the many folks who worked so hard to make Fr. Connors Final Mass and Farewell Reception truly a wonderful occasion for him, his family and the parish. The Mass was beautiful, the music superb, the altar servers reverent, and the occasion was so joyful and faith-filled. The great crowd at Mercy Park to wish Fr. Connors farewell was well deserved.   Thanks for making the day so memorable.

We now await the arrival of young Fr. Barrow as our newly appointed Associate Pastor at OLM.   We thank Bishop Tobin for sending us Fr. Barrow. As you know there is an ever increasing shortage of priests and to get a second priest is rare luxury for parishes.  So please be sure to thank Bishop Tobin and also please commit to praying for more priestly vocations for our diocese. Fr. Barrow is sure to be a great blessing for our parish.  He is just 27 years old and full of zeal, energy and very eager to begin his priestly ministry here at OLM. 

He is a native of Warwick where he was educated at the public schools and graduated from Pilgrim High School. He grew up in St. Timothy Church in Warwick. After high school, Fr. Barrow entered Our Lady of Providence Seminary and graduated from Providence College with a B.A. in Philosophy.  Bishop Tobin then assigned him for priestly formation and theological studies to the North American College in Rome.  Father was ordained a priest in June 2015 and then returned to Rome for graduate studies.   After completing an S.T.L Degree in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas this past spring, he was assigned to OLM. I am sure you will give him your usual warm welcome to OLM.  Father Barrow begins his priestly service here on July 1st.  Welcome Fr. Barrow!

Our energetic young Summer Seminarian, Billy Burdier, continues to impress all those he meets! This week he is working at our OLM Vacation Bible School.  We have over 50 of our parish children signed-up and eager to learn more about their Catholic Faith this week.  I am grateful to Michael LaChimia, our OLM Youth Activities Coordinator and Middle School Religion Teacher, for organizing this great event.  Also I thank our many volunteers who help us out all week. If you see large groups of smiling children at OLM this week, now you know why!

I retuned  last week after a retreat at the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra, California.  Located just outside Los Angeles it is run by the Carmelite Sisters. These holy and happy sisters are not cloistered but have many apostolates in addition to the Retreat House.  They administer homes for the aged and infirm, day care centers, elementary and high schools in California, Florida, Ohio and New Mexico.  They were founded in 1921 by  the Venerable Mother Lusita who was a wealthy Mexican widow who desired to start a religious community of women.  Fleeing the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico during the 1920s she fled to Los Angeles. The Retreat House is also the Mother House for the over 40 Sisters there. They have many young sisters including a good number of postulants and novices.   I had the great privilege of offering Mass for the community daily.   These holy and happy sisters continue to pray for me and for OLM!  Keep them in your prayers too! You can learn more about them at the website carmelitesistersocd.com

Summer officially began on Monday!  It’s here, so enjoy it now!  Welcome Father Barrow! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!

Farewell Fr. Connors, Praying for Vocations and Priests and Welcome Fr. Barrow!!!

Dear Parishioners: We offer a fond farewell to our Associate Pastor, Fr. Ryan Connors this weekend.  For the last three years he has faithfully served our parish family and we are grateful for all he has done for us.  He has been a valued and trusted Associate who has been a true joy to live and work with these last three years.  So please join me in offering him best wishes in his new endeavors!  Ad multos anos!

However,  we should understand that as Fr. Connors leaves OLM  he continues to serve the Church.  He has been assigned by Bishop Tobin to do something he not only possesses the incredible intellect to accomplish  but also the tremendous talent to be and that is a learned scholar of Theology and a fine teacher of the future priests studying at St. John’s Seminary. In that role he is to be a valuable asset not only to the Church in Providence but also the Church across New England. So please be sure to stop by to wish him well and say “Farewell and Thank You!” on Sunday following the 10:30am Mass.

This Friday Our Lady of Mercy Parish is hosting a Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood.  This annual event is held the night before the priesthood ordinations at the Cathedral.  Since this year is a Jubilee Year of Mercy, we were asked to host the great event. It is scheduled for this Friday, June 24th at 7:00pm.  Bishop Evans is to preside and Father Joe Upton, the Chaplain at URI and Prout, is to preach.  The event consists of Eucharistic Adoration, hymns, scripture readings and litanies as together we pray for an increase of  priestly vocations.  We pray  especially for an increase of vocations for the Diocese  of Providence.   At the same Holy Hour  we are also to unite our prayers for the two young men who are to be ordained priests on Saturday, June 25th.

Deacons Nathan Ricci and Jorge Rocha are to ordained priests of the Diocese of Providence by Bishop Tobin at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul next Saturday at 10:00am.  We hope and pray their priestly ministry for our Church is happy, holy and fruitful. This Holy Hour is a very prayerful and profound event and I encourage you to join us so that our parish is well represented. It is truly a privilege for our parish to host such an important event in the life of our Diocesan Church. Also know that you are welcome to attend the Ordinations to Priesthood the next day at the Cathedral. Pray for vocations and pray for our new priests! As Pope Francis reminds us: “Support your priests with love and prayers!”

Of course late June is the traditional time for priestly ordinations in the Diocese of Providence. This week Father Connors is to celebrate four years of priesthood on June 23rd and I am to mark twenty-one years of priesthood on June 24th.  Please pray for us both and for our priestly ministry as we celebrate our priestly anniversaries.

On next Sunday at the 10:30am Mass we honor  some of our Senior Altar Servers who are graduating high school. This year four young men are to be recognized by our parish for their many years of faithful and dutiful service at God’s Holy Altar.  They are: Crispin Ferris, John Duffy, Jack Dobyzrnski, and Eric Carlson. Each has been an outstanding Altar Server since they were first trained in elementary school. We wish to thank them for their good service these past years and offer them our prayerful best wishes for their future endeavors as they graduate high school.  God Bless them!

I have received  official word from Bishop Tobin that Fr. Josh Barrow has been assigned as the new Associate Pastor at OLM.   We thank Bishop Tobin for sending our parish another priest.  In this era of less priests we are truly grateful for Fr. Barrow and we look foward to welcoming him to OLM in July.  More about him in next week's bulletin.

Did you find a good spiritual book for the summer? Next week I hope to publish a list of books for a good summer spiritual read that other priests and some OLM parishioners recommended to me.

Happy Father's Day to all OLM Fathers! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!

Congrats to Deacon Morris, So Long to Class of 2016, Warm Welcome to Seminarian Burdier and Prepare for a Fond Farewell to Father Connors!!!

Dear Parishioners: God provided a beautiful day last Sunday for our celebration of Corpus Christi.  Our new Deacon, Brian Morris, did a great job of proclaiming the Gospel and preaching his first homily.  The Eucharistic Procession led by Bishop Evans was truly beautiful.  And the Reception for the new Deacon was made even more joyful with the great weather. My thanks to all those who made the day so reverent, prayerful and joyful!

We thank Deacon Morris for his commitment to pursuing his vocation to the priesthood.  He is to begin his Diaconal Ministry at St. Eugene’s Church in Chepachet this summer.  He has one more year of theology and priestly formation while working at St. Eugene.  With the grace of God he will be ordained a priest of Providence next June! We congratulate him and thank his parents and brothers for helping to nurture his vocation to the priesthood.  I ask that you continue to pray for Deacon Morris but also to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood. We hope and pray that every family is as supportive as the Morris Family in promoting vocations to the priesthood.

This weekend we welcome Billy Burdier, our Summer Seminarian.   He is to be with us for the next eight weeks.  Please take a moment to say hello and welcome to Billy this weekend or when you see him around the parish or around town.  In your name, I officially welcome Billy to Our Lady of Mercy! While we are welcoming Billy’s arrival we are also saying so-long to some members of our community.

The OLM School Eighth Grade graduate this Tuesday night at 6:00pm.  This Saturday we celebrate a Mass in their honor followed by a Dinner at the Quonset O Club.  This is our chance as a parish family to pray for them as they prepare to end their academic career at OLM School and enter into the rigors of high school next fall. We offer our prayerful congratulations to the OLM Class of 2016!

However, we also offer our prayers and congratulations to all those graduating this year from high school, college, university or graduate school.  This is the time of year when many of our parishioners prepare to enter into a new phase of their young lives as the mark the milestone of graduation.

Let us pray for them all this prayer: Loving God, we ask for your almighty hand to be upon all those who graduate this year. Bless their lives  with goodness and holiness, joy and love.  Help them to stay true to their dreams, to use their gifts of knowledge and faith wisely, and to walk always with the Lord in all they say and do.  May their  future be filled  with faith, hope, and great love. Amen.

While we say farewell to those graduating we also prepare to say farewell to Fr. Connors. As you know he is leaving Our Lady of Mercy this month to begin his new assignment.  Father will celebrate his final Masses at OLM on the weekend of June 18/19.  Appropriately  enough it is Father's Day weekend!  Father will then  move to St. John’s Seminary in Boston where he is to prepare for his doctoral studies this fall at the  prestigious Angelicum University in Rome.  Fr. Connors is keeping a room here at OLM so we hope and expect  to see him when he is visiting home!

I ask you to please join us in honoring and thanking Fr. Connors for his ministry among us at OLM on Sunday, June 19th. There is to be a “Farewell Reception” in his honor at Mercy Park following the 10:30am Mass on Sunday, June 19th.  So be sure to mark the date and time and stop by to say “Thank You and So Long Father Connors!” We shall miss Fr. Connors here at OLM. I especially will miss him. He has been a truly wonderful Associate Pastor with whom I have shared joyfully in priestly ministry and fraternity these last three years.

At this date I have not received word who is to replace Fr. Connors as our new Associate Pastor. However,  I do expect to hear from Bishop Tobin in the coming weeks prior to the Priesthood Ordinations on June 25th.  Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!

Corpus Christi, Bringing the Real Presence into the World

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!

Helping the Homeless, Celebrating New Deacons and Corpus Christi

Dear Parishioners: 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!

You might have noticed the grounds around the convents are missing their old hedges and a few trees.  Thanks to the hard work of Paul Anderson and his crew as well East Greenwich Tree Service, we have begun the landscaping renovation at the parish convents.  Soon we hope to remove all the stumps, plant new grass, flowers and plants and provide some privacy for the good sisters on their patios.  Keep your eyes on the project as we hope to complete it soon.

Next Saturday at 10:00am at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Bishop Evans is to ordain three young men as Transitional Deacons for the Diocese of Providence.  These three young men have been preparing and studying for the priesthood at St. John’s Seminary in Boston.  One of the young 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!

The Transitional Diaconate is part of the process in becoming a priest.  These new Transitional Deacons serve as Deacons in parishes while continuing their theological studies and priestly formation for a year until they are ordained priests next June. Deacon John Dowd, our Parish Deacon, is a Permanent Deacon ordained for life as a Deacon.  Permanent Deacons are usually married men and they too serve in parishes.  All Deacons, both Transitional and Permanent, are able to baptize, preside at weddings and funerals without a Mass, and preach a homily at Mass.

We are so privileged that on the great Solemnity of Corpus Christi next Sunday our new,  young Deacon, Brian Morris, will be preaching for the very first time at Mass.   Please plan on coming to the 10:30am Mass on May 29th to listen to Brian preach and lead our Corpus Christi Eucharistic  Procession at the conclusion of Mass. The Corpus Christi Procession will make its way to Mercy Park where Brian is to offer Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament for us.   Following the celebrations of Corpus Christi, we will have a reception in Mercy Park for Brian.  So please stop by following 10:30am Mass next Sunday to congratulate Brian and his family on this great milestone in his journey to priesthood.  It will truly be a day to celebrate at OLM!

There are some other upcoming dates at OLM to mark in your calendar.  On Saturday, June 4 at the 5:00pm Mass we celebrate Mass with our OLM School 8th Grade and the graduation ceremony marking this great occasion is to take place on Tuesday, June 7 at 6:00Pm in OLM Church.  Keep these students in your prayers as they prepare to embark to high school

Also we await our Summer Seminarian, Billy Burdier, who is schedule to arrive in early June to begin his ministry with us.  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!

No news yet on who is to coming to replace Fr. Connors.  Say some prayers that we find out soon! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!