Dear Parishioners:
I hope you had a great Fourth of July celebration. There were fireworks all over the nation and families and friends gathered for good fun and good food. This most American of holidays is a great day to remember and celebrate our nation and our freedom.
You may have noticed that the U.S. Flag flies high at OLM School. Thanks to Paul Anderson, our Maintenance Director, the flag is illuminated with light at night and so we are able to fly “Old Glory” twenty-four hours a day. When you look at our flag flying be sure to look at the top of the flagpole. On top of the flagpole you will see the newly refinished "ball-style" finial. In your name I thank long-time OLM Parishioner, Steve Kane, who not only donated the gold leafing that now adorns the finial but also spent hours gently applying the gold leaf on the finial. We are truly grateful for his generosity and for sharing his time and talent on behalf of the parish.
The history of our flag is as fascinating as that of the American Republic itself. It has survived battles, inspired songs and evolved in response to the growth of the country it represents. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation. The resolution stated: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." On Aug. 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman officially declared June 14 as Flag Day.
The name Old Glory was given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag by its owner, William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts. 
Inspiring the common nickname for all American flags, Driver’s flag is said to have survived multiple attempts to deface it during the Civil War. Driver was able to fly the flag over the Tennessee Statehouse once the war ended. It’s a “Grand Old Flag” indeed!
Our new Associate Pastor, Fr. Barrow, is finding his way around the parish and the town. He has been busy getting to know the lay of the land as well as unpacking his trunk and boxes recently arrived from Rome. I hope you got a chance to welcome him and say “Hello” last weekend. If you have not yet greeted our new priest, please do so as I know he is anxious to meet you.
Our OLM Vacation Bible School was a great success. It ended on July 1st and the over fifty children, many parent and teenaged volunteers, our Summer Seminarian Billy Burdier, RE Directors Doug Green and Mickey St. Jean and our OLM Youth Activities Coordinator Michael LaChimia are all to be commended for planning and running such a great faith event for the parish. The children not only had a week of fun and activities but also learned many valuable things about their Catholic Faith. This is a wonderful event for our young parish families and I offer my thanks to all those who helped to make it possible and all those families who participated in the OLM VBS!
Last week we celebrated Independence Day on the Fourth of July. But just before that civic celebration, the Church marked the Feast of St. Junipero Serra, the great Missionary of the Western United States. The Franciscan Friar built the Mission Churches that span the
California Coast and his statue stands tall in the U.S. Capitol. Fr. Serra was just canonized in September 2015 by Pope Francis at a Mass in Washington, DC. In his homily the Holy Father stated:
“Father Serra had a motto which inspired his life and work, a saying he lived his life by: siempre adelante! Keep moving forward! For him, this was the way to continue experiencing the joy of the Gospel, to keep his heart from growing numb. He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. He kept going forward to the end of his life. Today, like him, may we be able to say: Forward! Let’s keep moving forward! “ Let us keep moving forward in faith! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!
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.
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.
images of Christians beheaded, crucified or burned alive in cages simply because they professed the Christian faith.
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.
freedom of religion is fully respected here and abroad.
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.
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!
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
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!
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.
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!”
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.
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.
We offer our prayerful congratulations to the OLM Class of 2016!
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!
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.
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. 
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.
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!