Prayer and Support Needed in the U.S.A. and in the Missions

Dear Parishioners: The nation continues to deal the aftermath of the terrible tragedy that took place in Dallas last week.  We continue to mourn the loss of live and pray for peace and justice.  Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas issued a statement in response.  His words are well worth reflecting upon:

“The magnitude of the violence in downtown Dallas Thursday night is staggering. Five police officers were killed and seven other officers and two civilians were wounded in a deadly spate of gunfire at the conclusion of a peaceful march protesting recent killings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis. Our first concern is for the families who have lost loved ones in this tragic attack. We pray for consolation and healing for both the families and those killed and wounded. We are reminded of the ever -present danger to those who are dedicated to protecting us. We have been swept up in the escalating cycle of violence that has now touched us intimately as it has others throughout our country and the world. All lives matter: black, white, Muslim, Christian, Hindu. We are all children of God and all human life is precious.

We cannot lose respect for each other and we call upon all of our civic leaders to speak to one another and work together to come to a sensible resolution to this escalating violence. Let us implore God our Heavenly Father to touch the minds and hearts of all people to work together for peace and understanding.  Let us recall the words of Pope Francis, ‘May the God of peace arouse in all an authentic desire for dialogue and reconciliation. Violence cannot be overcome with violence. Violence is overcome with peace.’

Last weekend our Parish Organist, Henri St. Louis, sang a beautiful meditation for the victims of the violence in Dallas, the ancient chant, In Paradisum.  It is an antiphon from the traditional Latin liturgy of the Western Church Requiem Mass. It may be familiar to you as it is often used at Funeral Masses and it reads: "May choirs of angels escort you into paradise: and at your arrival may the martyrs receive and welcome you; may they bring you home into the holy city, Jerusalem.  May the holy angels welcome you, and with Lazarus, who lived in poverty, may you have everlasting rest.”  May the fallen of Dallas’ finest, rest in peace.

Next weekend is our Annual Mission Co-op at Our Lady of Mercy.  This is weekend dedicated to helping those who serve our Church in the missions.  Every year and in every parish a weekend is dedicated to learn more about the work of the Missionaries and commit to supporting them spiritually and financially.   So please note that the Second Collection next weekend is dedicated to this effort and there is no envelope provided for this collection.  This year at OLM, the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, a community of religious sisters founded in Ireland   in 1924 by Bishop Joseph Shanahan, C.S.Sp. to work in  the Missions in Africa. There is more about them in the bulletin this week.

Next weekend we are to be  joined by two of their good sisters from Kenya,  Sister Therese and Sister Josephine.  They are to speak at all the Masses about their good works and the works of the Missions in Africa.  Sister Therese administers their House of Studies for young sisters outside Nairobi and Sister Josephine is a nurse-midwife-administrator of a new health care center that serves the poor of the area. I  know you will give them your usual warm welcome and generous support.

Our own Franciscan Sisters, Sister Emma and Sister Lourdes, leave this week for Nebraska for two weeks.  There they join all the Franciscan Apostolic Sisters serving in the U.S. They have community meetings and also have a community retreat at the Seminary of St. Gregory in Seward, Nebraska. Please keep our good Sisters in your prayers for  their safe travel and  safe return home to OLM!  I know while they take this time of prayer and reflection they are praying for us.

Pray for Dallas! Pray for peace! Be well. Do Good. God Bless. Go Sox!

Old Glory anew and Moving Forward In Faith!!

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!

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!