Civility, the Common Good & Truth

Dear Parishioners:

Charleston, SC

Wow!! It sure was hot in Charleston, South Carolina! It’s good to be home to cool RI and OLM! Charleston is a beautiful city with lots of history and genuine Southern hospitality. However, I’d plan a visit when it’s a little cooler next time! The meeting of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors was very good. We heard from national experts and also got briefings from the Government Relations Office of the US Conference of Bishops. In addition, it is always good to discuss public policy issues with my colleagues from across the country.

We had some 35 states represented at the meeting from all way in Alaska to Maine and lots of states in between. Paul Linton, a national legal scholar on abortion law gave some insight into the current legal situation in various states as well as in the Supreme Court. We also received briefings on many of the issues before Congress and the Administration including religious freedom, immigration, poverty and health care.

We heard an excellent talk by Dominican Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, a noted theologian and the Prior of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. His talk entitled, “The Common Good in the Public Square: Civility, Politics and Public Discourse,” was excellent. Father Guilbeau provided great insights and analysis about the tone and direction of politics today. We are becoming an increasingly coarse and crude society especially in our politics and most especially on social media. And increasingly there is hostile intolerance of anyone with an opposing viewpoint.

In a recent column, Father George Rutler, the noted author, writes:

“If there is no objective truth, there are no heresies. For the lazy thinker, the mellow refrain suffices: ‘It’s all good.’ The etymology of “heresy” is complicated, but it has come to mean a wrong choice. Yet, if the mere act of choosing justifies itself (as when people declare themselves ‘Pro-Choice’), then no choice is wrong. But we live in a real world, and so everything cannot be right. Thus, we have a new religion called political correctness, and anyone who is politically incorrect is accused of being “phobic” one way or another. Suddenly what claims to be liberal is decidedly illiberal, and what is called “free speech” is anything but free.

This confusion is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of creation itself. The world follows an order; otherwise all would be chaos. As God has revealed himself as its Creator, there are truths about the world that cannot be denied without illogical anarchy. Every heresy is an exaggeration of a truth. For instance, Arianism teaches the humanity of Christ to the neglect of his divinity, and Apollinarianism does the opposite. The long list of heresies with complicated names illustrates how many deep thinkers made mistakes by relying only on their own limited powers of deduction. The two most destructive heresies were Gnosticism and Calvinism, which totally misunderstood creation and the human condition. Thus, we have the romantic fantasizing of Teilhard de Chardin and the sociopathic astringency of John Calvin.

By natural intelligence, we would know God as the Designer of the universal order (Romans 1:19-20), but only by God’s revelation can we know the existence of Christ transcending time and space. By Christ’s enfleshment and the shedding of his blood on the Cross, as Saint John Paul II said, quoting Colossians, “the face of the Father, Creator of the universe becomes accessible in Christ, author of created reality: ‘all things were created through him . . . in him all things hold together.' So Christ cannot be understood as just another wise man in the mold of Confucius or Solomon. As Saint Cyril of Alexandria proclaimed: “We do not say that a simple man, full of honors, I know not how, by his union with Him was sacrificed for us, but it is the very Lord of glory who was crucified.”

Without recrimination or censoriousness, but just looking around at the disastrous state of contemporary culture, logic can conclude that, if all things hold together in Christ, without Christ all things fall apart.”

Much food for thought and reflection for all us as we seek to serve the common good! Be well. Do Good. God Bless! Go Sox!!!! Oremus pro invicem!

Pray for Vocations & Missionaries

Dear Parishioners:

Last Monday Bishop Tobin appointed me as the Administrator pro tem of St. Vincent de Paul Church and Our Lady of Czestochowa Church both located in Coventry. Their pastor is on an indefinite administrative leave and I am to serve as the Temporary Administrator of both parishes during this period. I remain and will remain the Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy and continue to reside here at OLM. This is only a temporary assignment. I am responsible to maintain the status quo and good order of each these parishes and to see to the financial administration, and ensure the Sacraments are readily available.

This means that from time to time both Fr. Barrow and I will be covering Masses at OLM as well as each of the Coventry parishes. Thankfully many of my brother priests have come forward to help cover Masses, Confessions, funerals, Baptisms and weddings at both OLC and St. Vincent. While this is only a temporary situation it is unclear how long it might last. So I ask for your patience and understanding during this time and also your prayers. Also please pray for the parishioners at OLC and St. Vincent and for their Pastor, Fr. Jacek Ploch.

I would urge you to also pray for more vocations to the priesthood especially in the Diocese of Providence. The number of priests is declining and many of our priests are called to cover multiple parishes. We are truly blessed at OLM to have two priests assigned here. But we must also realize that from time to time we must share our blessings.

Last weekend I celebrated all the Masses at OLC and St. Vincent. Fr. Barrow also covered Saturday night Mass at St. John and James in West Warwick so the pastor there might get his summer vacation. We thank Fr. Connors for helping to cover Masses at OLM but he too is covering at many other parishes this summer. So please pray for more priestly vocations in our Diocese!

One vocation to the priesthood you must continue to pray for is our Summer Seminarian, Dan Mahoney. His ten weeks working at OLM and with Fr. Barrow and me ends this week.. Next weekend is to be his final weekend at OLM and he then gets a justly deserved vacation before returning to St. John Seminary in late August. It has been a joy to have Dan live and work with us. He is a very prayerful, bright and committed seminarian. I hope you enjoyed his weekly columns over these last weeks. He has been a tremendous help at Masses, with our Youth Group, at OLM School and visiting our shut-ins and nursing homes.

Dan is also a big sports fan so it was great to have him in the Rectory. We watched the Red Sox and commiserated together over this rather dismal season. He is also a first class Chef and provided many a fine meal especially on the grill this summer. I am grateful for his presence here at OLM these last ten weeks. Dan enters his Third Year of Theology at St. John’s Seminary this fall. Next spring he is to be ordained a transitional Deacon and God willing a priest in June 2021. Pray for him. Be sure to wish Dan well and say Farewell! Join us in offering him thanks at a Farewell Reception next Sunday in Mercy Park following the 10:30am Mass.

This weekend we welcome the La Salette Missionaries to OLM. In your name, I welcome Bishop Donald Pelletier, the Bishop emeritus of Monrondava, Madagascar who is celebrating Masses here. We also welcome the La Salette Lay Missionaries, John and Sharon Moskowitz, who are speaking about the work of the Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette. In their name, I thank your for your warm welcome, your prayers for missionaries and your generous financial contributions of this weekend’s Second Collection. All the monies in the Second Collection this weekend go directly to support the La Salette Missionaries, thank you for your prayerful and generous support.

I am away this week at the Annual Summer Meeting of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors in Charleston, South Carolina. This annual meeting provides a great opportunity to discuss the Church’s involvement in advancing the Gospel in the arena of public policy with national experts Be well. Do Good. God Bless! Go Sox!!!! Oremus pro invicem!

Summer Reading & Renewal!!

Dear Parishioners:                          

Fr. Barrow and our Summer Seminarian, Dan Mahoney, report that the Steubenville East Youth Conference was a great event.  Thousands of young people from across New England and beyond gathered at UMass Lowell for a weekend of faith and fellowship.       Masses were prayerful and joyful, the talks and conferences were challenging and uplifting, and it was truly a time of renewal of faith, joy and hope.  Hundreds of priests were in attendance and the Sacrament of Confession was offered for thousands!  We thank all those who made this weekend possible!

I hope you get some time this summer to relax, refresh and renew.   Pope Francis reminds us about summer, saying: “It’s very important that in the time of rest and detachment from daily concerns, to re-energize the forces of body and spirit, deepening the spiritual path.” One way I  try to refocus and deepen the spiritual path during these summer days is  to do more reading.

This summer I am reading a few books.  For my spiritual reading I’ve just begun reading a small book entitled, The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle.  It is the selected writings from Saint Manuel Gonzalez Garcia.. St. Manuel  was a Spanish priest and bishop  who after his ordination in 1901,  was sent to a church in rural Spain.  He found the church to be filthy dirty and abandoned.  Praying before a Tabernacle covered in dust, cobwebs and dirty altar cloths,  the young priest decided to dedicate his life to serving  Jesus present in the Tabernacle. From that moment in  Church, St.  Manuel’s entire life and ministry was dedicated to spreading devotion to the Eucharist. And so he founded a religious community dedicated to the Eucharist. The saintly bishop said: “I ask to be buried next to a Tabernacle, so my bones, after death, as my tongue and my pen in life, are saying to those who pass: There is Jesus! Do not leave Him abandoned!”

I also read  just for fun and so once again when I’m at the beach I’ll be reading a  mystery novel from the Bruno the Chief series. They are set in rural France and tell the tales of a country policeman who solves mysteries.  They are  always delightful reads for the beach and  highly entertaining.  And with my interest in history I hope to finish up the biography of Charles  de Gaulle that I began reading many months ago! It is a massive book full of details but also very interesting.

When it’s finished I hope to began reading historian Rick Atkinson's latest book entitled The British Are Coming.  It is a history of the  early  part of the Revolutionary War and   received rave reviews.  It is just the first of a trilogy by the historian Atkinson about this important period in American History,  He is also the author of a tremendous trilogy on the history of the Second World War.  He writes history that is thoroughly readable and I recommend   his books.

We give thanks to God the Creator for the summer and  the time  it provides  us to refocus and refresh as we relax and recreate in the warm sun. I hope you  find time to sit under a  tree or  on a beach and read a good book. I certainly agree with former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates who says: “A wild and crazy weekend involves sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigar, reading a book!” What are you reading this summer?

Bishop Donald Pelletier, Bishop emeritus of Morondava, Madagascar.

Next weekend is the Annual Missionary Cooperative Weekend at OLM.  Each year missionaries come to the parishes of our diocese to share with us their preaching the Good News in the Missions. It reminds us that we are part of a vast and universal Church and that we are  called to support the Missions.  The La Salette Missionaries will be at OLM next weekend at all Masses.  Coming to our parish are Bishop Donald Pelletier, a native of Attleboro, Massachusetts and the retired Missionary Bishop of Morondava, Madagascar, and join him are John and Sharon Markowitz, La Salette Lay Missionaries. They are speaking at all Mases next weekend.

Next weekend’s Second Collection is for the La Sallette Missionaries. Please note that there is no envelope for this collection. I thank you in advance for your sincere prayers and generous financial support   of the La Salette Missions! I am  away next week at  the National Catholic Conference Directors’ meeting in Charleston, SC. Be well. Do Good. God Bless!  Go Sox!

Safety, Justice and Healing

Dear Parishioners:                          

This weekend Fr. Barrow, Seminarian Dan Mahoney, Youth Activities Coordinator, Billy Burdier and many members of our OLM Youth Group are attending the Steubenville East Youth Conference being held at UMASS Lowell. They return late on Sunday night.  Each summer, Life Teen hosts six different Steubenville Youth Conferences across the country.   These gatherings are meant to strengthen and inspire teens and youth groups in their relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. It is an opportunity for hundreds of young Catholics from across the Northeast to gather together for a weekend of engaging liturgies, inspiring music, prayer, devotion and challenging talks. Pray for them that this time is spiritually fruitful.

Franciscan Apostolic Sisters and OLM Clergy

This week our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters, Sister Lourdes and Sister Emma, along with the FAS Sisters from Scalabrini Villa depart for their Annual Retreat.  This year the FAS Sisters from across the country are gathering in Peoria, Illinois for spiritual conferences and community meetings. The Sisters depart in their  van  early on Monday morning for the long journey to Peoria and return to OLM on July 31st.  Keep them and the entire FAS Community in your prayers during this time of renewal.  May their retreat be uplifitng and may God guide and protect them in their travels.

A letter from Bishop Tobin announcing the publication of a list of clergy credibly accused of the abuse of minors was in last weekend’s bulletin. This is part of the  Diocese of Providence  ongoing efforts and commitment to transparency, accountability and the hope of continued healing for the survivors of abuse. The list is available for a full review on the  Diocese of Providence’s website.

As a priest I am painfully aware of  the shame  that has come upon our Church due to the sexual abuse of minors. I ask forgiveness again for the failings of those clergy and bishops who should have provided for the safety of our young people but instead betrayed the trust placed in them by God and by the faithful. We must recommit ourselves to vigilant prevention and also heartfelt prayer for the healing of the many victims and their families.

Sadly this list reveals that the evil of abuse took place in our own parish in the 1960s.  Named on the list is Brendan Smyth, a Norbertine priest from Ireland,  who served at OLM from 1965 until 1968. Tragically his many victims include people living in our community and parish. Smyth died in prison in 1997.

If you or  anyone  you know  has been the victim of sexual abuse, or has knowledge of such abuse, by any priest, deacon, religious, lay employee or volunteer of the Diocese of Providence, I urge you to report the information directly to the RI State Police or the RI Attorney General’s Office.  Also anyone may contact, Dr. Michael Hansen at the Office of Outreach and Prevention to learn about pastoral outreach programs or Kevin O’Brien at the Office of Compliance, to report abuse or learn more about the prevention of abuse.

The Church has made great strides in addressing the evil of sexual abuse of minors.  New policies introduced over 20 years ago include background checks, educational and training prevention programs as well as outreach efforts to victims.  The Diocese is continually evaluating its policies and practices to ensure that our child protection and abuse prevention efforts are further strengthened. These measures have been effective, both to respond to victim-survivors with compassion and to prevent, as much as possible, incidents of abuse from occurring in the future.  Still, we must continue to be ever vigilant in order to make certain that the failings of the past are not repeated. 

I pledge that I will do all in my power as Pastor of OLM to ensure the safety of our young people. Pray that  our efforts might help bring peace and consolation to victim-survivors and their families who have experienced the horror of abuse. Let us affirm once again the central reality of our faith—that the Lord Jesus through His Cross has brought us to the new life in the Resurrection—we live as people of hope in the face of all the evil and sin we find in our world, and sad to say, even in our Church. Let us pray for continued safety, justice and healing for all.  Be well. Do Good. God Bless! 

Faith and Freedom for All

Dear Parishioners:

I hope you had a Happy Fourth of July! It is always a great day to celebrate with family and friends, fireworks and cookouts. We celebrate our freedom and liberty as Americans and rejoice that we have overthrown the shackles of British oppression endured by our forefathers. However, as we rejoice in our freedoms as citizens of this nation, we also must consider that we are called to be faithful Catholic Citizens.

In a time, when many object to any form of religious expressions in public and others reject any attempt to speak the moral truth in the public square, we must be mindful of our role both as citizens of our nation and disciples of our Lord. Our Catholic teaching about “the dignity of the human person” and “the sanctity of human life,” teaches that the unique nature of humans, unlike any other creature, is something to be elevated and considered sacred as it demands our special respect and protection.

When human dignity is violated it is to do evil. When we serve human dignity, we do good. We live in a culture that often speaks loudly about protecting the environment and rescuing species on the brink of extinction. But it then casually licenses the killing of unborn children and easily legalizes euthanasia. The Founders of our country acknowledged the existence of natural law and natural rights. These rights are inalienable and guaranteed by a Creator; by “nature’s God,” to use the words of the Declaration of Independence.

Such ideas have grown out of fashion in much of legal theory and social science today. But they’re very much alive in the way we actually reason and behave in our daily lives. Our faith teaches us that we have basic rights that come with the special dignity of being human. These rights are inherent to human nature. In other words, they’re part of who we are. No government and no other person can legitimately take them away.

However, if “nature’s God” is forced out of any human dialogue and political debate in the public square, then our rights become nothing more than a mere social convention. And social conventions can and do often change. Thus the very definition of who is and who is not a human can easily change to suit the latest social convention. Our Catholic Faith teaches that all human life, no matter how broken or flawed, young or old, large or small is sacred because it comes from God. And as both Catholics and citizens we have an obligation to defend human life and dignity. The dignity of a human life and its right to exist are guaranteed by God.

Catholic teaching on life and sexuality is part of the same integral vision of the human person that fuels Catholic teaching on immigration, poverty, justice, racism, and peace. Our great American tradition of freedom has always given people a right to freely bring their beliefs to bear on every social, economic and political problem facing their community. However, many in our nation and our state seek to stifle such free speech and ban moral beliefs in the public square.

Yet for us as Catholic Citizens it is not only a privilege and not just a right. It’s a demand of the Gospel and our Catholic Faith to speak the truth even in the public square. We also have a duty to treat with charity and justice those people who do not share our beliefs. But that must never be an excuse for silence on matters of grave importance even when such truths of our faith are unpopular and seemingly inconvenient. This requires of all Catholics to truly be courageous witnesses to our moral convictions and seek to advance what we believe about key moral issues in the public square. This is not a matter of imposing our beliefs upon others but rather an act of truth-telling. Such truth is vital to the well being of our democracy. It is a duty and responsibility for each of us as faithful citizens of our nation to speak the truth with charity.

In this time of moral confusion in our culture and erosion of morality in the public square, consider the words of St Augustine in the 4th century: “Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying, but let us live well, and times will be good. We are the times. Such as we are, such are the times.”

God Bless! Be well. Do Good. Go Sox! God Bless America!!

Celebrate the Eucharist with Thanks!

Dear Parishioners:                          

  Last Sunday we celebrated Corpus Christi with a beautiful Eucharistic Procession following the 10:30AM Mass.  Eucharistic processions first became a popular practice in the life of the Church during the 12th Century.     Pope Benedict XVI eloquently noted in a homily in 2007, “It was born for the very precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the people of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. It is a feast that was established in order to publicly adore, praise and thank the Lord, who continues ‘to love us to the end,’ even to offering us his body and his blood.”

By processing with the Holy Eucharist in a reverent, prayerful and joyful manner, we honor Christ truly present in the Eucharist and serve as witnesses to the intimate presence of God in the world and in each individual. The Eucharistic Procession powerfully displays the Incarnation, God becoming man, and thus speaks of his merciful love for all who journey to eternal life with him. Our procession last Sunday was certainly solemn, revenent, joyful and prayerful. We give thanks to all who helped make it so.  Our ushers and the Canopy bearers, those who decorated, Altar Servers and the Choir.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

The singing of the hymn, Tantum Ergo, was quite beautiful and moving.   This hymn pays homage to our Lord both in the Eucharist and in His glory in the Trinity. It comprises the last two stanzas of Pange Lingua, a hymn written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi. This text has been set to music by composers as diverse as Palestrina, Mozart, Bruckner and Faure. And for nearly 1000 years Catholics have devoutly sang this hymn in honor of the Eucharistic Lord.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, considered one of the greatest theologians of the Church, valued faith as a key element of our worship of our Lord in the “sacred Host,” the Eucharist! We as Catholics believe that Christ is present to us in the consecrated bread known as the Host. This is true whether we receive Him in Holy Communion at Mass or adore Him in the monstrance or in the tabernacle. Our  belief that bread and wine once consecrated at Mass aren’t just symbols of our Lord but are indeed His body, blood, soul and divinity, has strong roots both in scripture and in the writings of numerous theologians going back to the 2nd century!  Although we see bread and wine it is truly our Savior, Jesus Christ, under the appearance of these elements. This doctrine is also called transubstantiation. St. Thomas himself was certainly no doubting Thomas about this dogma. As he once noted, Christ did not say at the Last Supper “this bread is my body” but rather “this is my body.”

This wonderful miracle, when our Lord comes to give us His grace and support, occurs countless times every day in Masses all over the world! And every day, our Lord, like His faithful servant Saint Thomas Aquinas, invites us to see and worship Him in the Blessed Sacrament through the eyes of faith! May we never take this great gift of the Eucharist for granted and may we be always faithful to Sunday Mass!

Senior Altar Servers at Corpus Christi Mass

Of course our celebration of Corpus Christi gave us the chance to thank our Senior Altar Servers.  These young men and women have faithfully served the Eucharistic Lord at the altar of OLM.  Some  serving as many as ten years at Sunday Masses, weekday Masses, Holy Week, Christmas, Funerals and Weddings!  We are truly grateful for their example of service, reverence, and faith.  Please continue to pray for them as they head off to the world of college! May they continue to grow in faith and love of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  May they continue to stay close to the Lord and His Church!

Deacon and Mrs. John Dowd

In the name of the Parish of Our Lady of Mercy, I offer my sincere and heartfelt thanks to Deacon John Dowd.  He has served faithfully as our Parish Deacon these last few years and now he moves on from our parish family.  We wish Deacon and Mrs. Dowd,  much joy and happiness as they begin a new chapter in their lives. May God grant them His abundant blessings!

Happy Fourth of July! Don’t  forget   there is no  holiday from going to Sunday Mass! God Bless America!  Be well. Do Good. Go Sox!