Lent! Are You Prepared??

Dear Parishioners:            

Tuesday is Mardi Gras or as it is also known, Fat Tuesday.  Traditionally a day that finds us feasting on pancakes, chocolates, donuts, beer, whiskey, wine or even a cigar or two!  I presume you don't need much encouragement from me to celebrate Mardi Gras or make this Fat Tuesday a feast!         

So, allow me to direct your attention to Ash Wednesday. There was a time, and it's still the case in many places, when Ash Wednesday would see lines of people streaming into churches to be signed with a cross of ashes on their foreheads. My experience , however, tells me that the Ash Wednesday crowds are getting smaller than the regular weekend numbers. Granted, some folks  go to Ash Wednesday services near their work places but my guess is that a number of Catholics no longer count Ash Wednesday the important day their parents and grandparents did.

Happily this week is not school vacation so families are not away skiing in the snow or swimming in the sun. We have  an Ash Wednesday School Mass at 9:00am, so our students and their families can prayerfully begin the Lenten Fast of forty days. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation but nonetheless it's a unique day on the church calendar. It is truly a powerful way to begin the Lenten season.  I encourage you wherever you may be on Wednesday, to make an effort to go to Mass and to be marked with the sign of the Cross by which we are saved.

There are particular days of fast and abstinence in Lent when the whole Church participates in the Lenten practice. Ash Wednesday should be a day of fasting from eating between meals and also abstinence from the eating of all meat.  Fridays in Lent are also days of abstinence form meat. We take up the cross of Christ with our ashes and are told to “Repent and believe in the Gospel” and “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.”

The ashes we receive are a reminder to us of three things in our lives as disciples. First they are a sign of our mortality, that we are dust and unto dust we shall return. Lent reminds us that we all die and so, like at the beginning of creation, we need to be infused with the breath of life, with God’s life. Yes we all die, but God wants to raise us, even now. Lent is not just about a minor course correction in our life but about a death and resurrection, Christ’s and ours in him.

Second, as seen in the prophets of the Old Testament ashes are a sign of repentance. They are a summons to repent and believe in the Gospel. And third, they are a means of supplication and prayer for others and their salvation. We wear ashes for all three purposes.   Lent is about returning to the Lord with our whole heart, helped by him to make it clean. It’s a time of conversion as we repent and believe in the Gospel. It s a grace we should not receive in vain, but act on with urgency  in order to be reconciled to God, So take up the cross of Lent, by praying more, fasting more and giving more alms to the poor and needy.

We have added an extra daily Mass at 12:05 in addition to the 7:30am Daily Mass. Going to Daily Mass during Lent is a venerable tradition.  I encourage you to do it as it  makes Lent more prayerful, meaningful and can even change your life for the better! We  have scheduled daily Confession, Monday thru Friday, before the Lenten 12:05 Mass.  There is  an extra guest Confessor visiting during Lent at Monday Confessions at 6pm. In addition,  All Day Confessions take place on Saturday, March 21st! And Confessions every night of the Mission.  Ample opportunity for Confession this Lent to get reconciled with God and neighbor!

Stations of the Cross are  every Friday in Lent at 7:00pm.  It is a beautiful spiritual devotion and I encourage every parish family to come on Fridays. The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat and a time of penance as we recall our Lord’s crucifixion on Good Friday.   

Next weekend we begin our Lenten Mission with a terrific young priest and dynamic preacher. Fr. Tom Macdonald from Boston.  It’s a great way to begin Lent! So make the Mission! What are you giving up for Lent?  Make Lent a fruitful forty days of conversion! Pray, fast and give alms! Be well. Do Good! God Bless.

Grateful to God's Providence

Dear Parishioners:             

This week Bishop Tobin announced with great joy that as of January 28, the Grateful for God’s Providence Diocesan Capital Campaign  has raised over $51 Million. This diocesan campaign received nearly $20 million generated in Special Leadership Gifts and Bequests, with $7.1 million generated through a share from area parishes.    A total of $37,270,618 was pledged from 16,240 Catholic individual parish families. A total of 185 priests in the diocese pledged their support of $1,729,897 to the campaign. In offering his thanks and gratitude, Bishop Tobin also spoke of the campaign’s effort to strengthen the diocesan Church and its parishes as the Diocese of Providence prepares to celebrate our 150th anniversary in two years

Of the campaign’s goal, $30 million is earmarked to support the diocese.  This includes: $8 million for an endowment for seminarian education; $8 million for an endowment to support retired priests; $5 million for an endowment to benefit Catholic school tuition assistance;  $5 million to bolster the Catholic Charities and Social Services endowment and its operations and also $4 million to help pay for renovations to the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. 

We continue here at OLM to move toward our combined campaign goal of $2 Million.  We have received close $1.6 million in pledges and gifts from just  353 parish families.  We are truly grateful to those parishioners who have made the sacrifice and been so generous in supporting this critical campaign.  We continue to receive pledges and I am confident we can exceed our goal. If you have not yet made your pledge to the campaign, I encourage you to please do so.  The great success of the Diocesan campaign across the state is a sign of the vitality of our local Church and the commitment of many Catholics. Your support of this much needed effort to support our parish and local Church is also a sign of your commitment to Our Lady of Mercy Parish. So please consider making a pledge of $4,000 or more, payable over four years.

Over these many months I have been humbled by the great generosity of so many parishioners who were so supportive of the campaign.  So many made sacrificial gifts because they are truly hopeful for our wonderful parish and are quite willing to generously support her future.  However, to be truly successful we need every parish family to make a sacrifice and support the parish they call home.  We cannot do it with just a third of the parish, so please make a pledge today! The good news is that we will soon be receiving some of the  campaign funds already collected. 

This past week we met with Mr. Mark Saccoccio of Saccoccio and Associates Architects, who is advising us about the many projects to be undertaken at OLM over the next four years. Among the priorities are the replacing of the original boilers in the two convents and the Rectory.  They are all over 50 years old, not too efficient and usually break down on the coldest days of the year!  Also the roofs on the two convents and the rectory are all over 30 years old and badly need replacing. You can see the shingles from the convent roofs falling off and ask Fr. Barrow about the leak in his bedroom in the Rectory!

These projects and all the others are very needed and the campaign will help finance them and secure our parish’s future. All the projects  go out to bid as we follow the Diocesan protocols and guidelines for capital improvement projects.  Mr. Saccoccio is working with Mr. Paul Anderson, OLM Facilities Director, and also with the Diocesan Building Commission and Facilities Director in securing the right contractors to help us with the projects.

I thank those who so willingly pledged their support and generous gifts to the Our Faith, Our Future Campaign. We also thank Joe and Carol Cavanagh and Michael and Brooke O’Connell for their tremendous leadership of the campaign.   

 I wish all our students and teachers a restful and healthy winter break this week.  Enjoy it because Lent begins when you return! Please look at the Lenten schedule  in the bulletin.  Be well. Do Good! God Bless. Happy President’s Day!

Our Lady and The Sick

Dear Parishioners:             

On Tuesday of this week we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. This Feast celebrates the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette on February 11, 1858 in Lourdes, France.  Today Lourdes is a pilgrimage site known for its miraculous healing of the sick and suffering.                           

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later in 1858, a lady appeared to the young Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin.”

During the questioning of the young Bernadette, she gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl.” It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” . She wore a white robe and veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot and a rosary was in her hand.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11th became worldwide in 1907.

In the years after the apparitions, Bernadette devoted her own life to prayer and the care of the sick, as a Sister of Charity of Nevers. She was never very healthy herself and she died of tuberculosis while she was still quite young. It may seem surprising that Bernadette never took the opportunity to return to Lourdes seeking a cure for her illness. I think she realized that she had already been healed. Through her encounter with Mary the Mother of Jesus, her whole life had been changed.

She died in the Sainte Croix (Holy Cross) Infirmary of the Convent of Saint-Gildard at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879, while praying the holy rosary. Even on her deathbed Bernadette suffered severe pain. Her last words were, "Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me. A poor sinner, a poor sinner." She was canonized a Saint of the Church in 1933. Saint Bernadette is the patroness of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France

There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the 1943 film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

In 1993, St. Pope John Paul II instituted The World Day of the Sick. This day of prayer and remembrance of the sick  is celebrated annually on February 11th, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. In his message for the 2020 World Day of the Sick, Pope Francis states: “Jesus’ words, ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Mt 11:28) point to the mysterious path of grace that is revealed to the simple and gives new strength to those who are weary and tired. These words of Christ express the solidarity of the Son of Man with all those who are hurt and afflicted. How many people suffer in both body and soul! Jesus urges everyone to draw near to him and he promises them comfort and repose.”

Join us on Tuesday for Mass at 7:30am as we celebrate World Day of the Sick and turn to Our Lady of Lourdes for her powerful intercession on behalf of the sick and suffering.  The beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes that is in our candle room will be displayed and we will pray for the sick, ill, infirm and homebound of our parish. If you cannot make it to the Mass, please stop by Church on Tuesday to pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes for the sick.

Remember it’s cold and flu season so please wash your hands and say your prayers because Jesus and germs are everywhere! Be well. Do Good! God Bless.  

Candelmas and the Flu

Dear Parishioners:             

Last weekend we heard from our outstanding OLM Students!  What a great job they did telling us why they love their school! The OLM School Open House saw many prospective students visit and see firsthand all the great things going on there. We thank you for your support of OLM School, and as Catholic Schools Week end, I ask you to please continue praying for our young saints and scholars!

This weekend we celebrate the great Feast of the Presentation of the Lord as this year it falls on a Sunday.  The feast of Jesus' presentation in the temple forty days after his birth, always celebrated on February 2nd, has a long history in the Eastern and Western Church. The Mosaic law prescribed that every firstborn male in Israel had to be consecrated to God forty days after birth and redeemed with a sum deposited in the Temple treasury. This was in remembrance of the firstborn sons being preserved from death on the night of the first Passover during the exodus from Egypt.

St. Joseph and our Lady entered the temple in Jerusalem, unnoticed among the crowd. The “desired of all nations” came to the house of his Father in his Mother’s arms. But as we are reminded in the liturgy of this feast, Jesus was unlike any other child for he is: “A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

In commemorating the arrival and manifestation of the divine light to the world, the Church each year blesses candles as they are a symbol of Jesus’ eternal presence and the light of faith received in the sacrament of Baptism. The procession with lighted candles recalls for us the Christian life as a pathway always illuminated by the light of Christ.

This weekend we also anticipate the Feast of St. Blaise on February 3rd. He was a bishop and martyr of the early Church and became popular for centuries as many cures were attributed to his intercession. This began with the tradition  of his saving a child who was choking to death on a fish bone caught in his throat. St. Blaise is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is invoked for all throat afflictions. The blessing of throats takes place at the end of all Masses this weekend.

Using two blessed candles placed on the throat the priest offers a blessing with a prayer as  he calls forth the powerful intercession of St. Blaise to protect us from all ailments of throat and all other afflictions and ailments! It is rather timely in this season of colds and flu! This is especially true this year as the flu is  so widespread.  So turn to St. Blaise for his powerful intercession to protect us from afflictions of the throat and every other ailment especially the flu.

Also out of an abundance of caution and with the strong recommendation of medical doctors, I have suspended the  communal “Sign of Peace” at at all Masses at OLM.  This is to continue until the cold and flu season has been abated. This precaution helps avoids the hand to hand contact that  often spreads germs that cause flu and colds.  If you are suffering from the flu, please stay at home and take care of yourself.  We promise to pray for you!

 We hope and pray that the flu subsides in our nation.  We also must pray that the deadly outbreak of the Corona Flu Virus in China and now spreading across the globe may also subside.   Let us pray for those suffering as a result of this deadly flu especially the millions who are now quarantined in China.  May St. Blaise, intercede for them all!

Fr. Barrow and his band of merry pilgrims report that they had a truly joyful and fruitful journey in the Holy Land.  Their trip was safe and peaceful with many tremendous opportunities for prayer, devotion and worship at the holiest sites of Christianity.  They worshiped and prayed where Jesus Christ did himself. We are happy they are home safe. Welcome back!

Next weekend our OLM School 8th Graders  head north to Quebec for the annual OLM graduation trip.  Fr. Barrow, the world traveler, is going along too!  Pray for their safe travel, as it is always very cold and snowy this time of year in Quebec. It is a very educational and fun trip for all!  Bon Voyage!

It’s cold and flu season so please wash your hands and say your prayers because Jesus and germs are everywhere! Be well. Do Good! God Bless.  Enjoy the Superbowl!

Celebrate Catholic Schools!

Dear Parishioners:             

This weekend we kick off Catholic Schools Week at OLM! Students from our parish school are speaking at all Masses about their experience at OLM School. The 9:00AM Mass will include many of our school families and alumni in attendance.  Following the Mass, there is an Open House at OLM School from 10:00am until Noon.  I encourage every parishioner to stop by and see all the great things going on in our school. We have an outstanding faculty and our young saints and scholars are a source of great pride for our parish.  Whether you went to Catholic School or OLM School or not, stop by and take a tour, meet a few students and enjoy some coffee and donuts! It’s well worth the time and effort to view firsthand the great education and the living faith at OLM School!

Annually sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), Catholic Schools Week is a national celebration of Catholic education and an opportunity to recognize the importance, the value, and the contributions of Catholic education to the Church and also to the nation.  There are some impressive statistics available in the bulletin about the contribution Catholic Schools make to our nation, take a look and take some pride in our Catholic Schools.

There is no doubt Catholic Schools require a tremendous amount of sacrifice to continue making their great contributions to our Church and nation.  They require a financial sacrifice by parishes, parents and faculty.  They require a sacrifice of time by the faculty, parents, and students too.  They also require a sacrifice of talent by faculty, parents and students.  All done in order to develop the future saints and scholars of our Church and world. Even though I am a product of twelve years of public education, I firmly believe such a sacrifice is well worth it.  

The world today has great need of the educational excellence and living faith  offered at Catholic Schools.  God continues to be  pushed out of our society by  rapidly growing secularism, new fangled ideologies permeate our educational system and political correctness runs amok as truth and tradition are rejected. Catholic Schools are the faith-filled alternative to these societal trends.   Catholic Schools seek to develop virtues, discipline, duty, commitment, character, excellence and scholarship in a faithful, nurturing, safe and loving environment. 

At Catholic Schools the truth of the  Faith is not ridiculed or dismissed by rather cherished and proudly taught in our classrooms.  God is not banned but  rather invited every day by our students and faculty with prayer, devotions and the Sacraments. Jesus Christ is not just a  mere historical figure but rather the living heart and  true center of the school as students learn from the greatest teacher of all, the Savior of the World!

A recent study conducted for the Fordham Institute compared children in Catholic schools with those in public schools and other private schools, religious and secular.  The authors found statistically meaningful evidence that students in Catholic schools exhibited less disruptive behavior than their counterparts in other schools. The authors write that students in Catholic schools “were more likely to control their temper, respect others’ property, accept their fellow students’ ideas, and handle peer pressure.” In other words, they exhibited greater self-discipline.

The study’s authors also concluded,  that “the power of religion  positively influences a child’s behavior.” Religion isn’t the only way to foster such self-discipline but they suggest   it’s more effective compared to most of the alternatives in channeling youthful energy into productive self-control. At OLM School, each day our budding saints and scholars are taught to be self-disciplined. In other words, charitable, honest, generous, kind, considerate, polite, judicious, temperate, chaste, modest, obedient, prudent, as well as faithful, hopeful and loving!  These are the virtues and discipline that produced some of the greatest saints and scholars of our Church and world!

Come see what OLM School offers.  Speak with our  students and  faculty and I think you'll agree that Catholic Education is worth the sacrifice especially at OLM!

Be well. Do Good! God Bless. 

Being the Voice of the Voiceless

Dear Parishioners:            
For the Church, there is no distinction between defending human life and promoting the dignity of the human person. Important for us to remember as we mark Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this weekend and the fight for Civil Rights in our nation. But also as we anticipate the anniversary on Wednesday, January 22nd of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion on demand in our country. 

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI writes in Caritas in Veritate: "The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that 'a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.'"

Our Catholic Faith teaches us that as a gift from God, every human life is sacred from conception to natural death. The life and dignity of every person must be respected and protected at every stage and in every condition. The right to life is the first and most fundamental principle of human rights that leads Catholics to actively work for a world of greater respect for human life and greater commitment to justice and peace.

As we recall the fight for Civil Rights by our African American brothers and sisters and the witness of Dr. King in advancing that great cause in our nation, recall the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: “The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: ‘Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.’”

So too as we celebrate MLK Day and all it means for our nation, let’s not forget that the battle for Civil Rights in our nation continues.  We must reject all racism, bigotry and prejudice with both our words and actions.  The sin of racism defiles the image of God and degrades the sacred dignity of humankind which has been revealed by the mystery of the Incarnation. It mocks the cross of Christ and ridicules the Incarnation. For the brother and sister of our Brother Jesus Christ are brother and sister to us.

In the spirit of Dr. King,  we also continue the fight for Civil Rights for innocent unborn children. This Wednesday we mark the national Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. It is a day on which we must pray for the end of the evil of abortion.  We also pray for the unborn and all those expectant mothers especially those in crisis pregnancy.  For prayer is the foundation of all that we do in defense of human life.

I also invite you to attend the Pro-Life Rally at the RI Statehouse that is scheduled for 3:00PM this Tuesday.  There is more information in bulletin about the rally.  After last year’s expansion of abortion in RI with the passage of an extreme bill, consider coming and letting our elected officials know we reject the culture of death.  Be a voice for the voiceless unborn!  Pray, act and advocate for human life and human dignity!

This Sunday night Fr. Barrow departs for the Holy Land with 35 OLM Parishioners.  This eight day pilgrimage includes visits to the Se of Galilee, Nazareth, Cana, Mt. Tabor, Jericho, the Jordan River, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mt. of Olives, Via Dolorosa, the Holy Sepulcher, Emmaus and Cesarea.  All the places where the Lord himself walked, talked, prayed, preached, performed miracles and was born, suffered, died and rose from the dead.

Fr. Barrow will be accompanied by Fr. Unsworth from St. Bernard’s Church in Wickford and Fr. Carusi from St. Rocco’s Church in Johnston. They along with 35 pilgrims from OLM including Sister Emma, Sister Lourdes, Doug Green, Mickey St. Jean and our OLM Secretary, Sandra Demers, will be praying and touring the Holy Land.  Please keep them in your prayers for safe travel.  I know they will be praying for us and for OLM during this special time.  May God Bless them with peace during this special time of pilgrimage. 

Be well. Do Good! God Bless.  Pray for an end to abortion!!