Saying Hello to Summer & Farewell to Faithful Friends

Dear Parishioners:                  

I hope you had a happy Independence Day last weekend. Summer is a time of change in the weather and very often our routines. The warm and sunny weather is a time to relax. We can sit back in the yard, at the beach, or in the park. We take up bike rides, swims and walks, go golfing or boating. All this is routinely unavailable at other times of the year. But summer is often a time to change in different ways.

We typically say "Goodbye" to people who are leaving our workplaces or schools. So it is here at OLM as we acknowledge a few folks who are graduating or retiring from service at OLM! We offer our thanks, prayers, and congratulations to OLM School employees Carolyn Macrae and Donna Campbell. Carolyn has been our OLM Bookkeeper for many years, and Donna has served as our OLM School Art Teacher for nearly 20 years. They are retiring after many years at OLM, and we thank them for their service. May God Bless them with health and happiness! Also departing from the OLM School Faculty are 5th Grade Teacher Ashley McCarthy and our Librarian and Reading Teacher Christie Cambio. We are grateful to them for their dedication to OLM's budding saints and scholars and wish them well in their new endeavors.

Also, our longtime Parish Trustee, Bill Wray, who has served OLM since 2008, is stepping down from this role. We are grateful for his service, advice and wise counsel to our parish over these years. His knowledge, expertise, and experience have been a tremendous asset to our church, and I am personally grateful for his sage advice over the years. In your name, I offer our sincere thanks for his loyal and loving service to God and OLM Parish. We wish him well as he and his wife, Nancy, spend more time traveling to visit with their beautiful family!

Robert Duffy appointed new Parish Trustee at Our Lady of Mercy Church.

I am happy to announce that Bishop Tobin has accepted Bob Duffy as our new Parish Trustee. Bob and his wife, Sharon, have worshiped here at OLM for many years and are longtime parishioners. Their seven children attended OLM School and also served Mass. Bob has served on our OLM Finance Council for many years and is a distinguished attorney. He has provided wise counsel over the year, but even more importantly, Bob is a man of deep Catholic Faith.  I am genuinely grateful for his willingness to take on this important responsibility in our parish.

Left to Right: Matthew Simonetti, David Del Bonis, John Curran and Jack Divine.

We say farewell to a few of our  OLM Senior Altar Servers. David Delbonis, John Curran, Matthew Simonetti, and Jack Devine have served God's altar for eight years. We are grateful for their dedicated, solemn, and dutiful service. They have graduated high school and head off to college, and as they do, we thank them and promise our continued prayers for them! May God bless them with a lively faith, and may they continue to serve Him with dedication, holiness, and zeal.

We wish all these members of our OLM family well in their future endeavors, and we thank them for their service to our parish and school. We pray that: "The Lord bless them and keep them; The Lord make His face shine upon them and be gracious to them; The Lord lift up His countenance upon them, And give them peace."

Summer, even with restrictions of the pandemic, is still an excellent time to change our routine and take some time of rest. Perhaps spend time in prayer and reflection, take a hike, a long walk, a swim at the beach, or read a book. These things can be prayerfully done even in a pandemic!

Saint Pope John Paul the Great resting with the Lord during his annual summer vacation.

St. Pope John Paul the Great said: "Vacations, holidays, must be wisely used to benefit the individual and the family through contact with nature, tranquility, the opportunity to foster greater family harmony, good reading, and healthy recreational activities; above all, through the possibility of spending more time in prayer, in contemplation and in listening to God."

Summer is indeed a time for rest, but it is not a time of rest from the Lord. We must use this relaxing time for more prayer and reflection with the Lord. Summer Time is a call to live our Catholic Faith while resting in the Lord joyfully. So this summer, perhaps more than before, we should find rest in the Lord!

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.  

Love and Truth Unite! Sin and Evil Divide.

Dear Parishioners:                  

We celebrate our national holiday of the Fourth of July as we mark our independence from the British Imperial Empire. It is customarily a day for all Americans to joyfully celebrate with family and friends. Typically there are picnics and cookouts, trips to the beach, and in the night beautiful displays of fireworks Sadly our celebration is very muted this year due to several factors.

First, we are still amid the COVID 19 Pandemic. The restrictions on our gatherings and activities have limited our celebrations. In many places, parades and fireworks called off. Families cannot travel, and the number of people allowed to gather at festivities is limited. This situation certainly dampens the spirit of celebration, usually associated with Independence Day. Our world continues to deal with this plague of the Coronavirus, and we continue to pray for it to end. Many still suffer from the virus, and many are even dying from it. Perhaps then our celebrations should be a bit muted and restrained this year.

A statue of Saint Junipero Serra vandalized in California.

However, I believe this holiday is overshadowed this year not only by the pandemic but by the great spirit of unrest and unease across our nation. In the last weeks, we've witnessed the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. With this terrible event, we began to see peaceful protests that seemed very quickly to turn into violent and destructive riots. Over the last weeks, heated discussions about racism, inequality, poverty, and injustice have filled our nation. The proper role of the police and the justice system has been attacked and questioned. We've also seen statues toppled and destroyed. Historical figures like Christopher Columbus,  George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln once esteemed and revered for their accomplishments and leadership face new scrutiny and harsh criticism.

As I survey much of what has taken place over the last month, it has given me great pause. At times t has led to real sadness as vitriolic attacks and rash judgments now replace thoughtful debate and civil discourse. Many in our nation are intolerant of any rational disagreement or reasoned civil dialogue. It is helpful to pray for guidance in times such as these. We must turn to the Lord in prayer in times of trouble and seek his guidance. It is also vital that all of us, no matter our personal opinion, carefully and prayerfully reflect upon the current situation as Catholic disciples.

Peaceful protesters unite in Washington, DC.

I recently reread the U.S. Bishop's 1979 Letter on Racism. It reminds us to work to combat the evil of racism. They state: "To the extent that racial bias affects our personal attitudes and judgments, to the extent that we allow another's race to influence our relationship and limit our openness, - to that extent we are called to conversion and renewal in love and justice." We must pray for all those hurt and pained by racism. We must work for the conversion from this grave sin in our lives and in our world.

I've also been praying for police officers. Theirs is a difficult job, and it has become even more challenging in light of recent events. The vast majority of police officers are honest and decent people. Are reforms needed? I'm sure there are some required, what institution doesn't need to reevaluate and reform itself. However, some of the attacks on police officers and the call to defund the police are callous and reckless and not helpful in solving any problems.

A police officer killed in the line of duty is laid to rest.

As a Police Chaplain, I know many officers personally. They are kind, hard-working, and just men and women. I am proud to know them. Over eighty years ago, my late Grandfather, Providence Police Patrolman Michael Devlin, was killed in the line of duty. I realize that much has changed for the better in our nation since his death. Sadly some things have not changed. Racism hatred, inequality,  and injustice still sadly exist. So do poverty, ignorance, violence, and crime. However, we know that even in the face of sin and evil, virtuous men and women always arise to do good. God guides us to be His instruments of faith, hope, and charity in a world in great need of these virtues.  Love and truth unite.  Sin and evil divide.

Pray that our nation might unite in love and truth. Happy Independence Day! God Bless America!   Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless. Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us! 

Celebrating the Past, Present & Future with Gratitude, Enthusiasm, & Confidence

Dear Parishioners:            

The Mass of Thanksgiving for 25th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination of Fr. Healey, June 21, 2020.

  I wish to thank those who made the celebration of my 25th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination such a joyful and faith-filled occasion. I thank Bishop Evans, Bishop McManus of Worcester and Bishop Spalding of Nashville for attending the Mass of Thanksgiving last Sunday. I was honored by their presence at the Mass and grateful for their ministry, support, fraternity, and friendship. I am also so very thankful to my brother priests who concelebrated the Mass, Fr. Joseph Henry, Msgr. Albert Kenney, Fr. Angelo Carusi, Fr. Joseph Upton and Fr. Hiep Van Nguyen.  Fr. Barrow served as the Master of Ceremonies of the Mass, and I thank him for a job, as always, well done! Fr. Connors offered an outstanding sermon, and I am so very thankful for his powerful, humbling words. I thank all my brother priests, especially Fr. Barrow and Fr. Connors for their continued friendship and priestly fraternity. They are a great gift in my life, and I am deeply thankful for them.   

 I offer a particular word of thanks for Henri St. Louis, our talented OLM organist, and to Deirdre Donovan, our former OLM soloist, for the gift of their music and talent. They provided such beauty and majestically lifted our worship and praise toward God, where it rightly belongs. I'm grateful to the Lectors, who did an outstanding job proclaiming God's Word. And I must thank our dedicated band of Altar Servers who do such a great job and serve so reverently.  Fr. Joe Upton, who concelebrated the Mass on Sunday, was an eleven-year-old Altar Server at St. Paul Church at my First Mass of Thanksgiving in June 1995. Let's hope that one of the young men who serve at OLM  answers the call to the priesthood and might preach at my fiftieth anniversary Mass in 2045 (if I'm still around)!!  Pray for more vocations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Providence.                        

Ordination Day, June 24, 1995. Then Fr. Mark Spalding, now Bishop of Nashville, lays hands upon newly ordained Fr. Healey

So many parishioners are so generous and kind in remembering my Silver Jubilee of Priesthood. I am grateful for their support, the generous gifts, and the promise of prayers of so many people. Your kindness and generosity are deeply appreciated, and I am sincerely thankful. God has given me a great gift in his priesthood. It is a unique and profound grace that allows me to know, love, and serve Him and His people in the sacred ministry of Jesus Christ, the High Priest. For this extraordinary gift of twenty-five years of priestly ministry, I am grateful to God.

St. John Paul the Great once said: "Remember the past with gratitude. Live the present with enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence." As I look back on twenty-five years of priestly ministry, I am full of gratitude for all the gifts God has bestowed upon me. As I continue to live my priestly vocation, even after twenty-five years, I am still full of enthusiasm to serve God and His people in the Church. And as I look forward to the years ahead, I am indeed full of confidence for the future. God is so very good. How could we not help but be full of gratitude, enthusiasm, and confidence!?                                 

Clean up at PC Cemetery after vandal commits hate crime.

The installation of the new security system for the Church and Rectory is nearing completion. It will help us monitor the Church and Rectory and keep our physical plant secure. Sadly Churches and Catholic institutions are targets these days. Just last week, the Friar's Cemetery at Providence College fell victim to vandalism. Headstones and crosses desecrated with painted swastikas and anti-Catholic epithets appeared all over this sacred place. Flags honoring veterans burned. Thankfully the Providence Police apprehended the sick individual responsible for this hate crime. While I hope nothing similar happens again, especially here at OLM, we must continue to be cautious. Given the social unrest and the destructive behavior of many activists across the country, we must be vigilant. This system costs about $10.000. The Our Faith, Our Future Capital Campaign finances this work. Thank you again for your donations and for continuing to make your pledges to the campaign.                       

Also, as a result of the campaign, we installed three much needed new roofs at our two convents and school. We also needed to replace all the gutters on OLM School as they are damaged and old. This work should be completed soon at the cost of $10,000, and it, too, is funded by the capital campaign. We are reviewing the plans for the installation of new Church doors and hope to begin that project later in the summer. Again I thank you for your generous support of OLM and our capital campaign. It is an excellent sign of the life and vitality of this beautiful parish that so many understood the need and responded with generosity.

As summer begins, it's not typical, but I hope to see even more folks coming back to Mass. Usually, summer sees a decrease in Mass attendance as parishioners travel and take vacations. I don't think many families are going too far this summer, and many seem to be taking "staycations" at home. As Phase III of the pandemic crisis response begins, restrictions are gradually lifting.  We hope to see some normality returns to life, let's hope Mass is part of the routine and pews start to fill up again. We continue to offer Mass daily at 7:30 am, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am on Saturday and 5 pm Saturday,  and 7:30 am, and 10:30 am on Sundays. Church doors open fifteen minutes before the start of Mass time, and seating is first to arrive, first seated.

We're coming to the end of June, on Monday, June 29th we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the patrons of our diocese.  Please pray for our diocese that our local Church might thrive with holiness and zeal for the Gospel.  Also next weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July. We still live in a continued crisis of pandemic with its many health precautions and continue to witness growing social unrest. I hope you might stop into Church on Independence Day to give thanks to God for the many blessings of our nation, especially the blessings of freedom and liberty. Happy Independence Day!

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless! Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!

Father Healey

Grateful for Those Who Packed the Priestly Parachute!

Dear Parishioners:             

Captain Charles Plumb

         Former U.S. Navy Captain Charlie Plumb has lived the American Dream. As a poor farm kid from Kansas, he was fascinated with airplanes but felt sure he would never have the opportunity to pilot one. It would be the U.S. Navy who allowed Plumb to live out his dream. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he became a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. After 75 successful missions, he was shot down and parachuted into enemy hands. As a P.O.W., Plum would spend six years in a prison camp suffering immense torture and abuse. Plumb survived and returned home. 

         Many years later, while at a restaurant, a stranger came up to him. The stranger said to Plumb: “You’re Captain Plum! You flew fighter planes in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk! You got shot down!”     Captain Plum was bewildered by this and asked: “How in the world did you know that?” The stranger quickly replied: “Because I packed your parachute!” Plumb overcome with shock and emotion welled up with gratitude. He gave his thanks for what this stranger had done for him so many years before.  

         Reflecting on this encounter, Plumb writes: “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a navy uniform. I wondered how many times I passed him by on the Kitty Hawk and didn’t notice him or even said hello to him because he was a simple sailor, and I was an officer and fighter pilot!” Captain Plumb soon realized just how many hours that sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship. Hour upon hour, this unknown stranger carefully folded parachutes, each time holding in his hands the fate of another stranger.          That parachute was needed for Captain Plumb to land safely. However, he suggests that while as a P.O.W., he required many other parachutes. Mental parachutes, emotional parachutes, and even spiritual parachutes were all needed to survive.  

         Sometimes in our busy lives with its many challenges, we miss what is truly important. We fail to say hello and goodbye, please, or thank you. But each one of us has someone who packs our parachute. A person who provides what we need to survive. People in our lives provide us with small acts of kindness and charity, dutiful prayer, and loving support. Faithful people who do their duty without fanfare and are little noticed by others.

Bishop Louis Gelineau lays hands upon Father at Mass of Priestly Ordination on June 24, 1995

         As I mark my Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Priestly Ordination, I do so with a profound spirit of thanksgiving and as a genuinely grateful priest. St. Pope John Paul the Great once said: “Every vocation to the priestly ministry is an extraordinary gift of God’s love .”       I am indeed genuinely grateful for God’s gift of love, which called me to this beautiful life as a priest of His Church. I am thankful to my late parents and grandparents, my brothers and sisters, and all my family and many friends. I am grateful to the professors and teachers who taught me over the years. I wish to thank the seminarians, brother priests, and the bishops I’ve known, served with, and worked. 

         And for the people of God,  I am so profoundly grateful to the many, many people I’ve had the great privilege to serve as a parish priest. My priestly assignments at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and here at Our Lady of Mercy have been a true blessing and a source of great joy. The faith and love of Christ and His Church by so many wonderful parishioners I’ve witnessed over these 25 years are humbling. God has given me a great gift in his priesthood. A gift that allows me to know, love, and serve Him and His people in the sacred ministry. I am ever grateful to God for this gift.     And I give thanks for the many people who have continually and lovingly packed my parachute in my life. I may not always have noticed their quiet support and silent prayer, but I am so very grateful for it. I am both humbled and privileged that God called me to such a joyful and happy life to serve as a priest. Pray for my priestly ministry as I pledge my prayers for you and your families. May our generous and loving God bestow his blessings upon you!      

I must acknowledge my brother priests, Fr. Barrow and Fr. Connors, who I have been so blessed to serve with these many years.  They are tremendous young, holy, and zealous priests and they are a true to joy to live and work with at OLM.  Fr. Connors celebrates his 8th Anniversary of Ordination this Tuesday, June 23, and Fr. Barrow celebrates his 5th Anniversary of Ordination on Saturday, June 27.  Please pray for them and their priestly ministry that it continues to be fruitful and holy!  Also, I thank our OLM neighbor and friend, Bishop Evans, our Auxiliary Bishop, who lives across the street.  He too is a source of true fraternity for me and a great blessing for our parish family.  On July 2nd, Bishop Evans is to celebrate his 47th anniversary of priestly ordination.  We wish continued blessings on him and thank him for his ministry in our diocese and parish.   Ad multos annos, gloriosque annos, vivas!

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless! Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!

Gratefully in Christ,

Fr. Healey

Finding Joy Amid Sorrow, Good News Amid Bad News

Dear Parishioners:                   

Amid so much bad news lately, it is helpful to speak about some good news! Early last Sunday morning, as I looked at the newspapers, I was thrilled to see our own Fr. Connors on the front page of the New York Sunday Times. It was an excellent article on Catholic priests in Boson who serve as COVID 19 Chaplains to the sick and dying. It is an exceptional examination of the Sacrament of the Sick and the importance of the Priesthood. Both so needed at such crucial times in our lives and our world.   

Fr. Connors anointing a Covid patient in Boston.

  If you have not yet read the article, I encourage you to read it online at the N.Y. Times website. It is entitled, “We Are Not Alone: The Last Anointing,” and written by N.Y. Times reporter, Jennifer Dias. It features some great pictures of Father Connors and other priests and is well worth the time and effort to read.

Fr. Hiep and Bishop Tobin after Mass of Ordination on June 6, 2020

  Last weekend we also rejoiced as Fr. Hiep Van Nguyen was ordained a priest by Bishop Tobin. It was a beautiful Ordination Mass full of faith, joy, and hope. You may remember Father Hiep as he spent a summer at OLM as a seminarian. I and Fr. Barrow also had the great joy to attend Father Hiep’s Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Philip Church last Sunday afternoon.

He did an excellent job celebrating his First Holy Mass. The Mass live-streamed allowed his family in Vietnam, including his older brother, who is also a priest, to watch and pray along. Father Hiep’s older sister is a Religious Sister, and she was able to be here last weekend for this great day for his family, friends, and the Church of Providence.

Father Hiep has been assigned by Bishop Tobin to serve as the Associate Pastor at St. Francis Xavier Church. It is a vast and active parish in East Providence with an excellent pastor, Fr. Rocha. Pray for Father Hiep as he begins his first priestly assignment, may it be fruitful, and may God continue to guide and bless him in his priestly ministry. It was nice to see so many OLM parishioners were able to attend the Masses and wish Father Hiep well. We hope to have Father Hiep celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving here at OLM sometime in the fall when his schedule might allow it. It will be another opportunity to celebrate with him! Father Hiep’s Ordination reminds me of my Priestly Ordination.

Next weekend I  celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for my Silver Jubilee of Priestly Ordination. It’s hard for me to believe that its been twenty-five years since Bishop Gelineau ordained me a priest on June 24, 1995. As I mark this milestone in my priestly ministry, I humbly ask for your prayers. It has been a joyful and happy life as a priest, and I am genuinely grateful to God for the gift of his Priesthood.

I am deeply thankful to my parents and family, friends, parishioners, brother priests, and bishops who have supported me over the years. It has been twenty-five wonderful and happy years as a priest. I encourage any young man to consider answering the call to serve God and His Church as a priest! Pray for vocations!

Due to the restrictions on the number of those permitted to attend public Masses, I know that not all of my family and friends can participate in the Mass next Sunday at 10:30 am. Those who cannot attend may join us in Spiritual Communion as the Mass is to be live-streamed.

There is still more good news to report. Thanks to your generous support of the Our Faith, Our Future Capital Campaign, we can begin some much-needed projects. New roofs on the Franciscan and Mercy Convents, as well as the west side of the OLM School building, are finished. D’Angelo Custom Homes won the project bid. They also put the new roof on OLM Church a couple of years ago.

The cost for the two Convent roofs was $17, 000 for both and the school roof, $16,500. Thanks to your generous support of the Our Faith, Our Future Campaign, the project has the necessary funds to cover the costs. 

We also hope to install a new security camera system for the Church and Rectory in the next week. It will provide us the ability to keep the Church open safely and monitor activity around the parish property. Sadly this is an essential reality in the world we live in at present. Some of our parish churches in the state fall victim to robberies and vandalism. We hope this new system will not only help prevent this type of activity but help us identify any culprits should it happen.

Also, the architects have begun to work on the design of new Church doors. The doors are over fifty years old and do not work well. New doors certainly enhance the beauty of the Chruch but also provide doors that can lock adequately and ensure safety.

We offer prayers, best wishes and congratulations to the OLM School 8th Grade, who graduated this past week! These 31 young men and women now depart for the rigors of high school. We are genuinely grateful to their parents for choosing OLM School for their children and for their sacrifice in ensuring them an excellent Catholic Education. The many academic achievements of our graduates are noted in the bulletin this week.

OLM School ended Friday, and summer has officially begun! It has been a long few months for our OLM School principal, faculty, and students, but they did very well with "distance learning" and keep the same high standards of instruction and academic excellence. We wish the students and faculty all the best for the summer!

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless! Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!

Public Worship and Peaceful Prayer Needed Now More Than Ever

Dear Parishioners:                                

We began public Masses last weekend with great rejoicing and with much hope. I am grateful for the patience and cooperation that helped to make it go smoothly. The 7:30 AM Mass saw the most people attending, but there were many people at all the Masses.   The safety precautions of wearing face masks and social distancing are essential to observe for the health and well being of all of us. Also, the method for receiving Holy Communion offers a safe way to receive for those who wish to take Communion. We hope and pray for that the day when Covid-19 Virus might cease, and we can return to a normal style of worship.

My thanks to our OLM Maintenance Crew, who work so hard to keep our church clean and also for preparing for public Mass. Their hard work and great concern for the well being of our parish is deeply appreciated. If you see them, please offer your thanks.

We continue with the new schedule of weekend Masses: 5:00 PM on Saturdays and 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM on Sundays. Unfortunately, the cleaning of our large church after public Mass takes time, and we cannot complete it and reopen for the 9:00 AM Mass on Sundays.     We are keeping this weekend Mass schedule until further notice. Mass is also celebrated publicly at 7:30 AM, Monday through Friday, and at 8:30 AM on Saturday mornings. We encourage you to consider coming to daily Mass.

However, if you are elderly, infirm, or sick, please stay home and stay safe. Also, if you remain concerned about gathering for public Mass, please know that the obligation to attend Sunday Mass continues to be dispensed by Bishop Tobin. Therefore, it is not a grave sin to miss Mass. Instead, we urge you to join us for the live stream Mass each Sunday at 10:30 AM and offer a Spiritual Communion. We continue to live stream Sunday Mass at 10:30 AM for all those unable to attend. We know you've found consolation in these virtual Masses, and we know that for some of you, this is your only way to participate in Sunday Mass.

Sadly, just as we resumed public Masses last weekend, we witnessed much violence and rioting across the country. The killing of George Floyd, which led to this unrest, was a senseless and brutal act of injustice. The sadness and pain surrounding this tragedy are intense. We pray for comfort for his grieving family and friends, peace for a hurting community, and prudence while the process moves forward. This tragic injustice indeed calls us all to continue to pray for justice and peace.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stated: "We should not let it be said that George Floyd died for no reason. We should honor the sacrifice of his life by removing racism and hate from our hearts and renewing our commitment to fulfill our nation's sacred promise — to be a beloved community of life, liberty, and equality for all."

The tragedy also moved many people to legitimately protest against injustice and racism. Such peaceful protest is a liberty we rightly enjoy living in a free country. It has a proper role in allowing us to speak out for justice and dignity.   But the violence and destruction witnessed across the nation this past week, even here in Providence should be rightly condemned. It is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is ever gained by senseless violence and wanton destruction. Rather so much is lost. Dr. Martin Luther King taught: "Violence never brings permanent peace." In this time in our nation's history, as we seek peace, his words speak loudly and profoundly.

Amid this pandemic, we've seen much death and great suffering. Human frailty is so very evident. Let us remember the call of the Gospel of Life to respect the life and dignity of every human being. Such respect must be apparent whether they be civilians in need of protection or law enforcement officers charged with providing that protection. All human life is sacred.  

  We pray for our nation in these uncertain times. We join the Psalmist in praying for that day when "love and truth will meet [and] justice and peace will kiss.” Be Well. Do Good! Stay safe. God Bless  Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us.