"The Weapon of Our Times"

Dear Parishioners:

OLM Student Adam Hayes picks a See You In September Raffle Winner!

We thank the many OLM parishioners and friends of OLM School. They were so generous in supporting the See You in September Raffle. We sold all 600 tickets and raised $50,000 to help our school continue its vital mission.  The winners of the raffle appear in this week's bulletin. We congratulate them.  But the real winners are the young saints and scholars of our outstanding parish school who benefit from your generosity.

Of course, the raffle wasn't the only way we marked our parish feast last week. On Monday, we had Mercy Devotions with an outstanding homily on Mercy from Dominican Friar, Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP from the PC Priory.  We also had a solemn and joyful Feast Day Mass celebrated by Bishop Evans on Thursday. It was a great week honoring our parish patroness and seeking her powerful intercession.  

We continue seeking the powerful intercession of our Mother Mary throughout October.  Each Monday night this month at 7:00 pm, we gather for Eucharistic Adoration and the Rosary.  A great way to seek the Mother of Mercy's help and guidance as we meditate on the mysteries of our Lord. "The Rosary is the 'weapon' for these times," said St. Padre Pio. 

These many years later, his words remain true.  The Rosary is the weapon of our times, for we live in a time of turbulent conflict, confusion, and crisis in our world. We are still suffering from the COVID 19 Pandemic. It has sadly taken two hundred thousand of our brothers and sisters. Many people still suffer from sickness and isolation, poverty, and unemployment.   Almost nightly, we witness the streets of our nation's cities full of protests, at times turning violent. Political debate in this election season has become bitter and nasty, divisive and contentious.  

““The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times,” said St. Padre Pio.”

Now is the time for us as Catholics to take up more prayer, not less. It is time to seek Our Lady's help by praying the Holy Rosary.  For indeed, it is the best weapon of our times.  A weapon of harmony and peace, unity and charity, faith and hope.  A weapon sorely needed in a time of conflict and division.     Make the time this October to pray for our world and nation, our Church, and parish at Monday Devotions.  Kneel before the Eucharistic Lord asking Our Lady of Mercy, Queen of Peace, to lead us ever closer to the Sacred Heart of her son.

If you cannot make Monday Devotions, please be sure to pick up your Rosary and pray at home, in the car, or even at work. Make time in your busy day to pray with the beads resting on your night table, tucked away in a drawer, hanging on your car mirror, or hidden in your pocket. Turn to our Blessed Mother and ask her help and seek her intercession. 

St. Padre Pio explains: "Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother."   

This weekend we happily resume the 9:00 am Sunday Mass and Saturday Confessions at 4:00 pm. Thank you for your patience and understanding.  Also, I ask that you continue your kind cooperation with the COVID 19 guidelines:  Please wear a mask, keep a social distance, and wash your hands frequently.  We ask that you depart Church promptly after Mass for its sanitizing before the next Mass. 

I offer my gratitude and thanks to our dedicated maintenance staff.  They work hard to keep the school and church buildings safe and sanitized. They continue their regular maintenance duties of caring for the parish plant.   So stop and say thanks when you see them!           

Confirmation Mass is  Sunday, October 25th, at 5:00 pm with Bishop Matano of Rochester, NY.  Please pray for the Confirmation candidates as they make their final preparation for the Sacrament. May they grow in faith and love, grace, and holiness. As St. Therese of Lisieux teaches: "Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be."                  

It's October so pray the Holy Rosary! Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.  Go Pats!!!! See you on Monday at Devotions!

"The Shortest and Safest Way to Heaven."

Dear Parishioners:                                          

The First Communion Classes are taking the "Fifty-Three Week Challenge." The challenge is to faithfully attend Mass every Sunday successively for fifty-two weeks following the 1st Communion Mass. On the fifty-third week, they receive a special gift to recognize their fidelity to Christ and Holy Mass. This challenge is a fun way to be faithful and develop the good habit of attending Mass every week.    

Recently Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican, issued a letter to the bishops of the world. The letter entitled "We Must Return to the Eucharist," addresses the COVID Global Pandemic and the celebration of Public Masses.

The Cardinal suggests that "as soon as circumstances permit, it is necessary and urgent to return to the normality of Christian life, which has the church building as its home and the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, as 'the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; and at the same time is the font from which all her power flows.'" 

In other words, it's time to return in person to Sunday Mass. Of course, those parishioners who are at risk due to age, health conditions, or infirmity should stay safe and remain home. We remain in spiritual communion with them during the live-stream Mass as we pray with and for them.

However, you don’t have to go too far to see restaurants, grocery and department stores, liquor stores, beaches, and golf courses with a lot of people there. It is certainly safe, if not safer, to attend Mass on Sunday as go to Target, Thorpe's, La Masseria, or Dave's Market.

In fact, a recent article in Real Clear Science, entitled "Evidence-Based Guidelines to Celebrate Mass Safely Are Working", examined safe Mass attendance. It states: "Catholic churches across the country have been open for up to four months since shelter-in-place orders were lifted. With approximately 17,000 parishes in America typically holding three or more weekend masses - and a greater number of daily Masses - for the last 14 or more weeks - over one million public masses have been celebrated following guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus: in sum, follow the three W's - watch your distance, wear your mask, and wash your hands. 

The Good News: for Catholic churches following these guidelines, no outbreaks of COVID-19 have been linked to church attendance, even though we have examples some described below of asymptomatic, unknowingly infected individuals attending Mass and other parish functions. Their attendance could have led to an outbreak if appropriate precautions were not followed, yet in each case, we found no evidence of viral transmission." 

We follow the "Three Ws" at Mass. We watch our distance. We wear a mask. We wash our hands. We also sanitize the church building after every Mass and public event. OLM is indeed a safe place to pray and praise and worship God! While the number of parishioners attending Sunday Mass is steadily increasing, many parishioners not at risk are not coming regularly. Without a doubt we learned some good habits during this pandemic about staying safe and healthy but bad habits were also learned!  

Among these bad habits is not faithfully attending Mass in person if not at risk and freely able to do so. The live-stream Mass on Sunday is for those parishioners who because of age, health or infirmity, should not attend but remain safe at home. It’s not meant to watch at the kitchen table while eating pancakes with the kids and then running off to the soccer game or golf course.  We should begin again the good habit of attending Mass in person each Sunday. 

Come and receive Christ truly present in Holy Communion. It's safe. It's easy. It is as St. Pius X said: "the shortest and safest way to heaven." 

Why not take up the "Fifty-Three Week Challenge" with our First Communion Class! The benefit you receive just might be heavenly!

Saturday Confessions at 4:00 pm and the Sunday 9:00 am Mass resume again next weekend.  So there is plenty of chance to get to  Confession and Mass at OLM!!!! Come back to Christ truly present at Mass!!

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

Celebrate Our Lady of Mercy, A Feast of Faith and Joy

Dear Parishioners:                                          

OLM School First Communion Class, September 12, 2020

It was a beautiful and joyful day last Saturday as the children from Our Lady of Mercy School celebrated First Holy Communion. Initially scheduled for early May, the First Communion Masses are now in September. This weekend and next weekend, the OLM Religious Education program children are celebrating their First Holy Communion. Pray for them.      

Our Lady of Mercy. Sometimes called Our Lady of Ransom.

On Thursday, September 24, we celebrate the Patronal Feast of our parish.  The Origin of the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy dates back to 1214 when St. Peter Nolasco, at the age of 25, donated his vast estates to the Church. After making a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Montserrat, he went on to Barcelona and began to practice various acts of charity and mercy.   It was in Barcelona that St Peter Nolasco conceived the idea of establishing a religious community to aid the many captives seized by the Moors on the seas and in Spain.   These enslaved Christian captives were cruelly tormented in the Moorish prisons to make them deny their faith.
  All of Christian Europe was praying intensely to obtain the remedy for the great evil that had befallen them. On August 1, 1218, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Peter Nolasco, to his confessor, St. Raymond of Penafort, and King James I of Aragon and Catalonia.  Through these three servants of God, a work of perfect mercy, the captives' redemption, was established.     While the Church was celebrating the feast of St. Peter in Chains, the Virgin Mary appeared first to St. Peter Nolasco, saying that she indeed desired to establish a new religious order. It would become the Mercedarians, bearing the name of the Mother of Mercy. Its members undertook their mission to rescue Christian captives and offer themselves, if necessary, as a ransom to the captors.
  The Order was established in Spain and approved by the Pope under the name of Our Lady of Mercy. By God's grace and under the protection of His Virgin Mother, the Order spread rapidly as the works of charity and mercy of its members became known. They followed Our Lady's directive to give themselves up to voluntary slavery when necessary.
  It was to praise God and the Blessed Virgin that a feast day was instituted and observed on September 24. First in the Order, then everywhere in Spain and France. Pope Innocent XII, in the 17th Century, extended it to the entire Church. In the 19th Century, Pope Leo XIII sought devotion to Our Lady of Mercy with a focus on how Our Lady ransoms us from the slavery of our sins and brings us the grace of conversion. As the Mother of Jesus, our Merciful Redeemer, Our Lady is rightly named Mother of Mercy.   

This year, we have had to change our usual Mercy Week events due to the pandemic.  The Saints and Scholars Golf Tournament, the communal Work of Mercy night, and the Octoberfest are postponed until next year when we hope the COVID restrictions are lifted.    However, to mark our Feast Week of Mercy, there are three events this week.  On Monday at 7:00 pm, we celebrate Devotions to Our Lady of Mercy with Eucharistic Adoration, recitation of the Holy Rosary, and a talk on Mercy by Dominican Friar, Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, the Associate Chaplain at Providence College.   Before the Devotions on Monday, Fr. Briscoe and another Friar from the PC Priory, Fr. Jordan Zajac, OP, are available for  Confessions beginning at 6:00 pm.   

On Thursday, September 24, we mark the actual Parish Feast with a solemn Mass at 9:00 am celebrated by Bishop Evans.  The Mass is open to the public, so please join us in person to celebrate this feast of faith in honor of Our Lady.     On Thursday at 1:30 pm, the "See You in September" Raffle Drawing takes place at OLM School.  Our OLM School saints and scholars are pulling the winning tickets for the raffle via live-stream! Get your ticket today if you have not yet done so and mark your calendar to celebrate our feast as a parish family!!  

See you at Mercy Devotions and the Feast  Mass! Happy Patronal Feast Day! May Our Lady of Mercy guide and protect you, your family, and our parish! Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.  Go Pats!!!!

The Sound of Joy, Hope and Faith

Dear Parishioners:                              

Greeting OLM School students on the First Day of School!

 The sun was shining, and the children were smiling beneath their face masks! It was a great first day of school on Tuesday. It was a different kind of school day with temperature checks, face masks, social distancing, and car drop-offs. It is the new normal during this time of the pandemic.                         

I thank our outstanding OLM School Principal, Mr. McNabb, for his great job in planning our school's re-opening. Since April, he has been working tremendously hard to ensure the safe and happy re-opening of our school this fall. The cooperation of our faculty, staff, parents, and students has been terrific too.

On Friday, we celebrated the Opening OLM School Mass and consecrated our parish school to our Blessed Mother Mary. We ask Mother Mary to protect our school community from all harm and guide them in faith, hope, and love to Christ, the Divine Teacher. Please keep praying for students and teachers everywhere.

I wish to thank the many parishioners who attend the 7:30 am Daily Mass at OLM. First, they were so kind and hospitable last week to our visiting Missionary Sisters of the Word. Almost 30 of these holy Sisters attended Mass at OLM for the week. They were on retreat at their Provincial House in West Greenwich. It was terrific having the good sisters pray with us and for us!

Our Daily Mass parishioners were so cooperative in helping make our first day of school run smoothly. The new parking procedures began on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, and continues to be in effect while school is in session. This plan includes no parking on the section of Third Street parallel to the school building or the side parking lot closest to the school.  These measures allow for our students' adjusted arrival procedures and create additional outdoor learning space as part of our school's re-opening plan. When arriving for daily Mass, please avoid parking in those areas while school is in session. We thank the many parishioners who were so cooperative and understanding in helping keep our school students safe and happy.    

We congratulate our OLM School First Communion Class, who celebrate their First Holy Communion this weekend. On Saturday, they gathered with their families for the First Communion Mass (live-streamed for their family and friends unable to attend). It is always such an occasion of joyful and hopeful faith when our children receive the Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion for the very first time. As St. Pius X said: "Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven."

Next Saturday and again on Saturday, September 26, the students from the OLM Religious Education Program celebrate their Frist Communion Masses. We thank all who help prepare the children for this important day in their lives, especially their parents, who are the first teachers of the faith. We also thank our First Communion Teachers, OLM RE Directress, Mickey St. Jean, and OLM School 2nd Grade Teacher, Jean Perretta. Please pray for all the OLM children making their First Holy Communion, may they grow in love and devotion of Christ truly present in the Mass.

Our Parish Patronal Feast is fast approaching on September 24. The OLM Feast is a day to celebrate as a parish family. We begin our celebration this year with Devotions in honor of Our Lady of Mercy on Monday, September 21, at 7:00 pm. Dominican Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, is preaching on Mercy as we gather in adoration of the Eucharist and pray the Rosary for our parish. Fr. Briscoe and another Dominican Friar will also hear Confessions on Monday, September 21, beginning at 6:00 pm.

The Feast Day Mass is on Thursday, September 24, and is to be live-streamed. The Feast Day celebrations include the "See You in September" Raffle drawing via live stream. It should be a great day of faith and fun as we celebrate our patroness, Mary, the Mother of Mercy!

Raffle tickets are still available for purchase. Please remember, "you got to be in it to win it"!! Only 600 tickets are being sold with cash prizes of $10,000! All proceeds help OLM School stay safe and keep students healthy, happy, and holy! Thanks for helping support our outstanding parish school with this raffle.

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

On Work and Dignity, Class and Consecration

Dear Parishioners:         

             The Labor Day holiday is Monday. It was established as a civil holiday to recognize workers' labor, sacrifices, and contributions. In our Catholic tradition, work is more than a way to make a living. It is not a burden but a blessing.              

Work is an expression of our dignity and a contribution to the common good. In spiritual terms, work is a way to participate in God's continuing work of creation. This Labor Day, let us prayerfully reflect on the dignity of work and pray, especially for the unemployed. 

Pope Francis teaches: "Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use a metaphor, 'anoints' us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts. Work gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one's family, to contribute to the growth of one's own nation." 

As we celebrate the Labor Day Holiday, we mark the unofficial end of summer. This Tuesday, the students and faculty at OLM School should return for all-day, in-person classes. We are so happy our students are back in school, albeit in a very new and different way. Our student's and faculty's safety is paramount, and our reopening plan includes many new health policies and safety procedures. We've also made many upgrades to the building to ensure the health and safety of our faculty, staff, and student body.   

On Tuesday, we'll again hear our students' laughter on the playground; their young voices lifted in prayer to God and the old familiar ring of the school bell! It is a welcomed and joyful sound! Since the lockdown in March and our students' absence, we've been living with the isolation and silence of the pandemic. Let us give thanks to God for the blessing of our outstanding parish school. May His divine assistance keep all students and teachers safe, healthy, and happy!     

Our Opening OLM School Mass is this Friday at 9:00 AM. It is to be live-streamed for our OLM School students, faculty, and families. Every parishioner is most welcome to join us at Mass online and pray in spiritual communion with us. We thank Bishop Evans, who is celebrating this Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary.       

Following the Mass, we are consecrating OLM School to the Blessed Virgin Mary for its protection during this pandemic. As we begin school again, we call upon Our Lady to keep our students and faculty safe, healthy, happy, and holy!

How fitting that OLM School should begin classes on the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother, Tuesday, September 8th. And then on Friday, again turn to Mother Mary as we consecrate our school to her maternal care and spiritual guidance. Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!!   

Consecration means "to make holy" and is made ultimately to God with the understanding that it is a serious commitment. We must respond faithfully to God's grace at work in our lives. We are consecrating our school administration, faculty, staff, students, and families to Jesus through Mary.   

Saint Pope John Paul the Great explained: "Consecrating ourselves to Mary means accepting her help to offer ourselves and the whole of humanity to Him who is holy, infinitely holy; it means accepting her help—by having recourse to her motherly heart, which beneath the cross was opened to love for every human being, for the whole world—in order to offer the world, the individual human being, humanity as a whole, and all the nations to Him who is infinitely holy" 

We joyfully congratulate the nine RCIA candidates welcomed and fully initiated into the Church last Sunday at the 10:30 AM Mass. It was a joyful and solemn celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation. It is truly a hopeful sign of faith and joy amidst the crisis of the pandemic.     I thank Fr. Barrow for all his dedication and work in preparing these candidates for this joyful day.  

In your name, I welcome these new and fully initiated Catholic brothers and sisters into the Church. We offer them the promise and pledge of our prayers. May they continue to grow in faith, hope, and love of Christ and His Church.

Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless. Happy Labor Day! God Bless America!

Summer's Ending, Schedules Changing

Dear Parishioners:               

While public schools have scheduled their reopening for September 14, OLM School has plans to open this week. We believe it to be the best path forward in light of the ever-changing situation. This coming week is a time of small-group orientations for our students and their families.  Governor Raimondo is expected to announce on Monday, August 31, further guidance regarding the reopening of schools in RI. Interestingly just last week in a news interview, the Governor said she intends to send her own two children back to their private schools. Like most private schools, they too are offering in-person class instruction.     

At OLM School, we are committed to bringing our students back into our school building as safely as possible. Therefore, this week's schedule allows the students to get familiar with their teachers and classrooms. It also allows students, faculty, and parents to grow more comfortable with our school's new setting and safety policies and procedures.

OLM School opens for full all-day and in-person class instruction on Tuesday, September 8. It is the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother Mary!  A fitting day to resume classes in a school under her patronage! We ask for prayers for all students and teachers as they prepare for school this fall. In particular, pray for our Catholic schools, especially the administration, faculty, staff, students, and families of  OLM School.

Fr. Connors has now returned to St. John Seminary in Boston for the fall semester.  Classes begin this week there and Fr. Connors in addition to teaching his many classes is also serving as the Director of Liturgy for the seminary. In order to avoid an outbreak of  COVID-19 at the seminary, the entire faculty and student body were tested.  Also, the seminary is in lockdown until the October break.  The student seminarians are not allowed to go out.  The resident faculty priests are allowed to leave only to celebrate Mass at local parishes.  So please pray for Fr. Connors and the seminarians, may they remain healthy, stay safe, and may their academic year be fruitful.

With schools starting up, summer is coming to an end, as usual, too soon! It is a strange summer amid the pandemic with few people traveling, fewer family gatherings, and fewer summer vacations. While Labor Day traditionally signals the end of the summer, the official first day of fall isn't actually until September 22, 2020.

In September, we usually resume our Sunday 5:00 PM Mass. However, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we are postponing the resumption of this Mass until further notice. We presently have three Masses every weekend, and attendance is not increasing. There seems no need to add an additional fourth Mass at present. Many parishioners are not attending Mass each week. We hope and pray Mass attendance increases as the summer ends. The sanitizing of the  Church building occurs before and after every public celebration of Mass. It involves a considerable amount of time and work by our maintenance team/ We do this to ensure the proper sanitization of the Church. This cleaning and sanitizing is a costly expense and also very time-consuming. Our maintenance crew is not readily available to work on Sunday nights in order to clean and sanitize the Church properly. Therefore, it is prudent to postpone the  5:00 PM Sunday Evening Mass from our weekly schedule until further notice. 

Those who have reserved Mass intentions for the 5:00 PM Sunday Mass, please know those intentions are to be satisfied at one of the three weekend Masses celebrated every week. Although this is not the customary practice at OLM, multiple Mass intentions at Mass are allowed. Therefore, one Mass a weekend is to be offered for two intentions in order to satisfy all previously booked intentions. Please understand that all booked Mass intentions are going to be offered.  If you have any questions or concerns about a Mass you've reserved for a particular intention, please contact the OLM Parish Office. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these difficult days.

Welcome back OLM School! Pray for the safe and happy start of school!   Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.