A time to Say Farewell and Welcome! A Time to Celebrate!

Dear Parishioners:

 We said a Final Farewell and Thank You to Father Mahoney last weekend.  He officially begins his Pastorate at St. Pius X Church on Monday, July 1.  Over the last week, he has moved his belongings to his new Rectory.  We wish him all the best and offer our promise of prayer.                                             

Priestly Ordination Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Providence. RI.

One of the newly ordained Priests of Providence, Father Joseph Brodeur, is from Father Mahoney's new parish.  They are good friends, and Fr. Mahoney vested Fr. Brodeur at the Ordination Mass.  Please pray for Fr. Brodeur and Father Jairon Olmos, who was also ordained yesterday. We wish them continued blessings as they begin their priestly ministry. Ad multos annos!             

The Catholic Charity Appeal has ended for this year.  I thank the over 400 parish families who supported us in surpassing our parish goal of $190,000.  This year, we had 460 families pledge gifts totaling $257,827. Although our total was $20,000 less than last year's final total, and we had twenty fewer donors, OLM still had the highest parish total in the Diocese. 

In the name of the poor and needy who benefit from the Catholic Charity Appeal, I thank you for your generous support.  I also thank our Charity Appeal Chairs, Michael and Lee Mita and Jerry and Kim O'Connell, for their tremendous leadership of the Appeal here at OLM. If you have not yet made a pledge, there is still time to do so.

Next weekend, we welcome   Father Rocco Puopolo to OLM for the Annual Mission Appeal.  He will preach at all Masses on behalf of the good work of the Xaverian Missionaries. Fr. Rocco is the Director at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Holliston, MA, and was ordained in 1977. He served in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for 12 years.   I know you will give your usual warm welcome to Fr. Rocco. The  Second Collection next weekend is for  Xaverian Missionaries. There is no envelope, so please be prepared to support the Second Collection with a check payable to OLM and write "Mission Appeal" in the memo.   

Xavierian Missionaries serve in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Catholic missionaries have been traveling the globe for centuries, preaching the Gospel, educating other cultures about the Catholic faith, and assisting the poorest of the poor with great support.  Missionaries go into the world's most remote and poorest regions and make Christ and His Church known.

Pope Francis has said: "Every Christian is called to be a missionary and witness to Christ. And the Church, the community of Christ's disciples, has no other mission than to bring the Gospel to the world by bearing witness to Christ. To evangelize is the very identity of the Church."

Thus, each of us is called to be a missionary in our local communities and support the missionaries in other lands. We must evangelize locally with our families, coworkers, and neighbors. Likewise, we must aid the men and women who serve the missions throughout the world.  Each year across the Diocese, missionaries go to every parish to preach about the good work of evangelization in foreign missions. It is an opportunity for us to recognize and support missionaries. So, I urge you to please be generous to the Xavierian Missionaries next weekend. And I thank you in advance for your generosity.

This coming Thursday, we celebrate Independence Day! It is a day to celebrate our freedom and liberty from the shackles of British Imperialist oppression. A day we proudly remember our founding fathers who fought to free us from the tyranny of the King of England. As American Catholics, we should be mindful of the debt we owe our country as we mark the day the Second Continental Congress declared our independence from Britain.

Please join us for Mass on July 4th at 8:30 am. We celebrate our religious freedom and offer prayers specifically for the United States. We pray that our nation might be sanctified through conversion to a deeper love of God and neighbor. We pray for a deeper knowledge and understanding of moral truths and more dedication to virtuous living in our nation. St. Pope John Paul II said: "Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."   

 I wish you and your family a Happy Fourth of July! God Bless America! Be well. Do good. God Bless

Farewell & Thank You, Father Mahoney

Dear Parishioners:                                       

Father Mahoney celebrates the Easter Vigil at OLM on March 30, 2024

The great American Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Alas, we come to the end of Father Mahoney’s time here at Our Lady of Mercy. Still, it is also the beginning of the next chapter of his priestly life and ministry.  On July 1, he officially begins his new assignment as the Pastor of St. Pius X Church in Westerly.

I hope you can join us in celebrating his new assignment and wishing him well at the Farewell Receptions this weekend. It is hard to believe, but this is his final weekend at Our Lady of Mercy!  We are sad to see him go, yet happy for him as he begins this new and exciting chapter in his life.  On behalf of our parish family, I thank him for his years of ministry and service here at OLM.  He is a hard-working and dedicated young priest, and we are thankful for his time with us.  He will certainly be missed by many parishioners, especially the students at our school who he taught, coached, and ministered over the years.   

I, too, shall miss him greatly, not only because he is a tremendous chef but rather because he is truly a fine brother priest who I consider a good friend.   He has been a joy to live and work with, and I am grateful to Bishop Tobin for assigning him to be our Associate Pastor three years ago.

Father Healey and Father Mahoney at his First Mass of Thanksgiving at St Francis of Assisi Church, Wakefield.

It is always difficult for a priest to leave his first priestly assignment. However, Fr. Mahoney has many happy memories, good friends, fine recipes, and great stories to take with him. I ask you to please keep him in your prayers.

He will undoubtedly make an outstanding Pastor at St. Pius and serve his parishioners with the same zeal, enthusiasm, and holiness as he has shown during his time at OLM.  St. John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, once said: “The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”  Fr. Mahoney truly loves the heart of Jesus and is an exemplary priest. 

We wish him all the best and say Goodbye!  The original meaning of Goodbye is that God be with you! So we say God be with you, Fr. Mahoney, and may He continue to bless your priesthood with many years of happiness, healthiness, and holiness.

As we say Farewell to  Fr. Mahoney, we welcome two new priests for the Diocese of Providence, Reverend Mr. Joseph Brodeur from St. Pius X in Westerly and Reverend Mr. Jairon Olmos-Rivera from St. Charles Parish in Providence. These two young men will be ordained priests by Bishop Henning on Saturday, June 29, at the Cathedral  at 10:00 am. The Ordination is always a beautiful and joyful ceremony.

Also, you are invited to a Prayer Vigil for Vocations to the Priesthood on Friday, June 28, at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral. Bishop Henning will preside, and Father Chris Murphy, the outgoing Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence, will be the homilist. Please join in praying for those to be ordained and for more vocations to the priesthood.

Encourage young men and your sons,  grandsons, nephews, students, and friends to consider the priesthood.  God is calling more young men to be priests, but the call is often not heard in this noisy, busy, and secular world. Pray for more vocations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Providence.

Finally, as Fr. Mahoney departs OLM, please pray for me. It is never easy to say Farwell to a fine priest collaborator and a good friend. Also pray for our parish family as we begin a new chapter in our parish life. 

The great 19th Century French Dominican Friar, Father Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, O.P., wrote this poem entitled A Priest:

  “To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; To heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; To have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity; To teach and to pardon, console and bless always. My God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ.”      

On Monday, I mark my twenty-eighth anniversary of priestly ordination and thank God for the gift of my priestly vocation and brother priests like Fr. Mahoney. Indeed, what a life is ours! Be well. Do good. God Bless.  Farewell and thank you, Fr. Mahoney!

Farwell and thank you, Fr. Mahoney!

The Gift & Need of Fatherhood

Dear Parishioners:                  

This weekend, we celebrate Father's Day and the great gift of Fatherhood. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in 1882, is recognized as the founder of Father's Day. She was raised by a twice-married, twice-widowed Civil War veteran with 14 children. She desired to honor the "loving service" of Fathers.    After hearing a Mother's Day sermon, she was inspired to establish a day celebrating Fathers. She petitioned the Spokane Ministerial Alliance to recognize "the courage and devotion of all Fathers" like her Father. The local clergy liked the idea of a special Father's Day service and settled for the third Sunday in June.  And so, Father's Day has become an annual day to honor Fathers that continues on in the twenty-first century.

Sadly, today, in our country, studies indicate there are approximately 18.3 million children who live without a father in the home, comprising about one in four U.S. children.  Fathers are important for children and for our culture.  Fathers help children develop emotionally and improve their overall well-being. Studies show that children with involved Fathers have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and more confidence and resilience. Pope Francis has said: "Every family needs a father."

Our Catholic Faith recognizes the central role of Fathers in family life.  Like St. Joseph, Fathers are called to be protectors, humble, strong, and courageous. They are also responsible for nurturing their children's vocations, teaching them about the Faith, and setting an example for married life.  As the American Author H. Jackson Browne  said: "Life doesn't come with an instruction book — that's why we have Fathers."

Thus, good Catholic Fathers pray frequently for their family's protection and salvation and pray with their children.  Such a Father is a role model of Faith and virtuous living.  A Father offers a good example with simple things like offering grace before meals at home and in public, teaching prayers, offering good moral guidance, and faithfully attending Mass with their family.  With such an example, a Father shows his children how to live and love the Christian life. 

A Father also supports his wife and lives the Sacrament of Marriage with fidelity, sacrifice, and love.  Offering their love, respect,  and support for their spouse, especially during difficult times. Yet it isn't always easy to be a Father in our contemporary culture, with its rising secularism and growing critical skepticism of traditional roles.  A high rate of divorce and absentee Fathers, along with the confusion and many distractions offered by our secular, materialistic, and consumerist culture,  contribute to the diminishment of Fatherhood and the breakdown of family life.

These factors are a continuing challenge for any Catholic Family. Therefore, a Catholic Father must root himself and his family in Faith through a moral life supported by prayer and the Sacraments. St. John Paul II taught: "A Father's love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own Fatherhood. Efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance."  So let us celebrate Father's Day this weekend and Fatherhood's unique and irreplaceable importance.  Fr. Mahoney and I are offering our Masses on Father's Day for all Fathers, both the living and the dead.   We wish Fathers a Happy Father's Day. May God bless them as they care for their families.

Schools are out, and summer vacation has begun! We wish teachers and students a happy and healthy summer!  OLM School ended the year with another Catholic Athletic League State Championship!  Our undefeated (9-0) Co-Ed Soccer Team defeated St. Pius V School on June 7! Congratulations to all our student-athletes for a fantastic year on the field and in the classroom! 

Next weekend is to be Father Mahoney's final weekend at OLM.  Be sure to say farewell and thank him for his priestly ministry with us. Please stop by the Farewell reception and wish him well in person!

Be well. Do good. God Bless. A very Happy Father's Day to all Fathers!

Have a Heart!

Dear Parishioners:                  

 On Friday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a significant event that holds a special place in our hearts.  The entire month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion that dates back to 1673, when Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun who belonged to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in  France, began to receive profound visions about the Sacred Heart.

Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary over 18 months and revealed ways to venerate his Sacred Heart. He explained his immense love for humanity, appearing with his heart visible outside his chest, on fire, and surrounded by a crown of thorns. He told St. Margaret Mary to promote a feast in honor of his Sacred Heart, telling her, “My Sacred Heart is so intense in its love for men, and for you in particular, that not being able to contain within it the flames of its ardent charity, they must be transmitted through all means.”     

For this reason, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is no less worthy and important in our own day than in 17th-century France, the Middle Ages, or at the foot of Calvary. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the perfect antidote to the pride in our hearts. God loves us with a human heart so that we might learn to share in his divine love.  As St. Athanasius said: “The Son of God became man so that we might become God.”

In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we discover the humility of God that overwhelms and destroys pride. In his Sacred and Suffering Heart, our hearts are moved to repentance. In His Sacred Heart, our selfishness is burned away in the consuming fire of his love and mercy.  In his Sacred Heart, we encounter the love that created, ordered, and sustains all things. In His Sacred Heart, we find the strength and grace to love as he loves.  In his Most Sacred Heart, we find refuge and peace even amid the trials and tribulations of our times.

Perhaps during this month, we might offer a Prayer to the Sacred Heart:  “O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins, I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure, and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me amid danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.”

Fr. Healey carries the Blessed Sacrament in Procession on Corpus Christi Sunday.

Last Sunday, we celebrated Corpus Christi with a Eucharistic Procession at our graduation mass for the 8th grade class of OLM School. It was a special day and a solemn expression of our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. As Pope Francis said: “The procession with the Blessed Sacrament reminds us that we are called to go out and bring  Jesus to others. To go out with enthusiasm, bringing Christ to those we meet in our daily lives.”

The 8th Grade, their families, and our faculty gathered for an Awards Luncheon after the Mass.  We recognized the many talents and academic achievements of these future saints and scholars.  And on Tuesday, they graduated in a ceremony full of “pomp and circumstance.” Pray for these young students as they enter high school. May they continue to stay close to Christ and grow in their faith. 

Friday is the last day of school at OLM School, and summer vacation begins! “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language,” said the great American Author, Henry James. Pray for our students and faculty as they begin their summer afternoons!  May they return in September, tan, rested, and ready!

Speaking of last days, Fr. Mahoney begins his new appointment as Pastor at St. Pius Church in Westerly on July 1. His last weekend here at OLM will be June 23, and then he will begin his move to his new parish and rectory.  On that weekend, he will have two Farewell Receptions at Mercy Park.  One will follow the Saturday, June 22, 5:00 PM Mass, and the other will follow the Sunday, June 23, 10:30 AM Mass.  So please mark your calendar and join us in saying Farewell and Thank You to Fr. Mahoney. 

Be well. Do good. God Bless.  Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us!

The OLM School Class of 2024 celebrate their graduation in Mercy Park.

Processing with Christ through Life

Dear Parishioners:                  

This weekend, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi. The Latin term "Corpus Christi" translates into  English as "Body of Christ." 'The Body of Christ' refers to the Church and the Eucharist. This is not a mistake; rather, it is a beautiful understanding of what unites the people of God to Christ.

  Our understanding that the Church is not a building or even a visible organization goes as far back as the writings of Saint Paul. "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, and all were made to drink of one Spirit." 

What unites us and makes us the people of God is the Eucharist, which is Christ Himself. Christ is to the Church what the soul is to the body.  When the priest holds up the consecrated host, he proclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God." This is not a mere symbol or ceremonial liturgy. Jesus did not say, "This resembles My Body." Rather, He said, "This IS My Body." We believe this because Christ is God and always speaks the truth. The Eucharist is not just bread and wine but the very essence of our faith, a tangible connection to our Lord.

The Eucharist is Christ Himself. Jesus said, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life." Jesus reinforced this teaching on Holy Thursday at the Institution of the Eucharist and again at what has been referred to as the "Second Mass" on the road to Emmaus. 

Father Walter Ciszek, an American Jesuit priest who spent 23 years in Russian prison camps, wrote in his memoirs about celebrating Mass for his fellow prisoners in Siberia. In those days, the Eucharistic Fast was from midnight until holy Communion was received.

In his book He Leadeth Me: An Extraordinary Testament of Faith, Father Ciszek relates how he and his fellow prisoners would fast all day from the little food provided to them to receive the Eucharist at a secret evening Mass. If they were discovered celebrating Mass, they would be severely punished or even killed. Yet, Father Ciszek and his fellow prisoners were willing to risk their health, well-being, and lives to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Father Walter Ciszek in Russia with friends in 1950s.

  Unlike Father Ciszek and his fellow Siberian concentration camp prisoners, the opportunity to receive the holy Eucharist is readily available to all of us. The Church asks us to fast for only one hour before receiving Holy Communion, not all day. We risk nothing to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, for we are free to worship and enjoy religious liberty in our nation. Yet, sadly, not because of any risk to our safety and well-being, many choose to absent themselves from participating in the Sunday Eucharist.  

Giving God just one hour or so of our week is apparently too much to ask for some people. Let us pray for those who have fallen away from the practice of the faith that they may be renewed and faithfully come to receive Christ truly present in the Eucharist. 

Following the 10:30 am we will process with the Eucharistic Lord to Mercy Park. A Eucharistic procession is like a holy parade that brings Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, into the world that he loves. The Blessed Sacrament is placed in a monstrance and carried in solemn procession.  It is a wonderful opportunity to worship our Eucharistic Lord and pray together as a community as we witness our faith publicly to our community and the world.

The OLM School 8th Grade Class process with us, and we offer our prayers for them as they prepare to graduate. Each graduate receives an OLM School Medal for this milestone in their young lives.  Following the Mass, the graduates, their families, and our school faculty gather for a luncheon to celebrate their many academic achievements. 

Join the OLM School on Tuesday at 6:00 pm for our Graduation Ceremony. We thank the graduates' parents who sacrificed to ensure their children's Catholic education at OLM School.  Please pray for the graduates as they prepare to enter high school. May they be inspired by St. Catherine of Siena, who said: "Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire."    

Be well. Do good God Bless.  Congratulations, Class of 2024!

Remembering the Fallen with Prayer

Dear Parishioners:                  

Fr. Healey poses with the newly Confirmed and their Sponsors following the Celebration of Confirmation at on Pentecost Sunday.

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation at the 10:30 Pentecost Sunday Mass for four adult parishioners. We congratulate and pray for Michael Michael Aptt, Collin Michael Banno,  Collin 
Michael Patterson, and Nathan Camillus de Lellis Tellier! Pray for them that they continue to grow in their faith with the guidance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit they received last Sunday. 

Father Mahoney is away this weekend, attending the Priestly Ordination Mass in Boston.  Eleven men are begin ordained to serve the Archdiocese of Boston on Saturday.  Fr. Mahoney studied with them at St. John Seminary, and Fr. Connors taught them all!  He will then attend some of the First Masses of Thanksgiving on Sunday at various parishes throughout Boston.  Please pray for these newly ordained priests!

Memorial Day is the nation's foremost annual day to mourn and honor our deceased servicemen and women.  The Proclamation establishing this national holiday  calls for all  Americans "to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace."

As Catholics, we should remember those who gave their lives for country and freedom, just as everyone else does on Memorial Day. Remembering them at Mass is the best way to celebrate the day. It's not a sin to be patriotic and to remember the sacrifices made for our freedoms. Gratitude for that sacrifice is our response on Memorial Day. So please join us for Mass on Memorial Day at 8:30 am and pray for our fallen who died serving our nation. At the same time, we can also pray for peace and solutions that will not require war and bloodshed. We can do this on Memorial Day at our final  May Devotions as we offer our prayers and the Rosary for world peace. Please join us at 7:00 pm on Monday. 

Also, I invite you to watch the Memorial Day Parade here in East Greenwich on Monday morning.  I will offer prayers at the World War Two Memorial on Cliff Street.   Lt. Colonel Edmund B. Whitman,  the Quartermaster during the Civil War, said:  "That Nation which respects and honors its dead shall ever be respected and honored itself."

Lastly, we should unite with the poor, who are often the most victimized by war, and also veterans who suffer from wounds and disabilities. Think about what we can do to help those who are victims of war.  We should try to support charities that help veterans and serve the victims and refugees of war, such as Catholic Relief Services.  And we must pray for them!

Memorial Day is more than a day off work or school.  It isn't simply a day to shop for sales, play a round of golf, go to the beach, or have a family cookout.  Let's not forget those who sacrificed their lives for our nation and our freedoms so we can enjoy such leisure activities freely. This is the true reason for this important national civic holiday.  Remember the words of the great American Poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote following the Civil War: "Your silent tents of green we deck with fragrant flowers; Yours has the suffering been, the memory shall be ours." 

Next weekend, we celebrate the  Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ with great faith and joy, more commonly called Corpus Christi.  This feast honors Jesus Christ, really, truly, and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine. This Presence happens through the change which the Church calls transubstantiation ("change of substance") when at the Consecration of the Mass, the priest says the words of consecration which Christ Himself pronounced over bread and wine. The 10:30 am Mass next Sunday will be followed by the traditional Procession of the Eucharist from Church to Mercy Park.  Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be offered at Mercy Park.

At this Mass, we are joined by our OLM School 8th Graders and their families.  A great feast day for us to pray for and process with the Eucharistic Lord and these young men and women striving to be saints and scholars.  Please pray for our 8th Grade Graduates.    

Be well. Do good. God Bless. Happy Memorial Day!