Dear Parishioners: In your name, I welcome Father Eric Bennett to Our Lady of Mercy this weekend. Father joins us at the 5:00PM Vigil to offer a Mass of Thanksgiving with his home parish. A newly ordained priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, Father Bennett’s priestly vocation was nourished and guided by his parents, family and the parish of OLM over the years and so he returns to give thanks to God for the great gift of the priesthood. What a great occasion for our parish family to celebrate and give thanks to God! Welcome Father Bennett, ad multos annos!
Last Sunday I attended the Feast Day Mass at St. Rocco Parish in Johnston at which my good friend, Father Angelo Carusi, was installed by Bishop Evans as the new Pastor. After over a hundred years of pastoral leadership by the Scalabrinian Fathers, Father Carusi is the first Diocesan Priest to serve as Pastor at St. Rocco . Sunday was the culmination of the Feast Week complete with a Procession with the statue of St. Rocco around the village of Thornton. There were carnival rides, tents with lots of delicious Italian delicacies like tripe, sausage and peppers, meatballs, pasta, eggplant, gelato, and some great dough boys. It was a true festival of faith and parish family. We too have a parish feast coming up on September 24th, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy. In honor of our Patroness we will have our own mini-festival on Sunday, September 23rd with a Family Picnic. Make sure you mark your calendar and come to this great event for our parish family!
Wednesday is the first day of school! It’s hard to believe but this week we welcome back our students and faculty to OLM School! Where did the summer go? We begin the week with a Mass and luncheon for our teachers and staff on Monday and then look forward to seeing the school children return to school midweek. I’m sure some of our students are also wondering where summer went but without a doubt they are soon enough going to get into the swing of things . We welcome back all of our OLM students, teachers and staff and pledge to keep them in our prayers for a great year of learning and growing in wisdom, faith and love. May God bless, guide and protect them throughout the year! The renovations of the Rectory living quarters continue but Father Shemek and I hope to very soon unpack our boxes completely and move into our rooms. A new phone system has been installed in the Rectory which makes communication with the office staff and your parish priests much easier and more efficient. The parish webpage launches this week too! Have a great week. Welcome back to the school year! God Bless. Forget the Sox, Go Pats!