Category: St. Patrick’s Parish

As a Christmas present, Bishop DaCunha sent all the priests of the diocese a book written by Fr. Stephen J. Rossetti. Fr. Rossetti is a noted psychologist who worked for many years with troubled priests but does most of his writing about happy priests. Did you know that as a profession priests are the happiest group in America? The title of the book Bishop DaCunha sent is, Letters to My Brothers, Words of Hope and Challenge for Priests.

I’ve been reading Fr. Rossetti’s book as my spiritual reading recently. One of the letters is “Priests as Celibate Lovers”. In the letter he writes, “While there are many riches to be mined as celibate priests, two special joys ought to be mentioned. The first is our service and love for the people of God. The priest’s relationship to them is unique. He is one of them and he is also set apart. He is a man for the people and a man of the people. No priesthood can be fully alive without a dynamic, loving connection to the people.”

As I prepare to leave St. Patrick’s to become pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Chatham, I want to thank the parishioners for allowing me to be part of your lives over the last eight years. It has been a blessing to be here at St. Patrick’s. A little later in the letter I quoted from Fr. Rossetti he tells the story of a beloved pastor who was retiring. Fr. Rossetti was at his last mass and as they left the sanctuary Fr. Rossetti turned to the retiring pastor and said, “Father how are people going to live without you?” The older priest looked him in the eye and said, “How am I going to live without them?”

I can’t help but feel that way a bit, too, as I leave St. Patrick’s but we all know that we will live on with fond memories. I know that I have grown as a person and people tell me that they have grown, too. I feel certain that Frs. Da Silva and Offiong will help you continue to grow personally and as a parish. Please share your love and support with them, too.

I also realize that no matter how hard I have tried, I also leave behind people who feel I have hurt them. While it was never my intention, if you know of such people please tell them I apologize. I pray they can forgive me.

Thank you to everyone who attended my reception after the 12 Noon Mass last week in person or in spirit. My special thanks to everyone who helped with the preparation of the hall and the refreshments. I’m afraid to name you individually because I’m sure I’ll forget someone. I’ve often said how I love my priesthood and it is because of so many of you the faithful people of God that I lead a happy life.

Welcoming St. Patrick’s New Pastor— It’s a week of firsts and lasts for our parish as Fr. Antonio DaSilva, our new pastor, arrived on Tuesday. Fr. DaSilva will celebrate the 4pm Saturday vigil and the 10am Mass on Sunday. Fr. Sullivan will get to say good-bye to parishioners at St. Anthony’s at 9am and a final good-bye to the parish at the 12 Noon Mass at St. Patrick’s.

St. Vincent de Paul Poor Box Receipts— The St. Vincent de Paul Society would like to thank those who contribute to their work with the poor by making contributions to the Poor Boxes. Receipts for April & May totaled $1,069. Poor Boxes are at all the entrances to the church. Please be generous as you walk in or out of church. The St. Vincent de Paul Society helps the poor of Wareham regardless of their background. Besides operating the Food Pantry, they also provide assistance with utility bills, rent and other emergency services to our local poor.

For the sixth consecutive summer, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will be sponsoring the Fortnight for Freedom. The purpose of the event that begins on June 21 and concludes on July 4 is to emphasize the importance for Americans to be vigilant in our protection of religious freedom. Religious Freedom is the very first freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights that is part of our constitution. That amendment prevents our government from establishing a particular national religion or from preventing the free exercise of religion.

In recent years religious freedom has begun to erode in our country. Some of the most serious instances have been those that involved the Obama Administration’s interpretation of the Affordable Care Act. The US Justice Department’s interpretation of the act mandated that all health insurance plans provide contraception and abortion services to their subscribers. A religious order, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who provide nursing home and health care services challenged the mandate because it violates the precepts of our Catholic faith. The Sisters filed a lawsuit to block that interpretation of the law. The case eventually came before the US Supreme Court which unanimously sent the case back to lower courts with the instruction for it to implement a compromise agreement suggested by the Little Sisters.

Religious freedom isn’t only from liberal politicians. It is under attack from the right wing too. Their attack on religious freedom surrounds the issue of helping migrants and refugees. The USCCB reports that under one state law enacted to try to prevent assistance being offered to undocumented aliens would have made it illegal for a citizen to give a ride to church to a so call “illegal alien”. The current federal Administration is trying to use religious beliefs as a stipulation to prevent certain people from coming into our country.

During the Fortnight for Freedom, learn more about Religious Freedom so that you can discuss it with others in a rational and calm manner. Do that by respecting the beliefs of religious freedom skeptics. Such people have some legitimate concerns. Many are concerned that all people should be treated with dignity. That is also the foundation of Catholic teaching on religious freedom. So, listen to their concerns and work together for compromise that will insure the dignity of all people.

Remind people that Religious Freedom is a fundamental right. Government should not coerce people to act against their well formulated consciences. A government that tries to force citizens to act against their consciences can force them to submit to any governmental demands.

People of faith must be allowed the space to do good. Challenges to religious freedom often come about from a mistaken view that religion is only good if it conforms to every value that happens to be prevailing at the time. Religious people should not be forced to undermine their belief system in exchange for the ability to try to improve society as they see it.

Some religious freedom skeptics charge that religious people should not be able to imposes their beliefs on others. A pluralistic society needs to foster a wide range of beliefs. Everyone, religious or non-religious, should have the right to freedom from coercion. They should have the right to express their views and try to educate others as to what they believe is good for society as a whole.

As part of the Fortnight for Freedom, take some time to educate yourself and others about the topic of religious freedom and its importance for the common good of all our fellow citizens. People want to know about Catholic teaching on the topic. They are hungry to come to a better understanding of the importance of religious freedom no matter what their religious beliefs.

Last Sunday at the end of Pentecost Masses, Deacon David carried out the Easter Candle to signify that the Easter Season had come to an end. While the Church will be celebrating two important feasts, Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, in the next two weeks, we are officially in the Season of Ordinary Time.

While to our Catholic Mindset Ordinary Time might not seem as important a season as Easter, Lent or Advent, Ordinary Time is anything but “humdrum” time. Pentecost is often considered the feast marking the birth of the Church and Ordinary Time is that season when the Church is set to grow. It is the time for evangelization and reflection on the Church’s mission work.

Appropriately, Pope Francis launched that effort in his homily for Pentecost Mass and in his remarks at the usual praying of the Regina Coeli at Noon in St. Peter’s Square. Francis’ Pentecost homily set the tone for our work of evangelization during this season of Ordinary Time. In his remarks, he pointed out that to be an evangelizing Church we need to be a unified Church. But he stressed that unity does not mean uniformity.

Francis cautioned that we need to avoid two temptations with regards to how we consider Church unity. He said the first temptation was to seek diversity without unity. He said that happens when groups of the right or the left become too rigid in their positions. He reminded us that we need to be, “brothers and sisters in the one Spirit” on the side of Jesus and humble and grateful children of the Church”.

Unity without diversity is the second temptation that confronts the Church. Francis explained that outlook as, “Here, unity becomes uniformity, where everyone has to do everything together and in the same way, always thinking alike. Unity ends up becoming homogeneity and no longer freedom.” Francis said, “So the prayer we make to the Holy Spirit is for the grace to receive his unity, a glance that, leaving personal preferences aside, embrace and loves his Church, our Church.”

Finally, Francis reminded his listeners that offering God’s forgiveness is at the core of the Church’s evangelization efforts. He said, “Forgiveness sets our hearts free and enables us to start afresh. Forgiveness gives hope; without forgiveness, the Church is not built up.”

What Francis says is so true. It was the offer of forgiveness that was at the core of Jesus’ message. He transformed the world when he offered forgiveness to the Woman at the Well, Tax Collectors, and even Peter when he professed his love of Jesus after he had denied Jesus during the Passion. Our world is still hungry for the message of God’s forgiveness that Jesus spent his public ministry preaching. Forgiveness and the unity of all humankind need to be at the core of our evangelization message.

As I prepare to leave St. Patrick’s parish, I’m thinking of the legacy that I hopefully leave behind. I hope it is one of a stronger desire for St. Patrick’s parishioners to embrace a greater spirit of evangelization. I hope that I am remembered as a pastor who helped give a greater sense of unity to the parish and was an instrument of God’s forgiveness. I hope that same desire to share the Good News of Jesus Christ has grown in your heart too.

Recent years has seen a tremendous growth in communications and news. Today events can be videoed by any bystander with a smart phone and sent out over the Internet with lightning speed. Twitter, Facebook and other means of social media allow every one of us the opportunity to share our opinions and viewpoints with anyone who is willing to read our postings. While that is in many ways a great benefit, it can also be abused. The growth of “fake news”, the deliberate spreading of rumors and falsehoods to try to intentionally hurt others, has also grown.

Even television networks, newspapers and other sources of information are no longer as well respected as they once were. More and more people admit to their mistrust of certain segments of the media and particular media outlets. Media outlets often slant their reporting of the truth to pander to the fears and prejudices of certain groups of readers or viewers. They tend to foster mistrust and suspicion of anyone who holds a differing viewpoint.

This was the back drop for Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli address last Sunday as he marked the 51st World Day of Social Communications. The theme for the day was “Do not be afraid I am with you: Communicating Hope and Trust in our Time.”

In his remarks Pope Francis used an image used by early Christians which compared the human mind to a constantly grinding millstone. He said the miller can feed good wheat or worthless weeds into the mill. Francis encouraged his listeners to, “Pray for communication, in all its forms, to be truly constructive, in the service of truth by refusing prejudices and by spreading hope and trust in our time.”

He also encouraged those involved in the media to share good news. He said that didn’t mean that the media should ignore human suffering but that they should not glamorize evil but instead “concentrate on solutions and inspire a positive and responsible approach on the part of its recipients.”

Francis used as an example of this type of reporting the good news of the gospels. He pointed out how Mark begins his report of the Good News by calling it, “the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God”. “With these words, Saint Mark opens his Gospel not by relating good news about Jesus, but rather the good news that is Jesus himself.” Francis says that good news is not good because it is without suffering but that the suffering Jesus endured is part of a bigger picture of Jesus’ love for the Father and all humankind. Jesus’ suffering reminds us that God is constantly mindful of his children and is always with us. Francis’ remarks remind us that in reporting the news and its consequences those in the media need to be “witnesses and communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity sharing God’s love even to the ends of the earth.

As we celebrate Pentecost and the renewal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives this weekend, may we use our choice of media to promote not negative and hurtful communication but the positive progress of our society towards greater understanding of ways to promote the advancement of people and institutions that work towards the unity of people and the common good of all.

Since our snowbirds are coming back and some summer residents are coming to spend the weekends, not everyone has heard that after eight years I am being transferred to Holy Redeemer Parish in Chatham as of Wednesday, June 28. I will be replaced by two priests who are members of the Society of Divine Vocations. This is the same religious order that Bishop Da Cunha belongs to. The new pastor will be Fr. Antonio Da Silva, SDV, and the parochial vicar’s name is Fr. Cyril Offiong, SDV.

There is no doubt about it this is going to be a major transition for St. Patrick’s Parish. In the past St. Patrick’s has been staffed by diocesan priests. The priests that have served here were mostly born and brought up in this area. Religious order priests, such as the Vocationist Priests, often come from throughout the world. They also bring a different spirituality or what is referred to as a charism. For the Vocationists, it is to foster vocations to the priesthood especially among the poor.

For the two priests, it will be a big change, too. Both of them are foreign born. Fr. Da Silva is a native of Brazil; Fr. Offiong is Nigerian by birth. While both have worked here in the United States for a number of years, it has been mostly in northern New Jersey. We know that is a whole different world! My point is St. Patrick’s new priests will need some time to adjust to their new surroundings. So please be patient and understanding as they adjust to not only a new parish community but some cultural differences, too.

As I am thinking of my own transition, I would like to present some ways that the parishioners of St. Patrick’s can help their new priests to adjust to the parish.

• Open your heart and decide that you are going to love your new priests.
• When you meet the new priests, use the language of hospitality and welcome. Help them know you are happy they are here.
• Offer help and explain to them how things are done here at St. Patrick’s. When a new priest comes to a parish, he wants to respect parish traditions and customs. Help the new priests get to know those traditions. If they feel the need to change them later, they will.
• Since the new priests have never been to Wareham, they won’t know their way around. Tell them where stores, cleaners, barbers, etc. are located and how to get to different parts of town.
• Introduce yourselves to them. Tell them your name and how you are involved in the parish. If you’re a Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Greeter, involved in Bible Study or the Prayer Shawl Ministry, tell them.
• Tell them your name every time you meet them. Remember they are meeting many different people and trying to learn many names.
• If you are a member of a parish ministry or group, invite them to come and participate at a meeting. If you have expectations about what they are to do, tell them beforehand.
• Remember that they will have different talents and gifts than any priest that has been assigned here in the past. Let them use those gifts.
• Remember that just like you they are grieving the past, so don’t be offended if they compare this parish to the parish(es) they have served over the years.
• Last by not least, pray for them! They will need God’s grace to help them lead St. Patrick’s Parish.

Maybe you would like to send a card or message of welcome to Fr. Da Silva and Fr. Offiong. Here are their current addresses:

Fr. Antonio Da Silva, SDV
Visitation Rectory
192 Sandford Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Fr. Cyril Offiong, SDV
St. Michael Rectory
172 Broadway
Newark, NJ 07104

Fr. Da Silva will be coming to the parish on Tuesday, June 20, to have a little time to acquaint himself with the parish before I leave the parish. I don’t know exactly when Fr. Offiong will arrive in the parish.

Last week Pope Francis made a two-day pilgrimage to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three shepherd children at Fatima on May 13. In his Sunday Regina Coeli address in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said that during his pilgrimage he saw himself as a pilgrim of hope and peace. He said he had immersed himself in prayer at Fatima in an atmosphere of recollection and contemplation.

During his visit at a Mass attended by half a million worshippers Pope Francis declared canonized saints two of the young seers, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. They are the youngest people, Francisco aged 10 and Jacinta aged 9, who were not martyrs, ever canonized by the Church. The two young seers died in 1919 and 1920, victims of the international influenza epidemic. As part of the apparition, the seers stated that the Blessed Mother had predicted their early deaths.

The third seer, Sr. Lucia dos Santos, who was 10 at the time of the visions, lived to the age of 97. In 2008, three years after her death, Pope Benedict XVI, suspended the usual five year waiting period before the start of the beatification process. Lucia’s sanctity is still under study by religious authorities.

In Pope Francis’ homily at the vigil on the evening before the canonization Mass he acknowledged that those in attendance were on a pilgrimage with Mary. He asked, “Which Mary?” He asked if they felt Mary was “a teacher of the spiritual life,” or “unapproachable and impossible to imitate?” Is she, “a woman ‘blessed because she believed’ always and everywhere in God’s words or a ‘plaster statue’ from whom we beg favors at little cost?” “Is she “the Virgin Mary of the Gospel, venerated by the Church at prayer,” or “a Mary of our own making?” He encouraged the crowd to allow the watchful gaze of the Blessed Mother to sing with joy of the mercies of the Lord.

During his visit, the Pope said he felt compelled to come and venerate the Virgin Mary and to entrust to her all her sons and daughters. Francis encouraged the faithful to pray to God “with the hope that others will hear us.” The pope reminded his fellow pilgrims to cling to the Blessed Mother and remember her warning through the visionaries to resist, “a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures. Such a life frequently proposed and imposed risks leading to hell.”

In his homily at the canonization Mass Francis encouraged the faithful to be open to the love and guidance of the Blessed Mother. “With Mary’s protection, may we be for our world sentinels of the dawn, contemplating the true face of Jesus the Savior, resplendent at Easter. Thus may we rediscover the young and beautiful face of the Church, which shines forth when she is missionary, welcoming, free, faithful, and poor in means and rich in love?”

St. Patrick’s will continue the celebration of the Centennial of the Apparitions at Fatima with the celebration of a First Saturday Mass each month through the month of October. Plan to join in our prayer of the Mass for the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima.

Bishop da Cunha has advised me that the new pastor of St. Patrick’s will be Fr. Antonio da Silva, SDV. Fr. daSilva is currently ministering in New Brunswick, NJ. He is a native of Brazil. Fr. daSilva will be arriving on June 20, so that he’ll have about a week to make the transition before my new assignment will begin on June 28. Fr. da Silva will be assisted by Fr. Cyril Offiong, SDV, as a Parochial Vicar. Fr. Offiong is a native of Nigeria. He has been ordained for a little over a year and is currently assigned to St. Michael’s Parish in Newark, NJ. I know the parishioners of St. Patrick’s will welcome Fr. daSilva and Fr. Offiong.

During this time of transition, it’s important to keep the parish in your prayers. Even before I knew of my transfer, I asked Deacon David Murphy to research a Holy Spirit Novena that we could pray between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost. I intended to ask everyone to pray that our parish would be receptive to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and for spiritual growth throughout the coming year. Now that important change will be taking place in the parish, as the Vocationist Fathers assume pastoral responsibilities, it’s even more important that we pray to the Holy Spirit to guide our parish community.

Copies of the Holy Spirit Novena are available on the tables by the doors of the church. Help yourself to whatever you and your family need and join us in prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Mother’s Day Best Wishes—Wishes for a very happy Mother’s Day to all mothers in the parish. Recently, Deacon David Murphy gave me a prayer that was passed on to him by his mother. It seems appropriate to do the same today.

I pray that God will use
All things in my life
And work them together for good
That tough times
Will build character
That good times
Will keep me grateful
That testing times
Will strengthen my faith
That prosperous times
Will enrich my giving.

“And we know that all that happens to us, is working for our good, If we love God and are fitting into his plans.” Romans 8:28

Pope Francis likes using the image of Christians needing to be Shepherds who smell like the sheep. He used that same image again on Easter Sunday in his Urbi et Orbi blessing. The Urbi et Orbi blessing is the traditional one given by the Pope every Easter. Traditionally, the Pope’s comments given with the Blessing have served as a sort of State of the World message. It is used to outline what the Pope will be concentrating on for the next year. Pope Francis has emphasized that again in the coming year he will concentrate on reaching out to those, “on the outskirts of society”. He will be concentrating his efforts on refugees, victims of economic injustice and those caught up in human trafficking.

In his address Pope Francis spoke of the “Risen Shepherd” who in mercy tirelessly seeks out those who are hurting. Francis said that Jesus the Risen Shepherd seeks out those who are crushed by evil. He specifically spoke of people “lost in the labyrinths of loneliness and marginalization.” He mentioned those who are injured by modern economic systems and those ensnared by the illegal industries of human slavery and drug trafficking.

Francis said the “Risen Shepherd” walks beside those forced to leave their homes because of armed conflict, terrorist attacks, famine, and oppressive regimes. He asked the Risen Lord to guide the steps of all those who work for peace and justice. Francis has more than once compared the many smaller conflicts around the world as adding up to one large one he calls World War III. He made special mention of these many conflict zones throughout the world. He included Syria, South Sudan, Congo and the Ukraine as special areas of concern.

Pope Francis said that he was most concerned about refugees that are in peril trying to escape from Syria and northern Africa. Francis’ call for all Christians to be Shepherds who smell like the sheep is especially significant because many European Countries are struggling with their response to the largest refugee crisis since the end of the 2nd World War. It has become a contentious issue in many countries. It is especially and issues in the upcoming French Presidential Election. The tiny Vatican State has taken in 80 families both Christian and Moslem who are trying to escape from the Civil War in Syria and Iraqi.

Francis’ call to us as American Catholics to not be afraid to smell like the sheep is particularly critical. The 2016 Election Campaign and the policies of the trump Administration have been particularly hostile to efforts of our country doing our share to help elevate the suffering that Pope Francis addressed in his blessing. Our American bishops have been especially vocal about the need for our country to do its part to help alleviate the refugee problems around the world. We must not hide behind walls but mix in with the flock of the Risen Shepherd and like Jesus not be afraid to smell like the suffering sheep of the flock.

My favorite part of the Easter Masses is when, after the homily, we all stand to renew our Baptismal promises. It is at that point in the Mass that I take stock of how my efforts to deepen my relationship with Jesus through Lenten renewal have come to fruition. It is when I take the time to ask myself, have I become a better Catholic during the Lenten Season. Have I really been renewed?

Over the Sundays of Lent Deacon David Murphy and I gave a series of homilies on the topic of Christian atheism. We spoke about how Catholic Christians, like ourselves, are often a major cause for the rise of atheism in our world. We give rise to atheism because often we Catholics say we believe in God but then turn around and act as if God didn’t exist. Our homilies spoke about how despite God continuously showing his love for us through various signs we refuse to believe in that love. We say we want a personal relationship with God but we don’t listen to God speaking to us nor do we communicate with God in prayer. We act like atheists when we give into worry rather than turning our concerns over to God’s guidance. We pretend we believe in an infinite God but haven’t taken the any time to enrich our knowledge of the faith or of God since our last Confirmation class. We say that our Catholic faith is all about being open to conversion but we then say we can’t change our lives.

Hopefully, you have made this Lent a season of renewal and enrichment by acting more like a believer in Jesus Christ through our practice of almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Hopefully, we have shared some of our treasure as alms to the poor by filling our Lenten Folder as a donation to Food for the Poor. We have used each week’s bulletin inserts with their daily reflections from the words of Pope Francis to deepen our prayer life. Hopefully, we have fasted from our sinful patterns of behavior and become more like the person God called us to be.

Easter is a season full of hope! Hope that even if we haven’t made Lent as fruitful as we wished we would back on Ash Wednesday. God is still ready to support us in new efforts to be faithful every day. Christ has risen!! Christ has triumphed over death so that we might have eternal life! As we renew our Baptismal Promises at Mass today, embrace God’s grace and ask God to continue the good work He has begun in you. May it continue to grow in us so that we can all live up to the title of Catholic Christian.