The Pastor's Pen
Sunday, May 12, 2024
The Paschal Season, 4-40-3-50: We are now beginning the final week of the Paschal Season that began for us on Ash Wednesday or maybe even on Shrove Tuesday. The purpose of this season is to foster our ongoing conversion to Christ and his gospel. Thu as it comes to its conclusion let us evaluate our progress in conversion through the days of Lent and Easter this year and make any necessary resolutions on how to live these final 7 days of the 97 days if they were our last days!
A Blessed and Happy Mother’s Day: Prayerful best wishes for a day on which all mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and second mothers will know how much they are loved and appreciated!
A poem by Deborah Culver
She’s the whisper of the leaves, as you walk down the street. |
Annual Pentecost Ecumenical Prayer Service: Featuring the Music of Taizé on Sunday, May 19th at 7 PM at St. John Neumann Church 157 Middleboro Road, East Freetown. This service will be worth your time and the trip over the bridge as it is always an inspirational observance of Pentecost and appropriately one at which all denominational differences can be overlooked and all the baptized can worship together.
A Confused Culture: Recently there has been much public outrage stirred up about a potential candidate for the vice presidency because she had an incorrigible and seemingly untrainable dog “put down.” Now certainly all living things, and most especially domestic animals who are natural companions to human beings deserve respect, protection, and proper care, thus that people would be upset with this decision is completely understandable. However, would these same people be equally outraged that a person convicted of a capital crime be executed because they are written off as incorrigible? Or would people take issue with this person presently prominent on the political scene, or any public person, if they were to disclose they had a role in the decision to abort an unplanned and thus unwanted pregnancy? We well know that in the latter case, there would be at least as many to support and praise such a decision than there would be to question its rightness and condemn it. So we are left with the troubling question of how we as a culture are coming to the point where many among us have much more respect for the lives of other animals than for those of their fellow human beings! The crux of this problem is that we are quite capable of twisting the truth regarding the humanity of a criminal, or the child developing in the womb. So when in our outlook and our speech we dehumanize criminals or preborn children or any other people we can become dangerously comfortable with the intentional termination of their lives. This same dehumanization is exactly how the scourge of slavery was once able to flourish even in the supposed land of the free. It is the same tactic used by the Nazi regime to get otherwise decent people to cooperate with them in their campaign to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the handicapped, and others they considered undesirable in their erroneous concept of an ideal society. Indeed, intentionally and systematically indoctrinating people to believe some people or whole classes of human beings are dangerous or inferior is a most pernicious but effective way of perverting the truth and putting lives at great risk. There are certainly many sound individuals among us who can discern that all human life without exception is sacred and thus can rightly judge capital punishment and abortion to be unacceptable, yet our culture as a whole is being guided by a now quite badly broken moral compass that is directing us down a rather dangerous slippery slope! Let us as Catholic people take care to stand with other people of faith and goodwill in a refusal to slide along with the rest of contemporary society in its ever-deepening descent into the culture of death; rather, let us love life, especially human life, recognizing the truth that it is a gift from God and thus continue to respect and protect it no matter the consequence to us for doing so!
Sunday, May 5, 2024
It is May the Month of Mothers: This month during which mothers are honored in a special way is also a month to pray for those expectant mothers whose unplanned pregnancies are at risk due to poverty or other social and personal problems. The temptation to terminate a pregnancy is very real for women who find themselves in very difficult social and economic circumstances, and so we see the valuable lifesaving role that is played by pregnancy support centers such as Birthright in Falmouth and the more recent Your Options Medical which hopes to establish a center in or near Hyannis very shortly. Such centers offer services that encourage the preservation of new human life in the womb through ultrasound imaging and the provision of emotional and practical support to expectant mothers to encourage them to carry their children to term. Such centers are often under attack by agencies such as Planned Parenthood who ironically accuse them of pressuring women not to terminate their pregnancies, yet who see nothing inappropriate about their efforts to persuade these same vulnerable women to abort the child in their womb. Pro-life efforts such as those carried out by pregnancy resource centers can often be a lonely and difficult task as abortion is seen and promoted by many as the easiest out in a culture whose moral compass regarding the sanctity of human life is now quite badly damaged! So as we pray for all mothers in May, let us not forget expectant mothers especially those in difficult circumstances that they will have the services and encouragement they need to choose life! In addition to our prayers let us be willing to give our practical support to those pregnancy resource centers who work every day to help make the choice for life much more likely.
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: May 9th will mark 40 days since Easter and so in the Dioceses of Region 1 in the United States The Feast of the Ascension is observed in accord with the more ancient tradition. Masses will be celebrated on Wednesday at 4:30 PM and on Thursday at 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM. Ascension Thursday also inaugurates the original novena as nine consecutive days of prayer by the disciples in seclusion in the Upper Room awaiting the descent of the promised Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is then appropriate to engage in a Novena Prayer to the Holy Spirit for the renewal of the Spirit’s gifts within us who are the disciples of the present day. Such a Novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Pentecost may be found online at sites like http://www.praymorenovenas.com. and others.
Easter Duty: We are now moving rapidly toward the end of the Paschal Season which began on Ash Wednesday and brought us through the 40 days of Lent to the Sacred Triduum of the Lord’s Passover from death to life. Now we are moving toward the conclusion of the 50-day celebration of the Resurrection that is Easter which will conclude on Pentecost. The annual Lent- Easter season is the primary season of the church year during which we are encouraged to die and to rise anew with Christ through ongoing conversion to a life lived more fully and authentically united with Christ and in accord with his gospel. Thus, it is most appropriate to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then to receive the Holy Eucharist before the annual Paschal Season comes to its conclusion two weeks from now. Certainly beginning as far back as the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday many among us have been intentional in fulfilling annual duty already, but if some have not yet done so they are reminded that the Easter Season will be ending on Pentecost, which will be observed on the 19th of May.
Congratulations: On this Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, the young people of our parish who have been preparing during these past two years will be receiving the Holy Eucharist for the first time at a special Mass to be celebrated at 12:30 PM. Please pray for these first communion candidates that they will always desire to remain in union n with Christ through their participation in the celebration of Mass and the reception of the Holy Eucharist each Sunday. Pray especially for their parents that they will support their children in this true practice of the Catholic faith. Gratitude is due to Kathy Laird assisted by Tricia McGrory and all the catechists and assistants who have helped them to provide the program of preparation for these young children to receive their First Communion this weekend.
Mother’s Day Tradition: On next Sunday as we celebrate all of our mothers we pay special honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our heavenly mother, as we crown her image at the end of the 8:30 AM Mass on Mother’s Day. We encourage your participation in this long-standing Catholic tradition as we make an effort to hand it on to yet another generation.
A Candidate for the Diaconate: Mr. George MacKoul, a member of Christ the King Parish is asking to continue the required formation to be ordained a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Fall River. If anyone is aware of any reason why George should not be allowed to continue his preparation for future ordination please contact Deacon Frank Lucca or Deacon Joseph McGinley at the Permanent Diaconate Office at 508-990-0341 and ask to speak to one of these deacons personally.
The Catholic Appeal: Materials have been mailed to registered households and further information is available on the tables in the narthex to encourage your prayerful and practical support of this major annual appeal by our bishop which supports the pastoral, catechetical, liturgical, social, and charitable good works of the local church to which we all belong which is the Diocese of Fall River. Let us all be as generous as we are able at the most opportune time to do so before the Annual Catholic Appeal closes on June 30th.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
A Visit Worth Making: I just returned from a weeklong stay in Naples, Florida for a time of “R&R” after the busy days of Holy Week and Easter, which were then closely followed by those of planning and overseeing the funeral rites celebrated for Monsignor Tosti. Admittedly, I arrived in Naples tired, and so I did not do a great deal of visiting or traveling about Southwest Florida but instead relaxed with a good deal of reading and some walks outside in the Florida sunshine which lends itself to the revival of body, mind and spirit. Yet I did make the effort on one of the days there to travel outside of Naples to the unique location of Ave Maria, Florida, an entire town created around a university designed to cultivate a thoroughly Catholic culture. This wasn’t the first time I had gone there but I did have a rather compelling reason to return as I wanted to view the “Upright Man” which is a life-size sculpture of the man of the Shroud of Turin. The statue was commissioned by Dr. Gilbert Lavoie, a seasonal parishioner of Christ the King Parish, who has devoted much time over nearly five decades to researching, writing, and speaking on the 14-foot linen cloth which seems to have been associated with the burial of Jesus Christ. Being a physician by profession, Dr. Lavoie has contributed significantly to the knowledge that we now have about the blood stains found on the Shroud which were transferred onto it as the body was wrapped in it immediately after death. These blood stains can be shown to have penetrated the cloth before the mysterious image of the man was projected on only the outer surface of the cloth by a means still not yet fully understood. With his knowledge of anatomy, further observations have led Dr. Lavoie to conclude that the man was actually in an upright position when his image was transferred onto the Shroud and thus we may have been given a snapshot of the resurrection! That Christ would die but be raised up again is the most conclusive of the miraculous signs presented in the gospel according to St. John all of which point to the true identity of Jesus as the divine Son of God. All of this information is contained in Dr. Lavoie’s recent book THE SHROUD OF JESUS which is worth reading in preparation for a visit to the statue of The Upright Man, now displayed in the Ark Chapel of the Student Union building on the campus of Ave Maria University. In addition to the statue, there is also an informative exhibit on the Shroud of Turin created by Dr. Lavoie and displayed on the second floor of the University’s Library. Ably and enthusiastically assisting Dr. Lavoie in installing the sculpture of The Upright Man and the Shroud Exhibition is Jeffrey Fenuccio who with his wife, Lauralee, met me and escorted me and a friend around the campus during my visit there last week to see the statue and the exhibition. Yet ” the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say is that I happened to have officiated at the Fenuccio’s wedding more than three decades ago while in my first priestly assignment at St. Pius Tenth Parish in South Yarmouth! In the end, it is a small world, and in the Church, it is often an even smaller one! Yet one is always left to wonder if these types of coincidences are merely that, or are they “ God winks”, which point to God’s abiding presence and thus his divine providence ever at work in our lives and that of those with whom we cross paths? Yet, God wink or not, contemplating the image of The Upright Man is wonder enough to visit the Ark Chapel at Ave Maria very worthwhile!
Prayers for Those Continuing Their Initiation: On Friday evening, May 3rd, Bishop Da Cunha will be present at Christ the King to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with the young people of the parish who have been preparing for it during the past two years. On Sunday, May 5th, young people of the parish who have also been preparing for the past two years will receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist for the first time. These are important milestones along the Christian Journey for these young people and their families so let us pray that the grace offered to them in these initiation sacraments will strengthen and sustain them in faith throughout their lives!
Month’s Mind Mass: On Tuesday, May 7th at noon, one month and one day after his passing, a Mass will be offered for the repose of the soul of Monsignor Ronald A. Tosti, our founding pastor, as is traditionally requested by the Bishop’s Office for the priests of the Diocese of Fall River. Appropriately, the Mass will be celebrated in St. Jude’s Chapel which is part of our present parish complex only because Monsignor Tosti insisted on having it moved here when the new Church and Parish Center was under construction back in 1989. All are most welcome to participate in this Month’s Mind Mass for the priest and pastor who has left us all a great legacy of faith in establishing our parish and creating a beautiful place where we can worship, learn, build community, and do charitable works together as a community of faith.
National Day of Prayer, May 2, 2024: Since officially established as an annual event in 1952 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Truman, a National Day of Prayer is observed every year on the first Thursday of May. The Day of Prayer is founded on the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion which we enjoy as citizens of the United States. It is a day for all people of faith no matter their religion or denomination to offer prayers in the context of their religious traditions for our nation, its citizens, and its leaders, for our security, our well being, and our ability to continue to live and prosper in peace. There is a National Prayer Breakfast held in our nation’s capital and each president traditionally issues a proclamation on this day encouraging all Americans to pray beyond any self-interest for the nation’s greater good. The theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer is “Lift Up the Word, Light Up the Word” based in 2nd Samuel 22: 29-31. For Catholics, every day is a day of prayer, and in every celebration of Mass we are asked to offer petitions for our nation and its leaders as is expressly encouraged in the New Testament Scriptures and so has been a part of traditional Christian worship since the very beginning, still, we should intentionally join with those of other denominations and faiths to pray for the United States, all who govern it, and all who reside within its borders on May 2nd!
April 21, 2024
Seven Weeks of Seven Days: The Season of Easter consists of 49 days which conclude on the 50th with the Feast of Pentecost. Mid-week of this coming week, the 4th Week of Easter, we come to the midpoint of this very special season. As ever, it is a bit curious how we as Catholics are often better about observing the 40 days of Lent than we are the 50 days of Easter; indeed, we seem more inclined to penitential practices and sacrifices than to celebration. We make extra efforts to come to Mass each day of Lent but are not as likely to continue that practice during the celebration of Easter! Yet let us not forget that the purpose of Lent is to make us Easter people, risen and reborn by Lenten penance to the newness of life that is the very heart of Easter’s message So let us make the extra effort to sustain some of the changes we made during Lent in ourselves and our religious and charitable practices to bear witness that there is something new about us which can be a more convincing indication to God and to others of the life of the Risen Christ taking root within us!
Easter Sacraments: Along with Baptism, celebrated most appropriately at Easter and thereafter on Sundays as a mini Easter, so too are the other Sacraments of Initiation, Confirmation, and Eucharist “Easter Sacraments as they bring us new life in Christ. This year Confirmation for the young people of our parish who have been preparing for it will take place on Friday evening May 3rd, and the First Eucharist will take place at mid-day on Sunday, May 5th; sacramental celebration of the Church is ever properly private so all parishioners are certainly welcome to these important liturgical celebrations.
It Took A Parish: The funeral rites celebrated properly for Msgr Tosti as a priest and founding pastor of Christ the King required the planning and participation of many. Sincere gratitude is expressed to the parish staff, the members of the parish music ministry, the deacons, the Knights of Columbus, the ushers, servers, and sacristans whose efforts ensured the proper dignity of the rites. Thanks too to Dwight Giddings, Emmett Davitt, Brian Hyde, and Dr. Nicholas Matas for joining with two of Monsignor’s relatives in accepting the essential role of pallbearer. Thanks are also due to all who came to the services, the wake, and the Funeral Mass, and to the over 1000 people who joined in by livestream. Special thanks to Fr. Chris Hughes who took on the role of MC behind the scenes! Undoubtedly Monsignor Tosti himself is humbled and grateful for the outpouring of respect and affection evident in it all and will be praying for us as we continue to pray for him!
Cursillo: Is Spanish for a “Short Course “ and this one is in Christianity. For many, it is a retreat that affects a life-changing experience as it brings with it the discovery of the basis of Christianity and its fundamental significance to our lives. A Cursillo Retreat begins on a Thursday evening and concludes on a Sunday. They are held at the Holy Cross Retreat House on the grounds of Stonehill College in Easton, MA. The Women’s Cursillo will be April 25-28 and November 21-24. The next Men’s Cursillo will be October 24-27. Please contact the Parish Office or Terri Monroe at 508.564.0222 for additional information.
Jason Evert: This well-known author and speaker will be here at Christ the King this Monday evening, April 22nd, from 6 PM to 9 PM to speak to parents and teens in particular but to any who are interested in the often difficult issues of Chastity and Gender Identity. It is hoped that his presentations will help spark future communications at home between young people and their parents or between trusted grandparents and their teenage grandchildren. The program is jointly sponsored by Our Lady of Victory and Christ the King parishes; the cost is $25 and members of Christ the King Parish will be subsidized $10 by the parish to enable as many as possible to attend. To register go to Chastity.com/purified, or for further information email Billb@olv.org.
April 14, 2024
In Memoriam
Rev. Msgr. Ronald A. Tosti
November 2, 1936 – April 6, 2024
Man Proposes But God Disposes: I thought that I would be waking up in Naples, Florida this morning, Tuesday, April 9th, and remaining there through the 18th as a post-Lent-Holy Week time of refreshment and relaxation before the busy month of May gets into full swing. However, last Saturday after the 4 PM Mass, I took a call that I have long dreaded receiving telling me that our former pastor and my mentor and friend, Monsignor Tosti, had passed away! I had received a call earlier before Confessions and Mass informing me that he had been admitted to Charlton Hospital in Fall River with pneumonia for a man of his age and underlying breathing challenges that are always serious, but he had certainly been down that same path before and always pulled through! This was the time though that he wouldn’t and that in itself has its shocking and stinging effect. There could be no question for even a second that I would have to cancel my plans as I have long known and happily accepted that I would have the sad duty of assisting his beloved cousin Carol in assuring that Monsignor’s final arrangements are carried out according to his wishes. That is something that those who aren’t part of the fraternity of the priesthood may find difficult to understand, but we who accept a celibate and thus childless life form spiritual bonds that are different but nonetheless often similar to those of blood with one another. Thus when an older priest takes you under his wing and lovingly supports you encourages you in your priesthood, mentors you through your challenges, and corrects you in your mistakes, you have a loyalty to him, and most especially a duty to him, based in fraternal affection and on gratitude, that compels you to assure in the end that he will be properly laid to rest. So I will have to rely on divine intervention and inspiration to even hope to do justice to a giant of a man and a priest such as Monsignor Tosti, but I consider it more of a great privilege than a daunting challenge. Yet please do not feel sorry for me that my plans for rest in Florida were interrupted because in hindsight I can see God’s hand in this; first that I wasn’t already there and thus didn’t need to fly back, and
above all, that my calendar was already cleared so that I would have the time needed to prepare as well as I can to fulfill my duty to the best of my ability. I truly feel that this is the very least that I owe to a man and a priest who has done so much for me! In all of this, I am learning once again that God knows better than me, and in his providence, he is taking a situation that would be sad and difficult whenever it occurred and by his timing, not mine, he is easing some of the burden of it to the extent that is possible! So I can say with Ecclesiastes – God makes everything appropriate to its time, and with Job, I can concur, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes, blessed be the Lord!”
The Real Presence: Do you want to learn more about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Can you answer questions about why Catholics believe Christ is present in the Eucharist? Or how that belief helps us to see the Lord in others? Does your faith help you to believe? We invite you to join fellow parishioners to continue the lifelong journey of growing in your love and desire for God, recognizing Him in both the Blessed Sacrament and in the presence of your neighbors. Meetings will be held in small groups at each other’s homes to foster our ability to become better acquainted with others in our parish. The books we will be using will soon be available and it is hoped that the gatherings can start at the beginning of May. ALL ARE INVITED! ALL ARE WELCOME! Express your interest by calling Jeane at 508-360-5570 with what times are convenient for you.
Teen and Family Speaker- Jason Evert- CTK -April 22nd, 6 PM -9 PM: Along with Our Lady of Victory Parish we will cohost Jason Evert a well-known and effective speaker for two talks on difficult subjects which will be handled with down-to-earth practicality and even humor! The topics are Chastity and Gender Identity and are of interest to parents and teens, as well as other adults. These presentations will certainly make the delicate and often difficult conversations around these important topics, which should then continue at home much easier to handle! The program will conclude with praise and worship, Adoration, and the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jason Evert is a best-selling author of more than ten books including THEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOR TEENS and HOW TO FIND YOUR SOULMATE WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL. The cost of the tickets is $25 each and these may be obtained by visiting: Chastity.com/purified. For more information, email Billb@olvparish.org Christ the King Parishioners will be reimbursed $10 per ticket by the parish, as this is a program that should not be missed and we want to make your attendance possible!
April 7, 2024
IT TAKES A PARISH: Having now completed the Sacred Triduum, the most holy days and important liturgies of our Church Year, many are prone to thank the clergy for their efforts to make these days what they are meant to be, however, in reality it takes a whole parish! So thanks are also due to the parish staff, the sacristans, and the operators of the live stream whose work behind the scenes is not only helpful but essential! Thanks are also due to the ushers who keep order, who show hospitality, and who organize the collections! In the liturgy itself are the servers, the lectors, the Eucharistic Ministers who along with the clergy make the liturgy happen, and the musicians, cantors, and choir members who add an essential element of solemnity and inspiration to our worship! We should not forget the daily work of the dedicated crew from our garden ministry who keep the sanctuary appropriately decorated with live plants at Easter and beyond, a work that can be quite challenging in a season of 50 days! Last in mention but first in importance are you the faithful worshippers who contribute to the flowers, the upkeep of our house of worship, the support of the clergy and staff, and who come regularly to pray and sing and thus glorify God because without you there would be little purpose, nor possibility for the Church itself or any of its ministers or staff to be here; So thanks be to God and to all!
OUR MISSION TERRITORY: Daily now the grass is growing greener while the yellow daffodils and forsythia, sure signs of change, are emerging in ever greater numbers; thus the death of nature that is Winter is surely yielding to the new life of Spring. At the same time, we now emerge from 40 days of Lenten observances to 50 days of Easter celebration – hopefully, enabled by our penitential dying to anything about us that is incongruent with the gospel to a newness of life in Christ. Yet meanwhile, hostages are still held in captivity, and the crisis of displacement, destruction, and now near starvation escalates among Palestinians in Gaza. Russian aggression continues to wage war against an independent Ukraine. Much closer to our own backyard civil order in Haiti has all but disappeared increasing the number of people whose intolerable circumstances cause them to dream and desire a better life within our nation’s borders. Yet even here in a place envied by many life can be less than safe and serene! Gun violence among teens is now increasing at an alarming rate. Daily we must hear that the right to destroy life in the womb for whatever reason must be kept inviolable in our country! During a national election year, the vitriol of partisan politics amid that of the ongoing culture wars seems to reduce our national dialogue to little more than a most contentious and irresolvable debate! Soon marijuana dispensaries will far outnumber houses of worship and the number of people under the influence of substances at any given moment is frightening to even think about! Indeed, we as Easter people are supposed to be reemerging renewed in our Christian convictions and conduct from our Lenten retreat, yet the challenge is that we must do so in a world and a culture around us that is unchanged if not further declining! From our early beginnings in the pagan Roman empire which was often quite hostile towards it, Christianity survived because it was radically communal in nature, that is, Christians stuck together and supported one another in their faith and its practice. In our increasingly secular contemporary world, we will not stand much of a chance of long survival unless we learn once again to do the same! The greatest threat to Christianity is the Individualism that is the zeitgeist of present-day Western culture and which has perniciously crept into even the lives of many of the baptized. This might be evident to us as we found it difficult to occupy our favorite pew last Sunday yet where are all those people this Sunday? Minus the visitors who have returned to their homes elsewhere, many of those who might be here each Sunday are nearly always absent! They do not think that it is necessary to join with other believers to hear the Word and receive the Eucharist every Sunday. Many believe they can pray on their own and engage in good works and that will qualify them as Christians! Yet it isn’t possible to persevere in authentic Christian belief adequate to actually influence one’s outlook and manner of daily living without weekly worship. What they seem not to grasp is that it isn’t just Church authority requiring worship but actually the commandments of God. In the plan of the Lord himself especially in his desire to remain with us he offers us the means of being alive in him through hearing his word and receiving his sacrament! That is why Jesus told those who were listening to him at the Synagogue in Capernaum that unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood they will not have life within them! Indeed, Jesus himself has made it clear that the Eucharist is a necessity not a mere nicety for those who wish to follow him! So our task becomes clear, there are many Catholics who have lost sight of this essential truth, so we don’t have to travel far to find them, we should begin here in our own region of Cape Cod to seek those who are missing from Mass on a regular basis for no other reason than they simply do not know or appreciate the importance of being here. Only by uniting themselves with us and we being reunited with them do we have the strength through mutual support to truly walk in the newness of life amid the same old, same old contemporary, and often disturbing secular life!
CURSILLO: This is the Spanish word for “a short course of instruction” and this one is in Christianity! For many, this can be a life-changing experience, which brings with it the discovery of the basics of Christianity and its fundamental significance to our lives. A Cursillo Retreat begins on a Thursday evening and concludes on a Sunday. They are held at the Holy Cross Retreat House on the grounds of Stonehill College in Easton, MA. The Women’s Cursillo will be April 25-28 and November 21-24. The next Men’s Cursillo will be October 24-27. Please contact the Parish Office or Terri Monroe at 508.564.0222 for additional information.
ECHO ( Encountering Christ in Others) is the child of Cursillo and thus is a weekend retreat experience for young people of high school age. This weekend an ECHO Retreat is being conducted for girls here on Cape Cod. . Please pray for the work of the dedicated team members among whom are Fr. Chris Hughes and our parishioner, Cheryl Ryan, that they will succeed in reaching these young women to ignite or reinvigorate their faith! .
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
Walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostella; August 5th to 15th 2024: presently 21 people are preparing to walk this 100km route together, yet staying in hotels rather than hostels, and having the assurance that a van with their luggage and lunch is traveling along side of them! A few more pilgrims are most welcome to join, you may do so by visiting the website of 206 Tours and typing “Camino- Fr. Healey” in the search bar.
Southern Italy and Rome- Holy Year of Hope- 2025; February 17th -28th, 20225: Begins by visiting the Shrine of Padre Pio in Sana Giovanni Rotondo, includes Monte San Angelo, the Shrine of St. Nicholas in Bari, Matera, Alberobello, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Bay of Naples including Pompeii and Monte Cassino, Concludes in Rome visiting its major sites, attending a general audience with the Pope and the opportunity to walk through the Holy Year Door at the Vatican. Brochures will soon be available – contact Kellie in the parish office.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
EASTER MASSES – Vigil -Saturday, March 30th – 7:00 PM, Sunday, March 31st – 8:00 AM, 9:30 AM, 11:00 AM, Please note there is Saturday 4:00 PM Vigil nor 5:30 PM Sunday Mass on Easter!
Confessions: In Preparation for The Sacred Triduum the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available on Monday, March 25th from 2:30 to 5:30 PM in the Church. Please note that in accord with an ancient tradition that as we remember the passion and death of Christ the sacraments are not celebrated except for absolute emergencies from the end of the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper until the Solemn Vigil of Easter.
Renewing Our Promises: For Christian and Joan, who were newly initiated into the Church last Easter, this Easter will be observed as the first anniversary of that pivotal moment in their lives when through the Sacraments of Initiation they passed from death to new life in the risen Christ. They will relive that while it is still fresh in their memories. as they are invited along with the whole congregation to renew the promises of their baptism at Easter in solidarity with Terri and Danielle who are our candidates for full initiation this year. We are asked to better appreciate then how it was in the first centuries when formal initiation into the Church took place primarily at Easter after a process of conversion similar to that which has been revived in our day and is facilitated through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Many “cradle Catholics” are unaware of the date of their baptisms as infants or that of their confirmation and first communion and so those dates pass year after year largely unnoticed and thus unobserved in any way even though these are some of the most important anniversaries as they carry not only temporal but eternal significance. Thus in a sense, all of us are being asked to adopt Easter as the observance of the anniversary of our initiation into the Body of Christ. The renewal of our baptismal promises which takes place at each Mass of Easter should then be one of the most significant aspects of our annual celebration of this Paschal Feast and a day of thanksgiving that we have hope of being saved from final death by having been incorporated into the Body of Christ whose resurrection is our hope of victory over death. Thus we might better understand what Lent is fundamentally all about which is to prepare ourselves through repentance and ongoing conversion to renew those baptismal promises not just rotely but with sincerity and thus integrity! So at this juncture with just about a week to go, we have to answer the challenging question for ourselves as to how prepared we are to do this. As we do we may realize that it becomes all the more important to live the upcoming week not as just any other week of the year but as a one truly holy as we set it apart for God! A Flyer is available which reminds us of all the opportunities we are offered to make this coming week holy including the experience of the Sacrament of Reconciliation also known appropriately as “Second Baptism” and all the times of communal prayer in the liturgy to supplement those of our private prayer at home, So let us take full advantage of these helps to increase holiness before we come to Mass at the Vigil of Easter or on Easter Sunday and are invited speak our baptismal promises again. Indeed, let us plan to use the week ahead well and embrace the opportunities it provides with sufficient zeal such that when we express our belief in Jesus Christ and our promise to keep living that faith in his church our words will not ring empty but rather be deeply sincere.
The Jewish Roots of Holy Week: This week’s Adult Formation Session will focus on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday and will surely enrich our understanding of what we are doing and why as we re-present (anamnesis in Greek = make present again) these events in the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum. Dr. Brant Pitre presents his biblical research and that of others to deepen our knowledge of the saving purpose of Jesus in all that unfolded during these holy days; all are encouraged to attend the 50-minute presentations on Sunday at 9:30 AM or 4:30 PM, or on Monday at 9:15 AM.
Police Protection Required: Two weeks ago I had the privilege of addressing the monthly breakfast hosted by the Brotherhood of the Falmouth Jewish Community about my experiences in the Holy Land across 14 pilgrimages and the unique circumstances of my most recent visit there this past October. Besides recounting what we faced being in Israel as the massacre of October 7th took place and the challenges to finding a flight home thereafter, I sought to highlight the common ground we find with our Jewish brothers and sisters in a land that is holy to us all as people of faith. While we may understand Jesus from different perspectives both Christians and Jews can recognize him as a faithful Jewish man of the late Second Temple period. Thus Jews can learn something of their faith as it was practiced in the first third of the first century from the gospel accounts and we can learn much about Jesus and the development of our practices from Judaism too. What was nice about the gathering was that it was composed of both members of the Jewish Community along with Catholics who were invited as guests. The hospitality with which we as guests were welcomed was both warm and gracious and it was possible to leave there with a feeling that we had in some small way further strengthened the bonds that should exist between us all as descendants of Abraham. The only upsetting aspect of the experience if there was one, was that there was the presence of a police car parked at the entrance to the Jewish Community Center during this otherwise peaceful event. This is the Jewish Community’s regular practice in hopes that a police presence will serve as a deterrent to any disruption whenever they have a large gathering. This is a reminder of the sad and disturbing reality of ever-present but now increasing antisemitism and the potential for consequent violence these days. Worse though is that antisemitism is on the rise even among some who call themselves Christians! These are Christians of a brand who have no appreciation of the very deep Jewish roots of authentic Christian belief and practice, and thus the respectful bonds that should exist among us. Indeed, when Christians do not fully understand Jesus as a faithful Jew, nor appreciate his purpose as fulfilling rather than replacing Jewish beliefs and practices, it is like living in a house without any foundation, we would have no solid base upon which to stand! On Good Friday we read the passion account from the 4th Gospel which was edited at the end of the first century when Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not were starting to part ways, thus we will sense in its lines an underlying bitterness toward “the Jews”. While that is not toward all Jews as many of those for whom the gospel was written identified themselves as being Jewish, rather it was aimed at the leaders of Synagogues in that day who had begun to prohibit membership to those who believed Jesus to be the Messiah. Such a resentment was a reality in the circumstances of that last decade of the first century but has absolutely no place being perpetuated among Christians in any age thereafter most especially in our own day! Thus let us be ever aware of the dangers of antisemitism being expressed in any way and ever vigilant to challenge it should its hateful and ugly head be raised in our presence!
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Stations and a Simple Supper– Friday, March 22nd: – Stations will be prayers at 5 PM in the Church followed by a simple meatless meal of Soup, Salad, Bread, and Jello for which a free will ill offering is asked to not only cover the cost of the food being served but to also contribute to the charities we have designated as recipients of our Lenten Almsgiving: Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Near East Welfare Association, and The Matthew 25 Fund. Let’s join together in the Lenten penance of abstaining from meat on Fridays and also refrain from acquiring or preparing a more substantial and expensive meal so that we may be in solidarity with those who do not have a choice but to eat simply if at all each day. Please RSVP by March 19th using the forms at the entrances to the Church and Chapel so that our Hospitality Committee can plan accordingly!
Happy Patronal Feast Days: We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this weekend and St. Joseph’s Day on Tuesday and are aware of how these days are observed by many now no matter their nationality. Yet let us not forget that these two feasts have their origin as holy days for Patron Saints of specific nations. So as we celebrate these special days let us pray for the lands where these feasts originated and the people whose heritage is there, that all will remember the faith in which these feast days are so deeply rooted and continue or return to its faithful practice!
Holy Week: One day each week (Sunday) and one week each year (Holy Week) belong to God who gifts us with whatever time we are allotted to live so it is only right to offer a portion of it back to him in thanksgiving! Holy Week begins next Sunday which is Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and continues through to Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection. The regular Sunday Mass schedule is in effect on Palm Sunday. On Easter Weekend the schedule is different as there is no other Mass except the Vigil of Easter at 7 PM on Holy Saturday evening nor is a 5:30 PM Mass celebrated on Easter Sunday evening. The morning schedule on Easter Sunday must accommodate 3 Masses to be celebrated at 8:00 AM, 9:30 AM, and 11:00 AM. Please note the changes in time are for Easter Weekend only and plan accordingly!
Mass during Holy Week is celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 8:30 AM, and 5:30 PM on Tuesday. On Holy Thursday there is no morning Mass only the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:00 PM which inaugurates the Sacred Triduum of the Lord’s Passover, the holiest days of our year as Catholics. The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday is rightly celebrated at 3 PM which is understood to be the very hour of Christ’s death. The first and most solemn celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection is at the Vigil of Easter at 7:00 PM on Holy Saturday Evening. By ancient tradition, the sacraments are not celebrated on Good Friday nor Holy Saturday until the Vigil of Easter, so Confessions in preparation for the Sacred Triduum and Easter will be available on Monday of Holy Week from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM in both reconciliation rooms in the Church. As morning Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours will be prayed communally at 9 AM on each of those days. Please read and re-read this message carefully and then clear your calendars now and mark them with the times of the Holy Week liturgies to fully participate in this most solemn celebration of the Lord’s Passover through suffering and death to resurrected life!
Adult Formation: Having Completed our sessions on the Fourth Cup of the Passover Celebration – we will now begin the Jewish Roots of Holy Week. This should be a very timely study as we approach the holiest week and days within that week of our Church Year. Due to the celebration of St Patrick’s Day the session on this Sunday at 9:30 AM, 4:30 PM and Monday at 9:30 AM will not be in the Parish Hall but in a classroom in the Religious Education wing. As these sessions are new and do not depend on having attended the earlier ones, new participants are most welcome and encouraged to attend!
Cursillo: Perhaps those who have not yet experienced a retreat, or it has been a long time since they have done so would consider the “Short Course in Christianity” known by its Spanish name CURSILLO. It is a life-changing experience, which brings with it the discovery of the basis of Christianity and its fundamental significance to our lives. These retreats, which begin on a Thursday evening and conclude on a Sunday are held at the Holy Cross Retreat House on the grounds of Stonehill College in Easton, MA. Dates for the Men’s Cursillo will be March 21-24 and October 24-27. The Women’s Cursillo will be April 25-28 and November 21-24. Please contact the Parish Office or Terri Monroe at 508.564.0222 for additional information.
Sunday, March 11, 2024
Stations and a Simple Supper-March 22nd 5 PM to 7 PM: an opportunity to sacrifice in solidarity with those who are suffering: Most of us do not have to endure the anxiety of not knowing if we will have sufficient food for ourselves or our families today yet the people of Gaza certainly do! If we don’t feel like cooking, many of us can enjoy a meal out at a restaurant. Still, along the battlefronts in Ukraine, you would not be able to relax in a commercial district vulnerable to a target of shelling or bombing. While these are places of deprivation and suffering most on our minds as they are presently in the news each day, there are other areas of the world where life choices and simple enjoyments are also quite limited if they exist at all due to poverty, political instability, or disasters both natural and manmade. We who can shop for food in stores that are well supplied and not be limited in our choices due to lack of money or who can dine out frequently without risk of danger to ourselves and our families are invited to place ourselves in solidarity with those who can’t have what we have or do what we do. The opportunity to do this comes toward the end of Lent each year in the Simple Supper which is held following the Stations of the Cross on the Friday before Holy Week. The idea is that we who are called to abstinence from meat and other penitential acts of self-denial on Lenten Fridays should join together in those efforts by sharing a simple meatless communal meal before the Lenten season comes to an end. When we do that, we are invited to also place ourselves in solidarity with Gazans, Ukrainians, and all those in troubled places throughout the world who are uncertain of enjoying a sufficient meal that can be eaten in peace. Recognizing that Catholic Relief Services operates in such places around the world in our name to bring people in desperate need some supplies and sustenance, we in a sense pay for our simple supper with a donation to that charitable agency. While the offering is not a fixed charge but free will, the amount we donate should be guided by what we might regularly be able to afford should we have gone out to eat locally be it to Bobby Byrnes, 99, Asia, Siena, Trevi, Estia or Bleu! While our Hospitality Ministry will do the cooking and serving of our simple meatless supper of soup, salad, and bread, and will certainly deserve our gratitude for their service they will be happy that the tip we might have paid also be given to our charitable cause! So let us join together on Friday, March 22nd to pray the Stations of the Cross at 5 PM in the Church and then be mindful of those who must presently carry a heavy cross of suffering in the war-ravaged and other troubled areas of the world intentionally place ourselves in solidarity with them as we take a simple meal and for their sake contribute as if it were a more costly one at a local restaurant knowing that our generosity will offer those who suffer some relief!
Calling All Strong Men of Faith: While that may sound similar to a military recruitment call it is an invitation to join together with other men as a force for good in the Church and the world as Knights of Columbus. It was Columbus himself who planted the Cross of Christ in the New World and it is up to us to continue to express that faith, especially in action, and the K of C can provide the opportunity for men of faith to join together in fraternal charity and good works. This weekend at all the Masses the Christ the King Council 13388 of the K of C will be inviting new members to join; please carefully consider that call!
Set Apart for God: Those few simple words are an adequate definition of “holy”! So let us take out our calendars now and draw a line from Saturday evening March 23rd to Saturday evening March 30th and write “N.U.A.” ( no unnecessary activities) in large letters across those days so that we might truly make that week holy! The Holy Week/Sacred Triduum Schedule will be published in next week’s Bulletin but for purposes of planning with relatives and friends remember that Easter Sunday Masses are on a different schedule to comfortably accommodate three on that morning – 8 AM, 9:30 AM, and 11 AM. There will not be a 5:30 PM Evening Mass celebrated on Easter Sunday!
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Alabama Court Not Entirely Wrong: The news is presently full of reports of the implications of a recent decision of the Superior Court in the State of Alabama to declare human embryos “children” specifically those produced in a clinical lab for purposes of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF ) If this is what the court said it is a bit unfortunate, as technically embryos are not yet children but when created using human zygotes they are in truth nothing other than human beings. Some may want to say “potential human beings” but more accurately they are human beings with potential! This is why IVF, although a solution for many couples to the heartbreak of infertility or others now a means to circumvent the coupling relationship of male and female that is fundamental to human reproduction, is not without its moral problems. The reason is that in the process of IVF not merely one but multiple eggs are fertilized to become human embryos but only one at a time is implanted in the womb of the mother to see if it will fulfill its inherent potential to develop into a human fetus, then an infant and ultimately a child. The question then arises of what is to be done with any remaining embryos and in the current response to that question is found the fundamental moral problem. It is reported that some embryos are frozen for future attempts at pregnancy, others perhaps donated to science, but many are simply destroyed. So if an embryo is undeniably a human being then as such does it have intrinsic value or are human beings only of value if they are useful for the purposes of other human beings who have control over them and thus can determine whether they merit the opportunity to live or not? Truly, our Creator designed human beings, the crown of all creation, as rational/ emotional beings who would bear children not just out of an animal act but in the context of a committed relationship through an act of love. In the divine plan, humans are not meant to reproduce merely but to procreate in the likeness of God who creates only out of authentic love. Any other means, contexts, or motives of conception for childbearing fall short of the ideals God has set before us and thus are seldom without moral difficulties. Undoubtedly, the desire of married couples and their quest to conceive and bear a child is truly a noble one, but we must wonder in the case of IVF if the means truly justify the ends. The ultimate question that must be asked in the face of all controversial issues regarding life is whether this action to be taken is truly in accord with the plan of the Author of Life for our human lives which are his special creation and care? Life is God’s gift to us, entrusted to us for our stewardship, not our ultimate control, therefore all life but especially human life is to be respected and protected, not unnecessarily manipulated or exploited for personal ends, and certainly never intentionally destroyed! In the face of the moral mess that we are currently making concerning conception and childbearing in our contemporary world where many are obviously able to become pregnant yet don’t want to bear a child and others who want to bear a child are unable to do so, one is left to consider if there isn’t a great divine economy regarding human life? Indeed, perhaps instead of seeking out costly, difficult procedures fraught with moral problems to have a child perhaps in the plan of God, there is meant to be an adoption for every potential abortion!
Adult Enrichment: The Fourth Cup and the New Passover: In this presentation by Dr. Brant Pitre, we will learn that four cups of wine were served and ceremoniously consumed at the Passover Meal in the days of Jesus. From the gospel accounts of the Last Supper, it appears that Jesus took three and declared he would not drink the fourth! Why?, Which of the cups did Jesus declare to be his blood? Why? What is the significance of the fourth cup to his passion and death? These and many other questions will be answered in this presentation which is available on Sunday at 9:30 AM, or 4:30 PM and on Monday at 9:15 AM. All are encouraged to take the time to be informed and enriched by this knowledge; attendance at the previous presentation is not necessary to benefit from this one.
Tackling Our Project in 3 Stages: Thanks to the tremendous generosity of those who have already contributed to support our project to properly house our extensive weekly food pantry and the future generosity of those who have not yet contributed but will as they are able, it may be possible to divide our project into three phases. The first phase would require carefully packing up and storing the contents of our present library to begin renovating the space behind the stage vacated by the library as an adequate storage area for the pantry supplies. Once that is accomplished, the last quarter of the Parish Hall which is presently used for food storage for the pantry may then be transformed into the new library and conference area. Once those two phases have been accomplished the remaining resources from our ongoing capital campaign will be used when these are adequate to extend the building beyond the new pantry storage area as a reception room for our pantry clients. On days that this final addition is not being used for the pantry, it can serve as a much-needed additional gathering space for larger self-help groups as well as parish meetings, catechetical sessions, smaller funeral collations, and social events. Thus far we have received $625,546 from 276 donors in gifts and pledges toward our goal of raising $2 million for this important and long overdue project; let us all wholeheartedly commit to continue praying and acting to help to see all this through to full and final completion!