Category: From the Pastor’s Desk (Page 42 of 76)

A SPECIAL WORD OF THANKS

Dissatisfied with the size of the parish oil bills from last winter,  Margaret Sweeney, who provides management services to our parish office, put on her thinking cap and did some research.  Through her good efforts and negotiations, we estimate that the parish will save about $7500 in the cost of heating oil in the upcoming winter

With the US Conference of Catholic Bishops focusing these days on the Eucharistic Presence of Christ, and with the Sunday Scriptures urging us to “seek what is above,” it seems timely to review the Church’s legal regulation of the Body of Christ as it is reserved and respected in a parochial setting.  Canon law refers to the Most Blessed Eucharist as the “source and summit” of the Catholic faith.  It is “the most venerable sacrament in which Christ the Lord himself is contained, offered, and received, and by which the Church continually lives and grows (c. 897).” 

Given that, it is no wonder that “the key to the tabernacle, in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved, must be safeguarded most diligently by the pastor, the primary custodian of the Eucharist in a parish church or oratory (c. 938, §5), and that any danger of profanation is prevented to the greatest extent possible (GIRM, n. 314).” 

Further, this time-honored concern is addressed in Nullo Unquam Tempore; the 1938 Instruction from the Congregation for Holy Sacraments:  “The key of the tabernacle, in which the Most Holy Sacrament is kept, should be guarded with the utmost diligence, its custody resting as a grave burden of conscience on the priest who has charge of the church or oratory … the key must be kept by the priest in charge of the oratory or church, or kept in the sacristy in a safe and secret place, under lock and key … he can give this latter to the sacristan during such time as he is absent and the key of the tabernacle may be needed.”

The canons and other legislative documents of the Church are very clear that there are not to be alternative keys to the tabernacle “floating around.”  If someone has need of the tabernacle key, then it should be kept in a location under another key or code that the individual deputed by the pastor can have access to rather than keeping the tabernacle key. 

With prayerful best wishes,

Fr. John Mahoney

Dear Parishioners and Visitors,

This weekend’s passage from St. Luke’s Gospel issues a call to action for all Christians.  Did you know that your generous contributions to the poor box in our church are administered by the Parish Outreach Committee and find their way directly to those in need?  Over recent months, your donations have funded tuition to summer camp for two area children who could not have attended camp otherwise, have helped to purchase a washing machine and dryer for the local facility for veterans, have provided groceries and toiletries to the food insecure, and have helped people in our neighborhood to meet the demands of rising utilities bills.  

God bless you for caring for others!

Fr. John Mahoney

Dear Parishioners and Visitors:

In the gospel passage for this weekend, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray “The Lord’s Prayer.”  On a similar note, no one knows who put together the series of Bible verses and intercessions we know as “The Hail Mary.”  Forms of this prayer existed in the 6th-century Eastern church, by the 11^th century it was included in the “Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” and it came into wider use in the 16th century as the Crusaders invoked Mary to assist their quest to recapture the Holy Land.

The prayer is grounded in Scripture with the angel’s greeting to Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” It continues with Elizabeth’s blessing on her young cousin during their visitation: “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Elizabeth offers a standard Jewish birth-blessing which praises the mother for the child she carries. While we think of it as a Marian prayer, the Hail Mary is literally Christ-centered. 

The Hail Mary also acknowledges that Mary of Nazareth, a young girl whose faith in God is strong and true, is elevated to the status of Abraham, whose faith made him the father of nations. The Jewish community identifies itself as Abraham’s children. It’s fitting that Christians perceive themselves as the children of Mary, our mother in faith.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Fr. John Mahoney

William Frank Sincavage Woodstock Cemetery Committal      July 23, 2022

Marie Duquette Riverside Cemetery Committal  July 27, 2022