I have an announcement to make about this summer’s Mass schedule. For the past two summers I have gone away to Washington D.C. for Canon Law studies at Catholic University of America. This summer I will go away as well. After receiving feedback from several parishioners, tallying Mass attendance for a few weekends, and seeing what priests would be available to cover the Masses here, I have decided to reduce the Mass schedule for the months of June and July. Starting June 1st, the Sunday Mass schedule will be 8:30am and 10:30am. I am not making this change because of the lack of attendance at Mass or because our parish is declining. In fact, our parish is doing very well with increasing numbers at weekend Masses (albeit not so many that we would exceed capacity with one less Mass). Instead, we have a shortage of priests and finding coverage is becoming more difficult. Sadly, this year the diocese will have no priestly ordinations. So, this change is needed. I know that people prefer earlier Mass times. I hope that 8:30 will serve as a compromise. The Mass schedule will return to 7:30am, 9:00am, and 10:30am August 3rd.
In other news I am always impressed by the generosity of our parish. We raised around $3,000.00 to help the Holy Spirit Sisters build an addition to their school in Tanzania. This school serves orphan children by providing a future through education. Our Lenten Food Drive for the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen gathered 450 lbs. At the same time, we also managed to continue our donations to JPII St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry with a total of 283 lbs. of food delivered. Incredible. Thank you to everyone who supported these efforts.
This week the conclave to elect our next Holy Father should begin. We pray that the Holy Spirit guide the cardinals’ decision and that our Lord bless us with a holy shepherd to lead His Church.