Dear Parish Family, It’s hard to believe that another year of Faith Formation has come and gone. Sunday was our last Faith Formation class for the year. This year has been especially challenging due to continued covid issues and not having a faith formation coordinator. Tina has been an unbelievable asset! She has done the bulk of the work with communicating to families, organizing classes and materials, keeping track of attendance…and the list goes on.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Everyday when I celebrate Mass some words and phrases stand out more than others. Lately I have been focusing on the sign of peace that we have refrained from since the pandemic. It is a powerful prayer and currently has so much meaning for us all. It reads “Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: Peace, I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant us peace and unity in accordance with your will…”
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Our Easter celebrations continue as we celebrate the outpouring of the graces of our Sacramental life as The Catholic Community of Sacred Heart. We have welcomed 15 young people who made their First Eucharist, to the table of the Bread and on Friday the 13th (Yikes) 19 of our young people will be Confirmed by Bishop McManus at Sacred Heart Parish in Milford. The waters of Baptism continue to flow as we welcome children into our parish community in their first sacrament of initiation.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” I thought my mother came up with that quote, but it is attributed to Lewis Carroll. Right now, I know why he and my mother used the quote. There seem to be so many things happening and I am trying to keep up. So, I am going to try to help us all focus on two tasks that need to be brought to conclusion. Partners in Charity and our input for the Synod on Synodality (what?) which I have mentioned several times since last October.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, We are all invited to share our gifts, skills, and talents here in the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart. I wish to thank all those who answered the call to assist us in our Lenten and Holy Week journey: altar servers, cantors, greeters, readers of the word, ushers, environment decorations, musicians, laundry, Easter Fire, landscape workers, Easter Baskets to our homebound and assisted living facilities, operating the technology for a/v and live streaming; our Pastoral Planning Team (PPT) for the survey; and so much more. When everyone takes a part it all fits together for a memorable spiritual and religious experience for us all.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Some of you may remember the song by Johnny Lee “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” I am thinking of that song, not because I have an ear worm, but rather the idea that we may be looking for Easter in all the wrong places and looking for Easter with Good Friday eyes! I think of the grief filled eyes of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They were so filled with Good Friday grief that they were unable to recognize Jesus walking with them until they finally sat down and looked into his eyes and had a meal. They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, As we gather for Holy Week it is good to take some time to review the Lenten journey we are making as the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart. We were asked to take a wrist band to identify us when we are “off campus” and take the risk to talk with other members of the community regarding the Lenten faith journey. How did you do? We prayed each week, “Holy Spirit, guide us on our Lenten journey.” Listening to the Holy Spirit begins with sharpening our skills in listening to each other. How did you do? Our homily series focused on being on this faith journey, not in isolation but together; “To be or not to be church.” Church is not a building; it is the community that gathers as the people of God. We were encouraged to take the risk to reach out to others. How did you do?
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Last week I shared why I continue to wear a mask at communion, and I still came down with a cold or the flu that took me out of the loop for the weekend. I have no idea where I encountered a virus or a bacterial infection, and probably will never know. I wore a mask for Mass on Tuesday at Draper Place. I wear a mask at Countryside, the hospital, and Blaire House for visits on Wednesday. Thursday night I was down and out. In any case, may it be a reminder to us all, that this is not over. Good news, I am on the mend and plan on being with you this weekend.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Several people have asked why I continue to wear my mask at communion. I wear it to protect you! Every Wednesday I bring communion to Countryside Nursing Home and Blair House, visit our parishioners in the hospital, including patients in ICU, and the Emergency room. At Countryside I get my weekly Covid-19 rapid test before I visit individuals. In any of my visits I could be exposed to Covid-19 and so I wear a mask at Communion just in case I am asymptomatic. I do not want to expose anyone to this virus when we are in such close quarters during communion.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, We continue our Lenten journey, guided by the Holy Spirit. I am hoping that we are all sharpening our listening skills as we listen well to each other, so that we can listen well to the movement of the Holy Spirit. This is a season of prayer, fasting and acts of charity. I thank you all for your assistance to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. This first week we received $2,410.00; we will continue to leave the rectangular basket in place this weekend for that purpose. Of course, if you write Ukraine on an envelope, we will make sure it is included in our tally.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, If you are feeling overwhelmed or out of sorts with everything happening in our world, which we have no control over; join the club. It is Lent and this is a season of prayer, fasting and acts of charity. As part of our acts of charity, we will be holding a special collection for our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine this weekend and next. There will be a rectangular basket in the middle aisle for that purpose; or you can mark an envelope with Ukraine on it and it will be tallied. All parishes in our Diocese will be pooling their resources for this purpose.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Right after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for 40 days. From this we get our annual Season of Lent. This is a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, I am sure we all have had an earworm from time to time; you know a catchy song or tune that runs continually through your mind. I always went wild when I had an earworm, until I had a spiritual director that told me to pay attention to the message given you by an earworm. This week the song “Slow Down” has invaded by mind and what a message it is for all of us as we stand on the threshold of Lent. As I reflect on the idea of slowing down, I think of Jesus walking with the disciples on the way to Emmaus who are so overcome with grief that they do not recognize it is Jesus until they sit down at table and break bread together.
Dear Parish Family: It’s hard to believe that Lent is right around the corner, but it is! I am always intrigued about how other cultures celebrate the feasts and seasons, so I thought I’d do a bit of research. Did you know…
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Pope Francis has invited all Catholics throughout the world to join in a two-year process of listening and dialogue in the church by participating in The Synod on Synodality. It is a five-phase process. 1. Listening and Dialogue throughout each (arch) diocese 2. Input from each diocese is complied and reflected upon nationally 3. Regional Reflections are submitted 4. In 2023 Bishop’s reflect on input from every region 5. Reach out and Evangelization to all peoples
Dear Fellow Parishioners, A sincere thank you to all who helped Joe clear the walks and the steps of the church on Sunday morning in time for us to celebrate the 9:30 Mass. We had many households watching the livestream and now I am hearing that there was a glitch in the broadcast. I want to encourage you to take the time to listen/watch the homily on the Sacraments of Healing, because in we are all hurting either in body, mind, or spirit; sometimes a combination of the three. To watch go to, https://sacredhearthopedale.org/mass-video
Dear Fellow Parishioners, This weekend we continue our journey through the Sacraments as we grow in our understanding of the Sacraments of Healing. How appropriate it is that the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession or Penance for the pre-Vatican II people) and the Sacrament of the Sick (Last rites or Extreme Unction again for the pre-Vatican II crowd) are called Sacraments of Healing. As Deacon Tom was preaching this weekend on Holy Orders and Matrimony, I was thinking of those people who have been wounded in relationships and those who may have been abused by a person of the church or some other organization where trust has been broken.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Our homily series The Vow is a journey through the Sacraments. It is important that from time to time we review the importance and meaning of the Sacraments as we are a Sacramental people. This week I am eager to listen to Deacon Tom preach about the Sacraments of Vocation and Service.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Last week I talked about the challenge of building our community during a pandemic. I am going to ask us all to work together to do just that. Why are we the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart? We are a community not just to worship together but to carry each other’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the love of Christ. We have each other’s back.
Dear Fellow Parishioners, Last week I talked about the challenge of building our community during a pandemic. I am going to ask us all to work together to do just that. Why are we the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart? We are a community not just to worship together but to carry each other’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the love of Christ. We have each other’s back.