Pastor's Blog

Dear Parishioners, In January 2011, Cardinal Sean established an Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission and stated that the particular work of the Commission was to develop a recommendation for a pastoral plan for the Archdiocese that identifies the resources available for the foreseeable future. The Pastoral Plan recommended by the Commission is entitled "Discip ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, The brilliant and fast changing colors of Fall will soon be replaced by the leaves turning brown and falling to the earth to lie dormant until a new Spring with new life and new growth. The Church, too, is fast approaching the end of the liturgical year. This week we celebrate the Twenty-eighth week in Ordinary Time. This is all predicated by the da ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, Last week we spoke about our Parish Pastoral Council, the history of such Councils and what the future of the Parish Councils is. I mentioned that the Parish Council is a consultative body made up of the Pastor, Deacon and the Religious Ed Directors, ex officio and supplemented by remaining members elected by a parish-wide vote. At last week&rs ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, St. Mark, in his Gospel, quotes Jesus when he says: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation." This command of Christ has inspired countless men and women throughout the Church’s history to give themselves to the work of spreading the good news. The Second Vatican Council repeated and renewed this mandate of the Lord ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, In January 2011 Cardinal Sean O’Malley established an Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission. The group was comprised of a bishop, pastors, deacons, religious, lay ecclesial ministers and members of parish staffs, school leaders and parishioners with families. The work of the commission was to develop a recommendation for a pastoral plan f ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, High above the entrance to Cohasset Harbor, across the water from Bassing Beach, there stands a stately building called Bellarmine House. Owned by Boston College, it has long served as a vacation site, a respite from the teaching and other ministries performed by the members of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). I mention this because on Monday we ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, Fifty years ago on the heels of the Second Vatican Council, Blessed Paul VI’s apostolic letter "Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem", the Church in the United States was granted permission to restore the sacred order of the permanent diaconate. The importance of the restoration of the diaconate was outlined in the Vatican II decree "As Gentes" which s ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, On Monday we celebrate Labor Day, considered by many the end of the summer season, although the weather this past week could give one reason to question the proximate ending of summer. Labor Day is celebrated as a Federal Holiday, having been first celebrated in New York City on Tuesday, September 1882 in accordance with plans of the Central Labor ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, Last Sunday as we read the letter from Cardinal O’Malley following the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, I noted that with the advance and explosion of modern technology fewer and fewer people are obtaining their news from the printed media. Starting with radio and television, and advancing through the age of social media and internet, the dail ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, As a follow up to the various catechisms which have been published since the Second Vatican Council, the most important one is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a 900 page volume which has been revised in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1997. This is the first new compendium of Catholic doctrine regar ...Read more