View the Sunday Mass with Fr. Daly by clicking the link below:

The 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time Mass

Greetings,
Below is the link to my homily for this Sunday, October 18. Today we hear the famous parable of Caesar’s coin – render unto Caesar… - in Matthew 22. But, I suggest, the text sheds less light on the election than people think, even while it challenges us more fundamentally. At the end of it, I give you a link to a webinar at Harvard this coming Thursday, where three Catholic scholars discuss the coming election. You have to register to get the Zoom link, but it is free. (If my name and email appear in the boxes to be filled, just remove them and put in your info.)
~ Fr. Frank Clooney

Caesar's Coins ~ the Least of Our Problems

On Sunday, October 25, 2020 at 10:00 AM we will offer Mass in the Church in addition to the Sunday Vigil Mass in O'Connell Hall on Saturdays at 4pm. Public Health guidelines require us to limit the number of those attending to 40. In order to do this and have a list for contact tracing should that become necessary, we need everyone planning to attend to sign up beforehand. Click the link below for the Mass you wish to attend or call the parish office at 781-784-2265.

Saturday October 24th 4 PM in O'Connell Hall
(Please bring your own chair)
Sunday October 25th at 10 AM in the Church

MASKS ARE REQUIRED. With the cold weather upon us, you will want to be sure you are warmly dressed. Windows will have to be open because of the need for adequate ventilation. We also add the public health caution for those 65 or older or those who have a compromising condition. If you have any questions please contact the parish office at parish@olossharon.org or 781-784-2265.

We would also like to hear from you about ways we can support you and your family during this pandemic. Please click the link below to complete a brief survey.

SURVEY

This Sunday, October 17/18 is “World Mission Sunday” Through our baptism we are all called to mission and to respond “Here I Am, Send Me.” This Sunday, we are encouraged through our prayers and Financial support for the society of the Propagation of the Faith to continue the mission of Jesus. Thus we will witness to mission in the world through our prayers and sacrifices for our brothers and sisters around the world. As little as:

$25 helps support a catechist for a month in remote Latin America

$75 supports the work of religious Sisters with orphaned children in Africa

$100 assists families in sending their children to school in Asia

Please make your checks payable to The Propagation of the Faith, drop them in the parish baskets at Mass or go online: www.propfaithboston.org and click on Donate Now.  Thank you.                                                                               10-16-2020

The way the time is going these days, October is on us and half over before we know it. The Church sets aside this month as a time to reflect on Our Lady of the Rosary (Feast Day – Oct 7) and Respect Life Month.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The rosary is a long standing traditional prayer in the church. For many who could not for any number of reasons pray the “Liturgy of the Hours,” it became an alternative prayer that suited their lifestyle and schedule.

While repeating the prayer most associated with the Blessed Mother, the “Hail Mary,” we establish a rhythm within which we meditate on the mysteries of Christ. It was these mysteries, the incarnation and the passion and glorious resurrection of the Son of God with which Mary was so notably connected.

Whether alone or in a group, the simplicity and repetition of this meditative prayer offers a calm for our psyche in the midst of the hurly-burly of life. It also connects our innermost being, our soul to the divine life of the savior and that of Mary, his mother, the model for us of service to and belief in Him.

Respect Life

October is also set aside as Respect Life month. Initially focused on Abortion, over time without diminishing the importance of this defense of the unborn, Catholics have included other issues in the notion of respect for life. Pope Francis gives guidance in his letter “On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World:”

“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned, and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm, and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery and every form of rejection.”

Click HERE to connect to a Respect Life Novena sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. 

~ Fr. Frank                                                                                                                          10-16-2020

The liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council brought with them an appetite for contemporary changes in music alongside the treasury and tradition of sacred music that the church has sponsored and supported for centuries.

A number of talented and theologically knowledgeable musicians and composers endeavored to meet this need and did it with memorable contributions to the worship and prayer life of the church. Among these was David Haas. You may be familiar with his works: “Blest are They,” “We Have Been Told,” “You Are Mine.”

Within the past few months, approximately 40 women have alleged that, in the course of his work with them, David Haas has violated appropriate boundaries with apparent sexual intent. In response a large number of Dioceses and Archdioceses including Boston have asked parishes to suspend performance of David Haas’ works until the allegations have been investigated fully. Until such time, you will not be hearing his music here at OLOS.

To the best of my knowledge, no legal action is pending. There are many institutions today: entertainment, business, academia, the media, politics etc. being confronted with accusations of similar assaults on the dignity and person of women. They and we should learn from the bitter experience of our church. Waiting lengthy periods of time for legal resolution, especially in the face of numerous allegations wears down credibility. With appropriate cautions and mindful of the rights of the accused festering does not help healing.

I have met with the members of our choir. They are disappointed that some of Haas’s beautiful spiritually uplifting works have been put out of reach at this time. At the same time, the women among them, the majority, feel a solidarity with their sisters who share a love of sacred music and its ministry and they recognize that such events happen all too often.

We should also note that David Haas conducted summer workshops: “Music Ministry Alive” reportedly attended by some from our parish. We are here for you if you were subject to anything like this.

The Church is above all a community of women and men of faith, the Body of Christ. All of us are made in the image and likeness of God, redeemed as siblings of the Savior and graced with the dignity of the children of God. To be silent or to not step up painful as it might be would not be true to who we are.

~Fr. Frank
                                                                                                                                                      10-12-2020

All are welcome to join our Zoom Bible Study on Wednesday from 10am to 11am. 
The group, which meets weekly, includes and welcomes sisters and brothers of other faiths. Our examination of the biblical text honors the bible in both the Hebrew and Christian traditions.We are currently reading Exodus.

For more information email Lynn Jacobs at the parish office at ljacobs@olossharon.org.

9-22-2020

I have found it difficult to put thoughts together to comment on the trauma that our world and especially our country and society are going through. While I have been musing, the moment of intense attention has passed but the problems certainly linger. As if extraordinary divisions in our national community and an illness that has killed more than 150,000 of our brothers and sisters were not enough, the stark and chilling murder of George Floyd in front of our eyes on the streets of one of our major cities reminds us that there is something wrong in our national psyche.

Statements have been made from all quarters, including a very forceful one from our own Archbishop, Cardinal Sean and one wonders what there is left to say. Let me share some of the thoughts I have had in this struggle. 

As a baptized Christian and a priest, my first reference is Jesus of Nazareth. The scriptures present not only what he said. His words are compelling. They also present who he is. Time and time again, Jesus challenged the attitudes, the culture, the institutions and the societal structures of his day. He stood up for the powerless they were designed to oppress and it led to his death. We might imagine that “take your knee off their neck” was his cry. He was an inspiration to Ghandi who stood up to an Empire, to Archbishop Romero and Fr. Rutilio Grande SJ who challenged evil power and paid with their lives as well as to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who confronted racism without a sword and like his savior also paid with his life. 

Despite the variety of depictions of Jesus over many centuries, the fact remains that he was a middle-eastern male with more color in his skin than I have in mine. In his public life, he was homeless, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58). Not only that but he reminded us of the importance of that perspective in each of our lives: “For we have here no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

Notwithstanding that stark reality, I sometimes think we have managed to domesticate Jesus into a middle class religious leader guiding us comfortably to salvation. In fact, he was in the streets, in the plazas, in the temple courtyard, in the dwellings of the outcasts challenging the customs, structures, institutions and attitudes of his day that stacked the deck against the powerless, the marginal, and the vulnerable. Where do you think he would be today?

It brings to mind the TV ad “Banks don’t do that,” “Yes, they do.”  

You don’t challenge the law of the Sabbath and cure the man born blind. Yes he did. 

You don’t disrupt the established custom and economics of the temple courtyard in defense of poor people who are being extorted. Yes he did.

You don’t defy custom by sitting in the middle-eastern noon-day sun listening and responding to an outspoken woman from an outcast people. Yes he did.

He is the Word of God, a word which speaks and acts. Undeterred by the power structures of the day and the drive to protect the status quo, He is concerned only with doing the will of his father. 

We too should adopt that posture undeterred by the distractions and the politics and listen to the marginalized who demand to be heard and the thousands who have marched in our streets in support of them.

Pope Francis’ first visit outside of Rome after his election was to the island of Lampedusa off the coast of Sicily, the destination of refugees from Africa many thousands of whom perished crossing in less than seaworthy vessels risking all to seek freedom. In his speech, Francis denounced the “globalization of indifference.” He challenged the structures and attitudes designed to keep them out even if it cost them their lives. Refugees are not entitled to less rights, less dignity and less loving care. Francis listened and his response was in word and deed. He followed the pattern of the savior and became a model for us.

Like him, we are called to do no less and follow in word and deed the road travelled by the savior in the world in which we find ourselves.

~Fr. Frank

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