St. Vincent de Paul Parish

Easter Blessings
Deacon Jim and myself offer you a chance to receive an Easter Blessing. On Easter Sunday from 9:00 am to 10:00 am we will be in the church parking lot with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance offering you the special Easter Blessing. Simply drive your car to the spot where we are, stop, get the blessing and move on. We miss you all so much. This will give us a chance to reconnect in a meaningful way. We’ll be there rain or shine.
 
Palms are still available in church.
 
The Sacred Paschal Triduum
Notes from Fr. Fran
What really do the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday celebrate? Most all of us believe we know the answer. We assume that Thursday commemorates the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper; Friday commemorates the day the Jesus died on the Cross and the Vigil of Saturday commemorates his emergence from the tomb.
We assume further that these days are historical reenactments of events from the past. Is history really what we celebrate? Not at all. Since all the events already happened once in history, they cannot be repeated. What we celebrate is the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection lived out in the lives of people here and now. In these days of Pandemic, we take great comfort that as we live out the mystery of suffering and heartbreak, the Power of the Resurrection will prevail. God bless you all and Happy Easter!

Dear Parishioner,

If you are at all like me, you feel that there is something missing in your life. That missing something is the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments.
We know and have felt the presence of God in his Word, in the Sacraments and in the Community gathered together. Now, two of three are missing from our life. Difficult as it is, we must be content to fed on God’s Word alone.

My advice to you is this. Pray at home at the very hour that you would be at Mass. We unite our prayers with one another at those times as we all pray together. It looks like there will not be any Holy Week/Easter celebrations this year. All the more reason our prayers become important. Trust in God, this too will pass.

Many of you have continued your support of the parish by turning in your envelopes. I ask all of you to please do that. There are many ways to continue your support. The first is to mail in your envelopes. The second is to drop them off at Church. The Church is open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm daily. Baskets are at all of the entrances to the Church. A third way is to support us electronically. We have opened an online account which will allow you to do just that. Please click GIVE ONLINE/DONATIONS and a secure form will appear.

Peace be with you in these difficult times.

 Father Fran Roberge

Partners in Charity:
This weekend was to be our “In Pew” collection for the 2020 Partners in Charity Collection. Many of you have already been contacted directly. For those of you who have not, we are enclosing a donation form. Please consider this most worthy appeal. This year we are making a shift in emphasis from total amount collected towards our parish goal to simply increasing the number of gifts. Last year we had 66 gifts. It would be nice to pass that number this year.

Bishop McManus has cancelled all Holy Week/Easter public celebrations. He will celebrate the Chrism Mass privately and bless the Holy Oil for later distribution to the parishes. He has asked us to follow that example and celebrate every Holy Week service privately without a congregation. I will do so. Palm Sunday I will bless Palms and make them available at church for your use. The Church is open daily 8 am to 8 pm. Please stop by and help yourself to Palms. The other Holy Week Services will be celebrated privately at a time to be determined. Please remember that Easter is not just one day, it is a celebration of 50 days. By God’s grace, may we come together in the Easter Season. 

Please remember that the darkness we now face will never be the last word.
The central message of Easter is Light triumphs over darkness and life will always conquer death.
God bless you all. Happy Easter!

In the meantime, the Bishop is encouraging all Catholics to continue to pray with the local Catholic community by virtual attendance at the Sunday Mass and Daily Mass which is carried on Spectrum (Charter) Channel 193 each weekday morning at 9 am and Sundays at 6 pm, and also streaming on worcesterdiocese.org and on many parish websites

FUNERAL MASSES
Funeral Masses may be celebrated with the immediate family only (limited to 5 people) with the appropriate provisions for social distancing and liturgical adaptations provided by the Office for Divine Worship. Families may also be provided with the opportunity to celebrate only the Rites of Committal at the cemetery with a Funeral Mass to be scheduled sometime on the future.   Families should be assured that a Mass will, in any case, will be offered for the deceased person on the day of their choice.

CHURCH OPEN FOR PRIVATE PRAYER
Our Church will be open for private prayer from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm, assuming there are not over 5 people at any given time. 

PUBLIC ACCESS TO CHURCH OFFICES
In order to minimize risk to yourself and to parish staff, all church offices are closed from the public.  Parishioners can contact the office by phone, by email, or on the website. The diocese is taking steps to do the same with the Chancery office.

A Prayer in Time of Pandemic

O God, whose Only Begotten Son bore the weight of human suffering for our salvation, hear the prayers of your Church for our sick brothers and sisters and deliver us from this time of trial. Open our ears and our hearts to the voice of your Son: Be not afraid, for I am with you always. Bless all doctors and nurses, researchers and public servants; give us the wisdom to do what is right and the faith to endure this hour, that we might gather once again to praise your name in the heart of your Church, delivered from all distress and confident in your mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

All are welcome to join our parish family!

Please print and fill out the form below and return to the rectory. Registration forms can also be found at church entrances. 

You may also e-mail us at stvindepaul05@aol.com