FM"s Message | Sunday, April 2nd, 2023

This Sunday begins the holiest week in the life of the church. We have been preparing for this time to celebrate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, our savior and brother. The week calls us to remember what has been done for us by a God who loves us beyond all telling.
This week, the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday allow us to enter into the mystery of the suffering and death of Jesus as the moments in which God says to us, “I know you and despite your failings, I love you and I send my son Jesus to heal you and show you my love”. Holy week is evidence of a God who takes, sin, violence, and treachery and transforms it with love into the holiest week of the year. I am always excited to be part of this and to help others enter this mystery. As we welcome those who are infrequent attenders, it is imperative that we offer the same radical welcome that Jesus offered to all those who came in search of him. So many of the miracles that Jesus performed were on the Sabbath. I hope that we can also have a “miracle” of sorts. The miracle is that the radical welcome we offer to strangers prompts them to return more frequently. If we can reach out to one soul and welcome them in a way that energizes them to return, we will have rightly called ourselves evangelizers and healers for one person or family.
This week, Charlie Joyce and others will travel to the cathedral on Tuesday to pray with the cardinal and then to receive and return to the parish with the Holy Oils we will use during the year for baptisms, confirmations, and anointings of the sick. The three oils will be received on Holy Thursday and placed in the Ambry (the glass case above the baptismal font located on your right near the side entrance).
We also will have a day of healing and opportunity for confession after the Mass on Wednesday. Many thanks to Peter Gordon and Christine Williams for their work in organizing the three times that, confessions and healing teams will be available throughout the day (8-10, 11-1, 5-8). More information is included on the website and in other parts of this bulletin. It is an opportunity to enter the mysteries of Easter spiritually grounded, a little more healed, and ready to celebrate Easter.
Another project I am glad to see start is a retreat for the youth of the parish. I am grateful to Angie Quintin, Steve, and Christine Williams for this event. We hope to extend it to other youth groups in the city.
We hosted our local church organization working for Social Justice: Essex County Church Organizations (ECCO). Along with other members of church communities, they are working on increasing affordable housing in Salem. Thanks to Vianka, Mari, and Mercedes for their work in this important area.
Finally, congratulations to the women who were part of the Marian consecration last week. They completed the thirty-day exercises and then made their consecration prayer and were given the medals in remembrance. I have asked them to dedicate their prayer group to the parish and, through the intercession of Mary, to bring success to our efforts to evangelize and heal in Salem. Congratulations and welcome.


The Catholic Appeal response has been very positive so far. We are hoping that we soon reach our assessment goal. Right now, we are at $17,280 which is 61%. We are at 41% of our goal of $42,003. Thanks again to all the early responders. I am confident we will have a successful year.

Peace,
Father Murray

Building news: The fire department alerted us to some problems in the fire detection systems at both churches. After looking at them, we will have them replaced. The Insurance Department and Office for Risk Management will assume the costs of these two projects. Going forward, the  ORM will also assume the cost of the quarterly inspections. I am very grateful to hear this as this is a savings of more than $26,000 dollars. In other news, I was contacted by the people responsible for the schools and they believe the projects will most likely start at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. We are also looking at making sure that the steam traps at both buildings are in good shape and efficient. I am grateful to Victoria Masone for looking into this for us.