Pentecost VIII
Bp. Dolan’s sermon from last Sunday, “Salt”, is now available. Sorry for the delay.
Boys’ Camp is this week!
July 24-26
Thanks to everyone who helped make our 2012 Girls’ Camp successful!
Mass Location Update
If you are traveling in Connecticut or Rhode Island this summer, visit the new St. Vincent Ferrer chapel, where new Fr. Stephen McKenna offers Mass every Sunday at 5 PM.
Also, consult our extensive list of recommended Mass centers when you are traveling this summer.
Bishop’s Corner
I am writing this on the feast of St. Vincent DePaul, one of those universal saints of charity, whom the Church honored last week all in a row. Although he wore himself out for others, his body held out to a ripe 85 years, all spent for God’s glory and the good of souls. Our Lady blessed his legacy by giving us both the Miraculous Medal and the Green Scapular through his Daughters of Charity. Of the two, the Green Scapular seems more popular now, the Miraculous Medal just being worn anymore, either out of devotion or just as jewelry, whereas the Green Scapular is a real sacramental still, an active tool in people’s hands for conversions.
One of my favorite moments in the Girls’ Camp (and it seemed to me filled with wonderful and creative activities, including the exquisite Good Shepherd’s Table) was the release of Green Scapular balloons, each having as well a little explanatory tag along with the scapular on the inside. Sent with faith and love for Our Lady and souls, who knows how much good they will do. If the girls, as admonished, remember their little prayer daily for the eventual recipients, grace will abound.
Fr. McGuire and Fr. Larrabee are taking care of you today, even as they put the final touches on the Boys’ Camp, scheduled to begin Tuesday. Please pray that this apostolate, too, is a great success. The fathers and sons will be kindly singing a High Mass each morning to satisfy for the Purgatorial Society, as well as to honor that great apostle and Moor-slayer, St. James, (he could very well be taken as the camp patron) and finally to honor God’s Grandmother, good St. Anne, as everybody needs a grandmother. Thank you, gentlemen.
Fr. Larrabee’s three happy years with us are coming to an end, and it is time for him to return to California to assist Fr. Zapp in his growing apostolate. Next Sunday afternoon at 12:45 we’re having a farewell potluck barbeque (with plenty of meat in honor of our soon-departing carnivorous clergyman.) I hope you’ll plan to come. Even vegetarians are welcome!
Thank you for your rain prayers. At least in some parts of the land, some relief has occurred in what is developing into a great drought. These things are meant to remind forgetful man of the good God, and the need for penance and prayer in daily life, along with trust in His providence. Do your part.
Last week I was peacefully praying on my back porch in the early morning, when I heard an animal cry. Unable to locate the source, I continued on, though I still heard something. Eventually I discovered Puccini with the bunny, beneath the porch, beyond arm’s reach. The crafty feline was just finishing off the hapless hare, alas now beyond rescue. Puccini is not as generous, nor detached from creatures, as his brother. It seems nature will out in the end. Or, as Fr. Cekada says, it’s at least one less bunny for the conga line at next Easter’s Prayer of the Faithful! (If this allusion escapes you, see his Work of Human Hands video #10.)
I send you each a blessing in the Precious Blood of Jesus.
–Bishop Dolan