St. Robert Bellarmine Parish


 

1804 ATWOOD AVENUE
JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND 02919

PARISH OFFICE: 401-232-5600
                                srbp1804@aol.com

FAMILY FAITH FORMATION, OUTREACH & EVANGELIZATION: 401-232-9321
                            srbccd2020@gmail.com

FAX: 401-231-5793

Office Hours: Monday - Friday
9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
CLOSED NOON - 12:30 FOR LUNCH

 

 Statement of Bishop Thomas Tobin Regarding the Suspension of Public Masses in the Diocese of Providence

In light of the growing coronavirus crisis in Rhode Island, in response to the request of public officials, and upon the recommendation of health experts, I hereby direct that the celebration of all public Masses and other liturgical services be suspended in the Diocese of Providence effective Tuesday, March 17, 2020 and continuing until further notice.

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The parish office will remain open
for phone calls and email only. Feel free to call 401-232-5600 should ANY need, spiritual, sacramental, pastoral or otherwise, arise.

During the day, the doors of the church will be unlocked for your quiet and personal prayer time.

Be assured that in an ambience of sacred silence I will be offering all weekday and weekend Masses for you and your intentions alone in private. At this time, the Masses celebrated here at St. Robert Bellarmine will NOT be televised or streamed.

Please click on the link for our on-line bulletin for a list of Mass intentions and updates regarding parish activities.

You are encouraged to pray regularly and devote time to making a spiritual communion daily by watching a Mass that is televised or streamed online. For more information and options in this regard, please visit the Diocese of Providence's website.

An Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things and desire to receive you in my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you Sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen!

Prayer for the Suffering
Heavenly Father, I trust in You and Your goodness. I am Your beloved child and so I ask You to protect me and all whom I love this day. Keep us safe from all illness and harm. Restore those who suffer illness to health. Let us rejoice in your saving help and reunite us at your altar to give praise and thanksgiving to You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

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In the midst of this very serious public health crisis, it has been brought to my attention, that in regard to the public celebration of Mass, some leaders of area Roman Catholic Communities of Faith may possibly be confusing people and leading the faithful in a way that is not consistent with the directives issued by the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

In regard to the public celebration of Mass, parishioners of St. Robert  Bellarmine Church are strongly encouraged to disregard any inconsistent information and seemingly irresponsible practices and stay focused on and follow the very clear and specific dispensation, directives and guidelines that have been issued by
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.

Please join me in praying that we as the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, regardless of faith tradition or lack thereof, will humble ourselves, come together in unity and solidarity and do all we can to help ensure that those responsible will not be left with any other choice but to enact a "shelter in place/stay at home" order.

Peace, Love & Prayers,  Fr. Richard A. Narciso, Pastor

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"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 

   Message 
from a
Franciscan

The lock down 
Yes there is fear. 
Yes there is isolation. 
Yes there is panic buying. 
Yes there is sickness. 
Yes there is even death.
But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise,
you can hear the birds again. 
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet 
The sky is no longer thick with fumes 
But blue and grey and clear. 
   They say that in the streets of Assisi 
People are singing to each other 
across the empty squares, 
keeping their windows open 
so that those who are alone 
may hear the sounds of family around them. 
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland 
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound. 
Today a young woman I know 
is busy spreading fliers with her number 
through the neighborhood 
So that the elders may have someone to call on. 
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples 
are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless,
 the sick, the weary.
 All over the world people are
slowing down and reflecting 
All over the world people are looking
 at their neighbors in a new way 
All over the world people are waking
up to a new reality …
To how big we really are. 
To how little control we really have. 
To what really matters. To Love. 
So we pray and we remember that 
Yes, there is fear, 
But there does not have to be hate. 
Yes there is isolation, 
But there does not have to be loneliness. 
Yes there is panic buying, 
But there does not have to be meanness. 
Yes there is sickness, 
But there does not have to be disease of the soul.
Yes there is even death. 
But there can always be a rebirth of love. 
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now. 
Today, breathe. 
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic .
The birds are singing again, the sky is clearing, 
Spring is coming, 
And we are always encompassed by Love. 
Open the windows of your soul 
And though you may not be able 
to touch across the empty square, Sing. 
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Pandemic by Lynn Ungar

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath -

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray.Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

 And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

 Promise this world your love -

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live.

Coronavirus and the Eucharist

"All Masses Cancelled"
     That sign has just gone up outside my local church. Who could have imagined it just a couple of weeks ago? Most Catholics are simply glad. Large gatherings are just what we do not want at the moment. The loving thing right now is to keep our distance lest we catch and transmit the coronavirus.
     But in every parish there are Catholics who do not like the idea of "missing Mass" and wonder could they not "get Mass" even if they did not gather? In a more worrying vein, I have heard at least two priests say that they will not have the State – imagined as the Church's enemy – telling them to close.
     They want to take the high ground of defending the freedom of religion. But if they go ahead and "provide Mass" – note the phrase – they may actually be endangering the very people they are claiming to serve.
     But the fact that many regular Mass-goers will not be in a church this weekend – and maybe not even over Easter – might actually help us to broaden our understanding of the Eucharist and deepen our spirituality.

Object or action?
     For far too long – some historians would say since the 7th century – Latin Christians have had an attitude of thinking about the Eucharist as an object (something that happens due to the priest's work and they are in attendance) or as a commodity (and we behave like religious consumers). The language we use is the giveaway. We talk about "getting Mass" and "attending a Mass," and of "getting communion" and "taking communion." The image is that the Eucharist is "out there," and then we somehow obtain it or make it our own. But the word "Eucharist" relates to a verb. It is something we, the whole People of God, do. It is our activity of thanking God the Father as a gathered community. And we offer this praise and thanks through Christ our Lord. The focus is on thanking the Father. Access to the Father is provided to us in the Spirit through Jesus Christ. The prayers are led by the priest. It is our basic activity as Christians, not some "thing" that the priest does for us or makes for us.

The virus has struck
     So if we cannot gather because of COVID-19, can we still offer thanks to the Father through Christ? Let's re-learn some basics.

1. Jesus is present with us
     Many Catholics treat church buildings as if they were pagan temples, as if God is only "in there." But God's presence is everywhere and the risen Christ is not limited by space. This presence of the risen Jesus among the community was captured in this saying preserved in Matthew's gospel: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Mt 18:20). Even in the smallest gathering of just two people, staying two meters apart so as not to spread the virus, the Risen Lord is
among them. They might be two people in a house, or two people linked by phone or Skype. This was expressed in another ancient Christian saying that is preserved in the Didache(a first-century new disciples' guide): "Wherever the things of the Lord are spoken about, there the Lord is present" (4:1).

2. My room is a basic place of prayer
     We sometimes think that we are only commanded to pray in a church building. We have grown up with the idea of Mass on Sunday as a regulation. But it is always sobering to recall this instruction by Jesus: "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the gatherings and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Mt 6:5-6). We are now being told to stay off the streets, out of the churches and away from people. So we can rediscover shutting the door and praying alone – knowing that the Father will listen to our prayers.

3. Center and summit
     We describe the Eucharist as the center and summit of our Christian lives, but often it is the sole part of our religious lives. This crisis calls on us to build up the surrounding foothills by caring for one another and thanking God at home, as well as in the church. If we are not thankful for the meals we share at home, we are hardly ready to be thankful at the Great Thanksgiving that we call the Eucharist.

4. Every table is a sacred place
     Jesus encountered people and taught at their tables. Every table is a place where we can encounter the Lord in those with us. We will not be eating together as sisters and brothers in a church for the next few weeks, so let's starting recalling that whenever we eat, we should be thankful. "You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you" (Dt 8:10). We should be thankful for the food (grace before meals) and for enjoying it and the pleasure of being together (grace after meals).

Let's discover what it means to be Church
     We will not be gathered as large groups for the next few weeks. Let's use this experience to rediscover that we are the Church; that the Church is not a building. Let us remember that we must be Eucharistic every day, but especially at meals; that the Eucharist is not an object we get, take, receive or attend. And let us never forget that the Risen One is with us, interceding for us with the Father during these worrying times.

Thomas O'Loughlin is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (England) and professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham.