May They Rest in Peace:

Dorothy Messinger

Anthony Wesalowski

Eva Pasquale

Health of the Sick:

Manny Goguen, Christina Kwash, Marguerite Buisson

Meghan Gallagher, Barbara Irving, Mary Pickett

Richard Besse, Michael Long, Michael O’Connor

Mary Baker

(And for all the names of the sick placed on our altar)

Prayer Line Intentions: Call Trish Foley at 781-449-3163

OFFERTORY COLLECTION

Weekend of July 1: $ 3,149.00

Thank you for your continued generosity.

July 8th, SECOND COLLECTION: BLACK AND NATIVE AMERICANS

Bulletin Announcement Deadline: Monday Morning  (10 a.m.) for the following Sunday.

From the Pastor 

Secondly, the real strength of the Christian people comes not from their political clout but from their fidelity to God’s moral Commandments and from their prayer-life.  The more it seems that we have been outmaneuvered by back-room deals and lying propaganda, the more we need to remember this.  Is it not possible that God has allowed us to experience the inadequacy of our “worldly-weapons” in order to get our attention?  It is prayer and fidelity which will bring the larger society back to its senses. 

Cardinal Sean and the other Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts are urging us to come to the defense of marriage in just this way: by prayer and relearning just what our Catholic faith has to say to us regarding that state of life which is marriage.

 We will begin this weekend with the praying of the “Vocation of Marriage Prayer” as a parish family.  That prayer is reprinted in this Sunday’s bulletin and is found on the prayer cards you see today at the church entrances.  Please take these cards home with you (for yourself as well for other family members and friends).  No lasting good work ever comes to be unless it is a result of heartfelt, humble, persevering prayer.  (Fr. Higgins)

Heavenly Father, through the intercession of the Holy Family, Help us treasure the gift of marriage that reflects the love of Christ for the Church,  where the self-giving love of husband and wife unites them more perfectly and cooperates in your plan for new life created in your image.
Help us support men and women in their vocation of marriage, especially in difficult times when they join their sufferings to the Cross.
Help us uphold the institution of marriage in our society as the place where love is nurtured and family life begins.
Help us acknowledge that our future depends on this love and on your providential care for us. Amen.

Please pray daily for the vocation of marriage.

Nihil Obstat: Reverend Mark O’Connell, J.C.D.

Imprimatur: Sean Cardinal O’Malley, OFM, Cap

Archbishop of Boston

May 15, 2007

FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

What are the four pillars of the Christian family, first preached by Christ and the apostles and, over the centuries, recognized as such by Catholic Christianity?  They are:

1. Fidelity, 2. Indissolubility, 3. Children, and 4. Community.  Each of these has a library of commentary, but we can at least clarify the terminology.

1. Marital Fidelity

The first feature of the Christian family is that it postulates fidelity of the married spouses to each other...No one, absolutely no one, may enter between them to alienate their affection or intrude on their unique, loving relationship.  So clear is the Christian mandate that, to leave no room for doubt, Christ explained that if a man even looks at another woman lustfully, he already commits adultery with her in his heart.  Indeed, with Christ’s coming into the world, the very definition of adultery was radically changed above anything that the Old Testament had prescribed for the Jews.  For them it was largely a matter of justice, as the text of the last of the Commandments reveals.  It read: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his servant...or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”  Adultery was forbidden, therefore, because a man’s wife, like his house or cattle, was his property.  But Christ made fidelity in marriage part of the new covenant of charity.  Infidelity would become a crime against love.

(to be continued…)

There is a box of chapel veils at the front entrance of the church which some of the women of the Latin Mass community have made for the use of any women who wish to follow the custom of covering their head while in church.  Please return them to the box after Mass.

“Therefore ought the woman to have a covering over her head because of the angels” (I Cor. 11:10)

RESTORATION OF OUR PARISH CHURCH: EARLY STAGES

 As those of you who lived through the whole difficult time of the projected closing of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes parish well remember, all of the plans which had been underway for restoration work on our church building were put on hold pending the final decision on whether or not to keep the parish open.  We are quite happy that those days are behind us, and now it is time for the work of restoration to resume.  The Archdiocesan office of engineering has presented me with the updated bids for the restoration of our stained glass windows and I have chosen to sign a contract with the Serpentino workshop, which is here in Needham.  The work will begin this summer and should be done by October.  It will involve the removal of some of our windows to their workshop for cleaning and repair: clear glass replacement windows and ventilators will be set up so that the church will remain in use throughout the project.

Fr. Higgins

Coffee Hour directly following  the Latin Mass downstairs.

Please consider volunteering to take a turn coordinating and setting up for refreshments.

Contact Leo or Christine Higgins

at 508 833 8293.

New Altar Server Invitation

 Any man or boy  (age ten or older) in the parish is invited to take the training in order to learn how to serve the Latin Mass.  Please speak with Frank Doyle, our Master of Ceremonies, in the sacristy directly after the noon Mass. 

A Message from the Family of Sgt. Todd  Gallagher:

                                                                      Please join us on Saturday, July 28th, 2007, at the Cornerstone Pub at 16 West Broadway,

South Boston, beginning at 7 p.m. as we welcome home

 Sergeant Todd Gallagher

as he is medically retired from the U.S. Army.  Todd was severely injured on March 25th, 2006.  Some of his injuries included a traumatic brain injury, numerous fractures of the face, neck, spine, ribs, hip, pelvis, as well as a lacerated spleen.  He has been recovering from his injuries for more than a year at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center in Washington, D.C.  This has been a long year for Todd.  We hope this Welcome Home Tribute will show Todd that we support our troops.  Food will be served.