Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Father James Ronan of St. Mary - St. Catherine of Siena spoke to Patch Monday about Pope Benedict XVI's decision to leave his post on Feb. 28.
Like many, Charlestown pastor Father James Ronan was surprised by the announcement Monday that Pope Benedict XVI would be resigning on Feb. 28—the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years. But Ronan also said he respects the pope’s decision and believes it comes from a place of great intelligence, compassion and faith. “He feels no compunction to have to fit himself into any goal or any expectation. He is free, and this freedom comes from, I believe, an internal freedom from his own relationship with God and his own spirituality,” said Ronan, the pastor at St. Mary - St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown. Ronan added: “As a priest, I think it’s wonderful. I am very pleased that he has that kind of courage to trust in God, to trust in…
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
"When the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'." It’s an old saying, and we have all heard it at one time or another. The implication seems clear: when one faces hard times, one shouldn’t cave, whine or falter, rather dig in and get to it! It is easy to like the statement, or at least what it implies. I think I apply it to myself often enough. And yet, there are times when I realize that nothing is as simple as it seems. For example, the statement “cut and run” hardly describes the reality of opposing significant public policy questions about the dignity of life, health care and more. Maybe this mind set is really more a veneer than the real thing. For after confronting a challenge and getting a sense of its difficulty, more often than …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, March 4, 2012
This week, Father Ronan walks through his favorite prayer.
After 30 years of priesthood and active ministry I should not be surprised, yet often am, at how the prayer, The Our Father has a way of comforting people. For example, when standing around a hospital bed when a member of the family is close to death—inviting people to join in this prayer—sort of changes everything. At one level, loved ones experience this action is doing something in an otherwise helpless situation. On another level, there is the comfort of the familiarity of the prayer and the very calling to mind God as Father that touches peoples’ hearts. And on yet another level, turning to prayer changes one’s entire disposition and takes us to a different place. At times, during the Family Mass, I invite children to join me in the …
42.373777
-71.061765
Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
/articles/the-prayer
1824630
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Holy Honey Badger
4:12 pm on Sunday, February 10, 2013
nice article Father. more ›