Sunday, May 12, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
It has been 30 three years since I first traveled from Boston to south of the equator. I was a seminarian at the time and went to Peru to spend the three months of summer with the priests of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle. I was assigned to Andahuaylas in the Sierra region, very high in the Andes Mountains. I learned very quickly that it was winter on that side of the equator, and further that at 10,000 feet above sea level the nights were cold and the sunshine wonderfully warming. The experience changed my life, and ever since that first immersion I have been returning to South America. A week ago, 10 of us left Boston to spend several days in the immersion retreat program I founded in 1989 called Rostro de Cristo (The …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
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Sunday, May 5, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
It is upon us and promises to bring us the usual end-of-year celebrations of First Communions, graduations and weddings. Today, after two years of preparation, 16 children from our Religious Education Program will, for the first time, receive the Body and Blood of Christ. This is a momentous time in the lives of these children. With God’s grace, the guidance of their parents and their ongoing participation in a Parish faith community, the realization of Who they are receiving and their relationship with Him will continue to develop and deepen. Let us join together in prayer for these children and their families as they continue their walk on the journey of faith. May is also Mary’s Month. And so after the First Communion Mass at 10 a.m., …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Reflections on the meaning of Easter.
Everything about Easter speaks to us of the NEW. New life is the fruit of the Resurrection of Jesus; new hope and new freedom also flow from this day. In fact, because of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, everything is changed! The entire human journey now has a new dimension, lifting up the value of every life and giving new meaning to everyday life. Because of this day, our destiny is exalted, and the very nature of our God as the God of Love takes on a rich new and ever-evolving meaning. For how could authentic love ever be temporary, conditional or limited? When I was a child in Dorchester my dear mother used to plan to get all of the five of us new clothes for Easter—you may have the same childhood memory! Everyone was proud…
Sunday, March 17, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
The other day I was speaking with some of the high school students preparing for Confirmation. They are a wonderful group of boys and girls, and like many of us, they have questions about their faith. Sometimes it has been thought that to have questions and maybe doubts about God and all that we Catholics believe is a bad thing. I do not think that’s true. Questioning, wondering and exploring these mysteries are precisely how we grow in faith. The age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” is one of the points I was discussing with a student. It just seemed incomprehensible that God simply did not allow all bad things to happen to the bad guys and good for the good folks. Further, this student was perplexed as to how God …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, March 3, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
I first heard him preach at the Saturday night Masses held on the upper campus at midnight. The hour was very popular for the students and, as a graduate student living near the university, I found my way over from time to time. What first drew me to John was his amazing wit, combined with a powerful intellect and broad learning (this Jesuit was a scholar of English literature). His homilies were captivating. Once he spoke eloquently on our amazing capacity for self-delusion. Frankly, at the time, I am not certain I realized just how significant his observation was to become in my life. Today, I regularly go back to that truth. It seems to me to be a window into our capacity to recognize the "bigness" of God—God's love, God's forgiveness, …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
With the entirely unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, everyone has been developing a different take on this remarkable moment in our Church. On the one hand, I find myself admiring the Holy Father’s bold decision. And, upon deeper reflection, I’m inspired by his courage and the freedom and trust he so peacefully displays. His decision has caused a surprising response of conversations, interviews and wondering at all levels, from the secular to the sacred. In fact it seems to me, God’s loving Spirit is active in this moment to “stir up” people’s curiosity and perhaps lead them to a place more open to God’s Grace. To say that our God is a God of surprises is more than true! God chose Abram to be the father of a great nation, and yet…
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
World Marriage Day, held the second Sunday in February, honors husband and wife as head of the family, the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of their faithfulness, sacrifice, struggles and joy in daily, married life. The idea of celebrating marriage began in Baton Rouge, LA in 1981, when couples encouraged the mayor, the governor and the Bishop to proclaim St. Valentine's Day as "We Believe in Marriage Day." The event was so successful that the idea was presented to and adopted by Worldwide Marriage Encounter's national leadership. By 1982, 43 governors officially proclaimed the day, and celebrations spread to U.S. military bases in several foreign countries. In 1983, the name was changed to "World Marriage Day," designated to …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, February 3, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
Try as I might, I find it hard to plan for events and programs long in advance. Every time someone tells me, “We have to meet to talk about ...” and the event is several months in the future, it seems silly to me that we are planning today for something so far ahead! One would think I would learn after all these years that several months away is really around the corner, and little happens well if it is not planned well. So to my surprise, we find ourselves on the eve of the Lenten season! On Wednesday, Feb. 13, these holy days begin with the distribution of ashes. We are called to remember our mortality, and this sobering recollection can well place us ready to look to the holy season ahead in a beneficial way. Life is fragile, …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
We walked along the sidewalk and there were flower gardens, lawn, shrubs and trees all along the way. He was holding my hand—it was a stretch for both of us for he was only two years old. The weather was warm and lovely, typical for springtime in Virginia, and there were ants and various bugs crawling everywhere, celebrating the rites of spring. My nephew caught sight of these critters and nothing would do but he had to let go of my hand and crawl along, following a busy colony of something. He was lost in amazement, completely outside of himself in wonder as he crawled through puddles and over rock in pursuit of the mystery of this life. I have always held that memory as a classic understanding of what it means "to wonder." Wonder is …
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
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Sunday, December 23, 2012
A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.
It was painful to move any part of my body. The pain medication lasted only a couple of hours and barely diminished the intensity. Nights were very long and I recall once looking out the window of my bedroom toward the east where the ink-black night was ever so slowly fading to the hope of a new day. Gradually the slightest tinges of color became visible and I found within myself a quickening expectation that at the dawn of the day, the pain would be easier and I could find a way forward. That chapter of my life is more than 10 years past, and after a few months the peculiar autoimmune disease that was ravaging the muscles in my body was brought to remission and I recuperated. Yet from time to time I remember clearly how anticipation of …
42.373777
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Saint Mary-Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
55 Warren St, Charlestown, MA
/articles/father-ronan-awaiting-the-dawn
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/locations/8429551
Holy Honey Badger
3:41 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Great article father. Prayer is not a spare wheel that we should just pull out when in trouble, but rather prayer is a steering wheel that should direct our path througout. more ›