Saint Cecilia. Third Sunday of Easter. 14 April Miraculous Draught of Fishes (detail) James Tissot (ca )

Transcription

1 Saint Cecilia P A R I S H Third Sunday of Easter 14 April 2013 Miraculous Draught of Fishes (detail) James Tissot (ca )

2 welcome! Welcome to Saint Cecilia Parish, a Roman Catholic community that gathers day by day, week by week, to know and make known the grace of God. By means of this abundant grace, we enjoy a diverse and close-knit parish family young, old, rich, poor, of various ethnic origins and differing backgrounds. From our extraordinary music program to a growing children s faith formation program; from the various liturgical ministries to the many opportunities for social outreach that the parish provides, Saint Cecilia is a vibrant community of faith, centered on prayer and worship that tries to keep the Gospel close to heart and to live by Jesus teachings. Saint Cecilia Parish was established in At that time the Back Bay section of Boston along Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street was the residential section of the Yankee aristocracy. The maids ( Irish working out girls ) and coachmen who served these residents had long requested a church of their own. When Archbishop Williams granted their request and carved the parish from the territory of the Cathedral, they built a magnificent church out of their meager earnings. The church was dedicated on April 22, Its architecture is Romanesque, XII Century Norman. The main altar, notable for its massive simplicity, was carved from a single block of white Carrara marble. The painting in the center reredos is a reproduction of da Vinci s The Last Supper, and the dome above is an array of 24K gold rosettes. For the sixtieth anniversary celebration in 1954, a massive renovation project was undertaken. During this renovation, a statue of Pope Saint Pius X (canonized that same year) was imported from Italy and placed on the right side of the sanctuary. Above the statue are paintings from Pius life. On the left side is a statue of Saint Patrick, principal patron of the Archdiocese of Boston, and above it are three scenes from his life. Fourteen circular and sixteen square panels adorn the nave and arches of the church. The square panels are decorated with the symbols of Our Lady taken from the Litany of Loreto and the circular ones with symbols taken from the lives of the apostles. The great window of the Assumption framed by the two oak cases of the organ was installed in 1954 (the Marian Year) in spaces originally designed for windows but not until then used. The original organ of 24 stops was built in 1902 by the Hutchings-Votey Organ Company, Opus 1465, and was rebuilt in 1954 with 32 stops. In 1998, Timothy Smith and Theodore Gilbert began a massive reconstruction of the organ. The current Smith & Gilbert Organ of 4 manuals, 50 ranks, and 2,926 pipes was dedicated on the Feast of Saint Cecilia, November 22, Today we are experiencing something of an awakening within these old walls. We recently completed a major renovation, our numbers are increasing, and we continue to grow in our commitment to issues of peace, justice, and service to our neighbors, both near and far. We ve been right here on Belvidere Street, in the same building for 125 years, but that does not mean that life here is stale, stagnant, or even predictable. We are proud to be entrusted with the legacy of Saint Cecilia Parish, where everything is the same, yet always changing; where we honor tradition while embracing the future; where God s love makes all things new.

3 our community news Ministers of the Liturgy Saturday 5:00 p.m. Rev. Peter Grover, OMV, celebrant Chris Orrell, lector Sunday 8:00 a.m. Rev. George Winchester, SJ, celebrant Louvere Walker, lector Sunday 9:30 a.m. Rev. James Shaughnessy, SJ, celebrant Tim Pratt, Moira Macdonald, & Jim English, lectors Sunday 11:15 a.m. Rev. George Winchester, SJ, celebrant Zachary Fehst, Nicole Benevenia, & Jim Kennedy, lectors special intentions Sunday, April 14 8:00 a.m. Noel & Rita Gardiner, Memorial Sunday, April 14 9:30 a.m. Viergemane Jean Pierre, Memorial Olmann Family, Memorial Daniel Jean Pierre, Memorial Sunday, April 14 11:15 a.m. James Michael O'Keefe, First Anniversary Wednesday April 17 8:00 a.m. Thomas S. Gunning Jr. Wednesday April 18 8:00 a.m. Dawn Buehler, Special Intention Sunday 6:00 p.m. Rev. Peter Grover, OMV, celebrant Conor Kelly & Kate Kelly, lectors today s readings Acts 5:277-32, 40b-41 Revelation 5:11-14 John 21:1-19 next sunday s Readings Acts 13:14, Revelation 7:9, 14b-17 John 10:

4 Prayers & Occasions Our Deceased Bridget M. Spence died on April 4. Pray for the repose of her soul and pray also for the consolation of her loving husband Alex and her mother Dorothy. Victoria "Tori" McCabe Schmelzer died Wednesday morning from injuries sustained in a tragic house fire on Tuesday evening. Pray for her eternal repose and pray also for the consolation of Kathleen, Jerome, Alex, and Nathan. Our Sick Please pray for all our sick and for those who are in need of our prayer, especially Jennifer Serpico, Heather LoRe, Rudy Kikel, Annette Kulas, Steven Whitkens, Patricia Macdonald, Lucie Kelly, Anthony Simboli, Lisa Caputo, Jeanne Tibbs, Ginny L Abbe, Bill Croke, Anne Frenette Handly, Jan Igras, Frank DeMare, Ruth Frost, Elie Prevost, Roséa Aubrey, Chuck Campion, Brenna Smith, Mildred McLaughlin, Robert Gregory Sr., Hannah Mai Devery, Susanne Coyne, John Gilman, Ken Bennett, Vincent Fiorda, Mike Flynn, Laurette Carrier, Domenic Iannaccone, Gene Ellis, & Jim Mootos. Evening Prayer This Thursday This Thursday we will gather to pray Vespers at sixthirty. All are welcome to attend. Rice Bowls This weekend is your last chance to return your Rice Bowl. Please make your checks payable to Catholic Relief Services. Thank you! Welcome to Saint Cecilia! We are delighted to welcome the following newly registered members of our parish: Victoria Ekstrom and John High of Boston; Angela Kelly of Boston; Bradford Bleidt of Boston; Sheila Larkin of Jamaica Plain; Kathleen Egan of Boston; Paula and David Ellis of West Newton; Shawn Kane of Boston; Leah O'Brien of Boston; Maureen Carroll of Boston; and Gretchen and Robert Schmitt of Boston. If you have not already registered with the parish, there are forms in the narthex for this purpose or you may register on-line at Drug Counseling & BP Screening Next Sunday The Phi Delta Chi Professional Pharmacy Fraternity of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy will be with us next Sunday to answer any medication questions and conduct blood pressure screenings after the 9:30, 11:15, and 6:00 liturgies. There will also be registered pharmacists and interns available. the third sunday of easter The Paschal Triduum was truly a time of grace and beauty for us at Saint Cecilia. We are now two weeks into the Great Fifty Days of rejoicing, culminating in the celebration of Pentecost on May 19. Each year on the Third Sunday of Easter, the Gospel proclaims a post Resurrection appearance of Christ in which he shares a meal with his disciples. The Eucharistic theme is obvious. Let us rejoice and celebrate the fact that Christ is indeed made known to us in the scriptures and in the breaking of bread. Boston Marathon We extend a warm welcome to all our visitors this weekend. On Patriots Weekend we always have a number of marathoners, both parishioners and visitors, with us for Sunday worship. Through our prayer let us support and encourage all who will be running tomorrow. your thoughts & opinions matter Saint Cecilia Rainbow Ministry will celebrate its sixth anniversary this July. Over the past six years lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have been welcomed warmly to Saint Cecilia Church and consider it their "home." As the members of the Saint Cecilia Rainbow Ministry plan future events, they would like you to know that your thoughts and opinions matter. Therefore, the members of the St. Cecilia Rainbow Ministry invite all parishioners, including friends of the LGBT community, to an open meeting on Sunday, April 21 after the 11:15 AM Mass in one of the classrooms in the parish center. At the open meeting we would like to learn what has worked well for you and what could be improved. Please join us and share your opinions. All Are Welcome! attention graduates We want to acknowledge and celebrate all our graduates this spring. Please the names of parishioners who are graduating from high school or college to Scott MacDonald at smacdonald@stceciliaboston.org. Please place the word graduate in the subject line. Feel free to include the name of the school and the degree awarded. We are also happy to announce student recitals. 4

5 Big sing 2013 Saint Cecilia is pleased to be hosting the Big Sing East 2013 festival again this year. On Tuesday evening, April 23 from six-thirty to eight o'clock, our church will be filled with the joyous sound of 270 young voices, representing seven greater Boston area choirs. Among those performing will be the Hingham Youth Chorale, the Handel and Haydn Society Youth Chorus, and the St. Mary of the Assumption School Choir. Also performing will be a group of our friends from Boston City Singers under the direction of Jane Money. This is a non-competitive event, but each group will receive a written adjudication. Come and be inspired by a wide variety of musical genres, performed by some of the best young choirs in Massachusetts! Admission is $2 per person. "hope out loud 2013" Tremendous Hearts is a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to provide highly-skilled volunteers who commit to a year or more of service to South African children's homes and other agencies that care for orphans and vulnerable children. They aim to improve the standard of care in children s homes and to increase the number of children who are able to transition out of residential care. Their annual benefit concert, on Saturday, April 27, will feature the Boston Community Choir, one of Boston s finest musical ensembles. The evening, which will also feature a sale of South African handcrafted jewelry and gifts and Xhosa face painting, will celebrate and raise funds to support Tremendous Hearts life-saving work caring for orphaned, abandoned, abused and neglected children in the townships of Cape Town. DATE Saturday, April 27, 2013 TIME Craft and Ticket Sales start 6:15 p.m. Concert starts at 7:00 p.m. LOCATION First Church in Cambridge Congregational, UCC 11 Garden Street, Cambridge TICKETS $15/adult; $10/children (12 and under) For more information about Tremendous Hearts or Hope Out Loud, please visit the website at or feel free to contact Saint Cecilia parishioner, Nicole Salamy at nsalamy@yahoo.com. final faith formation dinner at Pine street women's inn Last Monday, families from the eighth grade Faith Formation program cooked and served dinner to some 90 women at Pine Street Women s Inn. Thanks to chefs Ana Albuquerque, Marta Bergamaschi, and Michelle Roy for preparing a delicious chicken casserole; to Maribeth Brostowski for providing the broccoli; to Alicia Cooney and Sheila Galligan for preparing the salad; to Alicia Cooney, Maureen Harrington, and Anthony Roy for homemade brownies and cookies; and to eighth grader Fia Marota and catechists Allie Cionco and Bobby Gregory for donating fresh fruit. Special thanks to those who served eighth graders Carolina Albuquerque, Anthony Roy, and Vova Quigley along with members of their families: Rui Albuquerque and his son Duarte; Michelle Roy; Stephen Quigley; and Allie Cionco. This was the last Faith Formation Program dinner at Pine Street Women s Inn for the academic year. At this time, we would like to thank all the parents and children in the Faith Formation program, as well as all the parishioners who throughout the year have been so supportive of these Women s Inn dinners. The list of supporters is too long to print, so Father John, Scott MacDonald, and E. Jane Smith extend their gratitude to all who recognize the importance of feeding the homeless and touching their lives in a very personal way. Your support has made it possible for our children to experience firsthand the gospel call to service. Many thanks to all who believe in these very special dinners. The dinners will resume in October a reminder to parents While at Saint Cecilia, children should never go to the restroom alone. We are happy that you feel so safe here, but please remember that we are in a building that is wide open and has multiple entrances. For the safety of our children, please do not allow them to wander around unsupervised and please do not ever allow them to go to the restroom unaccompanied by a parent. 5

6 Easter Flower Donations Guerino and Olga Abruzzi David Allen Edward and Ersilia Baur Alice Bellofatto Mario Bonson Richard H. Bourdeau Mary Doyle Branca George A. Brown Jr. Joseph and Jean Brunelle Fr. Richard P. Brunelle, A.A. Warren Bruno Mary and Malcolm Bryant Edna Buckley-Carey Ellen Buckley Eugene Buckley Harry Buckley Lenora Buckley Mildred Buckley-Hill Walter Buckley Edward Butler John Albert Cappellano John J. Carpenito Thomas Carroll Sr. Tom and Rita Cinnamond John and Dorothy Collins Thomas Patrick Collins Michael and Delia Conlon Edward J. Cooney Richard Corcoran David Costigan James P. Costigan Jane C. Brown Costigan Deceased Members of the Cox, Cooney, Miles, Quigley, and Perelomov Familes Anne Coyne Thomas Coyne Edward Crawford Leo Croke Nona Croke Tommy Croke John J. Cunnane Jr. Rosalbina Cruz de Castañeda John Alan Cates Gerard David Karl David Robert Emmett Deignan Joseph F. Deijnan III Olive and Thomas Delaney John E. Dolan Edmond Donlan Edmond Donlan Fr. David I. Donovan, S.J. George J. Doran Sr. The Doran and White Families Mary Jane Doty Barbara Doyle Arthur F. Dunnett Judith Dymek James and Snookie Elliott John O. Emerson Noe Escobedo Reyes Escobedo Rudy Escobedo Stella Evers Willard Evers George Fagan Mary Dorothea Fagan Hill Alfonsina and Mary Faldetta Anthony and John Farinelli Cécile Fournier Franchi and Mancini Families Sr. Francis Joseph, R.A. K. Vanessa Francis Jeffrey Fruman Henry L. Gabriel Margret Gabriel Mark E. Gabriel Dorothy V. Gallant Guadalupe (Reyna) Garcia Arthur A. Geen Paul E. Geen Winifred Gens Frank Gibbons Lillian Gibbons John and Mary Greene Edward Griffey-Pont Mary Gutierrez Lillian H. Theda Hanus The Harig Family Elmore Hauch Corina Hernandez Luis Hernandez Martin Hernandez Vicente Herrera Tom and Kathleen Hogan George Holman Bryce Holton Leah and Thomas Holton Riki Hoppes Roxann Howe Carol Howland Drew Hurley Luke and Jerry Ifft Antoni Igras Dorothy Igras Leilani Jean Ann Johnson William and Mary Keith M. Caroline Kinne Viola A. Kinne Bernice M. Kissinger Hedwig and Theodore Klick Mimi Kwok Rene and Dottie L Abbe Yvonne and Francis LaChapelle George and Margaret Lakschewitz Emilia Marie Landry Peter Lanzetti Deceased Members of the LaPiana Family Sheila Lehman John Lennon Joseph A. Lippolt Barbara and John MacDonald Elizabeth Ann McDougall Kay and Elmer McDougall Mike McDougall Ilda, Peter, and Paul Maguire Bob Mazzola Christopher McCarthy Charles and Lena McGhee Lyle and Alyce McKay John McLaughlin Sr. Theresa McManus, O.P. Joseph Michalski Rita Eilleen Miller Jeff Monroe Sr. Marianne Moriarty, S.N.D. Francis and Margaret Morse Dorothy and Frank Mullin Aileen Murphy-Buckley Ed and Elizabeth Murphy Deceased Members of the Murphy and Westover Families Terry Newlove Marian and Irma Nicolini Anthony J. Nicosia Katie O Brien C. Anthony Olivieri Maria Olivieri Hakansson Dennis Orlando Ann Leone Perrier Col. and Mrs. Roy F. Pille Liz Pino Abraham Pressman Virginia D. Puig Sr. Marie Saint Michael Quinn

7 Lionel and Theresa Raboin Louis Ramos Charles Hayden Reasor Lancelot and Priscilla Rees Richard L. Renk Marlene and Joseph Rodriguez Margaret and Angelo Roppolo Edgar & Josephine Roy Br. Edmond Masumbuko Saliboko, A.A. Duane Schwartz Elizabeth, John, and Peter Shatswell Susan Shaughnessy Bill and Anna Sheehan Joyce M. Smith William L. Smith Florence Sprawka Timothy Stancliff Dorothy Starzyk William Starzyk Jr. Beth Ann Strickler Earl Strickler Mary Sullivan Lynda Talbot Stefana Tavilla Robert and Loretta Tellier Frank J. Unni Dolores Upton-McGuire The Veysey and Maslack Families Norman and Katherine Welch Janet Williams Louise Williams Robert Yobaccio voices & visions The Home for Little Wanderers is a nationally renowned, private, non-profit child and family service agency. It has been part of the Massachusetts landscape for over 200 years, making it the oldest agency of its kind in the nation and one of the largest in New England. Among its many wonderful service programs is Waltham House, which offers a safe and nurturing environment for GLBTQ youths. Saint Cecilia parishioners have been supporters of Waltham House for the past several years. The Home's annual signature fundraising event, Voices & Visions 2013, will be held on Wednesday evening, May 29 at seven o'clock. The event, at the Seaport World Trade Center, is the culmination of a year-long arts project throughout their many programs. Saint Cecilia s own Chris Egan is a co-chair of the event, and Molly Diggins is serving on the event committee. Tickets for the gala, which includes a cocktail reception, silent auction, and dinner are $500. We are hoping to put together several tables of ten of Saint C s parishioners for the event. If interested, please contact (or approach after Mass) Chris Egan at cegan@carruthcapital.com, Molly Diggins at mmdiggins@me.com, or Mark Lippolt at mlippolt@hammondre.com. (Continued from page 9) perfection but Reality. The cynic snorts, Get real, Duns. I m trying. Sure, the Church is a bit thread-bare at the moment. Its gilding has worn away, it s dirty, it s germy. There s no doubt: the Church is very much real if, by real, we mean something that is not yet perfect. Just as the Horse told the Rabbit, becoming Real: Doesn t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That s why it doesn t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joins and very shabby. But these things don t matter at all, because once you are Real you can t be ugly, except to people who don t understand. In this I find the courage, the freedom, and challenge to become real as a member of the Catholic Church. I don t have to be perfect I have to get real. *** Saint Ignatius, no stranger to the 16th century Church s shortcomings, counseled the young Society of Jesus to have just such an attitude. We ought to be those, he wrote, who love the Church, precisely because she is covered with wounds. And this because Ignatius understood that the Church was not meant for the perfect, but for the struggling, for those who fall frequently, even scandalously. Ignatius s words still ring across the centuries, they still challenge: have we strength enough to dwell within the real Church, the wounded Church? Have we desire enough to cultivate a real mysticism, one that s able to abide the real rather than trying to flee into the nonexistent perfect? Have we courage enough to say I believe in communion with fellow sinners, women and men who daily inflict wounds on the Church while still struggle to be conduits of grace in a broken world? Have we hope enough serve with joy? A realistic mysticism does not dispel the Church s wounds. No, a realistic mysticism peers into the heart of darkness and waits with joyful hope. A realistic mysticism sees the pain in the dismissive advice to get a new one. A realistic mysticism works by pouring itself out in love not for the perfect, but for the broken. And this for a long, long time as our pilgrim Church continues to become real. This article originally appeared on March 28, 2013 in The Jesuit Post Ryan Duns, SJ is a member of the Society of Jesus currently studying theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Ryan blogs at

8 By RYAN DUNS, SJ Loving the Broken, or How the Church Becomes Real On the second-floor of my parents house, where I grew up, there is a closet filled with books. All kinds of books. Old college textbooks, picture books, novels bought for entertainment on vacation, works of literature. Several shelves contain nothing but children s books: Hardy Boys, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Berenstain Bears. Growing up, I loved to read and reread these books, hiding under my covers at night even though my father had told me to go to bed. In those hours, burrowed under my sheets, I fed my imagination on a steady diet of words. One of those books, The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real, bears the scars of decades of reading. The heavy cover is worn, its corners long ago worn away; many pages are torn and some even stick together on account of jelly residue left by sticky pointer fingers. The book, in short, bears as many traces of wear and tear as does the character about whom it is written. The story is familiar to many: the velveteen rabbit, a Christmas stocking gift, becomes the little boy s favorite plaything. At first, the rabbit is a bit self-conscious: he s not as shiny or intricate as the fancy, metal toys. Nevertheless, the boy comes to love the little rabbit and makes him his constant companion. And it is the boy s love that makes the rabbit real: where the world would see only a ragged toy, filled with sawdust, gazing out at the world with dingy eyes, the little boy poured in love. And the boy loved not because the velveteen rabbit was the shiniest toy in the toy chest, but because the rabbit was his. What comes next is no surprise: eventually, after spending constant vigil with the boy during a bout of scarlet fever, the rabbit is judged to be naught but a mass of germs, used up and unsafe, and so is dumped into a sack and slated for incineration. Old, worn, contaminated by its world, the doctor dismissively proclaims: Get him a new one. Get him a new one. In recent years, a steady stream of bad news has led many to take the doctor s advice regarding not just stuffed rabbits, but the Roman Catholic Church. Very many of us these days as news reports continue to inform us about the many indiscretions of Church (sexual abuse, financial cover-ups, issues with governance) and to remind us that our Church is no longer shiny and new feel tempted to take the doctor s advice, and consign the whole thing to the incinerator. We feel tempted to give up on a Church that seems worn and tired, infected with germs; beyond salvaging. Sometimes we just want to get a new one. And not without reason. Anyone who thought that anger toward the Church (particularly over the calamitous issue of child sexual abuse and its cover-up) would simply blow over in time clearly didn t know what to expect. It seems to me, in listening, in talking to others, in feeling my own feelings, that the hurt and rage people feel arises from a sense of betrayal, a sense that the Church has failed to live up to its potential. It hurts so much because so much is at stake. So many of our lives have been tutored by the Church, from baptism 8

9 to First Holy Communions to Confirmation, the Church has been a place where were prayed and played, hoped and feared. The Church s women and men priests and sisters, brothers and committed lay people worked with us and for us, shaping us to be women and men for others. To learn that this institution, the very institution that encouraged us to be friends of Jesus, had so often and so recklessly betrayed His children this leaves a searing wound. And a question: how can one be expected to love the Church, knowing what we know of it? I have only one answer: we can love the Church because our love makes it real. *** One night, the Velveteen Rabbit asks an old Skin Horse, What is REAL? Real, the horse replies, is a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. The Church is real because it has been loved for a long, long time. It has been the place where many have learned about love: God s love for us, our love for Jesus Christ, our love for our sisters and brothers. It is the place where the Spirit of love calls us to heal our broken hearts, feeds us at the altar, and encourages us to become what we receive: the Body of Christ. It s not only believers who admit such. No, the cynic and believer can agree on this much: the Church is real. The former might say, The old girl had her day, now it s time to ditch the old and embrace the new. But even those call the Church real. The difference lies not in whether the Church is real, but in what reality means. And for my money, I ll cast my lot with the little boy for whom reality was a thing to be caused by loving, the little boy who loved his rabbit not because he was perfect, but because he was his. Our rabbits are lovable not because they re perfect, but because they re ours. And the Church is ours. It s been given to us and yet is held together by that which is more than us, held together, sometimes, in spite of what seem to be our best efforts to tear it apart. This would all be well and good, apt for a Holy Thursday, if that s all there was. But we ought not forget the remainder of the story. Wriggling free from the sack into which he had been unceremoniously deposited, the Rabbit looked out and shivered, having no longer a proper coat of fur. All of his memories rushed back just then, and the Rabbit s sawdust heart broke with the question: Of what use was it to be loved and lose one s beauty and become Real if it all ended like this? It s then, the story tells us, that a tear, a real tear, trickled out of the velveteen rabbit s eye and fell to the ground. We know this feeling. But the tear isn t barren, in the story it grows into a beautiful flower, and from its blossoms a magic Fairy stepped. She gathers the old Rabbit into her arms and flies with him into the wood. There she kisses him and gives him to other rabbits to play with; live with. After a few moments, the rabbit knows even more fully what it means to be REAL. It means that he can sing and dance with the other rabbits, that at long last he can reach up and scratch his real nose with his real hind foot. No one ever said loving the Church would be easy. Jesus certainly didn t say it d be a cinch, he promised only that the gates of Hell would not prevail (Mt. 16:18). Not a few of us have shed tears and, I believe, all of us await the coming of the Spirit to breath into all of us because we are the Church. Without question, to the eyes of the world we have lost much of our beauty. We are worn and tired and ragged. But the Church is a gift, our gift, and we receive it most fully when we ve been loved and discarded, cried from loss and been given a community again. We can love the Church because it belongs to us, because we belong to one another, because all of us belong together. *** How will our Church s story end? I ought to say I don t know. That s what I should say. But I believe, in hope, that I do know. I believe our own conclusion will be something like that of TheVelveteen Rabbit, which concludes on a spring day, when the Rabbit creeps out of the wood to have a look at the child who had first helped him to be Real. Let us pray for such a spring within the Church, for such a Spirit that can rouse the embers that smolder under scandal and embarrassment. As lovers of a real Church, we must decide: will we allow our Church to be judged solely by its tarnished past? Or will we have the courage to live a faith that others can believe in, a faith that washes the feet of prisoners, a faith that loves not (Article continues in the right column of page 7) 9

10 Parish RESOURCES Parish Office & Mailing Address 18 Belvidere Street, Boston, MA Hours Monday Friday, 9:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. Phone Fax Website Parish Staff Rev. John J. Unni, Pastor, Mark Donohoe, Pastoral Associate for Administration, Scott J. MacDonald, Director of Faith Formation and Leadership Development, Jeanne Bruno, Coordinator of Pastoral Outreach, Richard J. Clark, Director of Music and Organist, Maureen Sullivan, Administrative Assistant to the Pastor, Genevieve Fiorente, Office Administrative Assistant Assisting Clergy Rev. Thomas Gariepy, CSC Rev. Peter Grover, OMV Rev. James Shaughnessy, SJ Rev. George Winchester, SJ Schedule for Liturgy Wednesdays During Lent 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday 8:00 a.m. Lord s Day Sat 5:00 p.m.; Sun 8:00, 9:30, 11:15, & 6:00 p.m. Holy Days 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Reconciliation By appointment at any time. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is the communal process through which non-baptized men and women become members of the Catholic Church. It is also suitable for those baptized in different faith traditions who are interested in becoming Catholic, or, for those who were baptized Catholic, but have yet to receive the sacraments of eucharist and confirmation. For more information, please contact Mark Donohoe. Baptism for Infants Infant baptism is celebrated on the first Sunday of the month. For more information, please contact Mark Donohoe. Faith Formation for Children To register your child for our Faith Formation Program, please contact Scott MacDonald in the parish office. Marriage Couples who wish to prepare for marriage should contact Mark Donohoe in the parish office at least six months in advance. Care of the Sick To arrange for the Sacrament of the Sick, for Holy Communion to be brought to those unable to attend the Sunday celebration, or for Viaticum for the Dying (Holy Communion for those in danger of death), please contact the parish office. It is always possible to anoint the sick during regularly scheduled liturgies. Order of Christian Funerals The parish is prepared to celebrate the Vigil (wake) in the church. Please contact the parish office for more information. Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Team The CAP Team is responsible for training all parish staff and volunteers in mandated reporting laws and the Protecting God s Children program (VIRTUS). They also provide consultation and support to anyone in the parish who has concerns about reporting child abuse and neglect. Please contact Lois Flaherty (loisflaherty@gmail.com), Maria Roche (maria.roche15@gmail.com) or Letitia Howland (l_howland@hotmail. com) if you have any questions or concerns. The Archdiocese of Boston has in place a vigorous program to protect children from harm and to educate its ministers and faithful about the nature of abuse, with a goal of increasing knowledge, creating a safe environment for children, and recognizing and reporting potentially dangerous situations. The full text of the policy is also available in the narthex and parish office, as well as on our website. For Those with Celiac Disease If you have celiac disease, please let us know. We have a supply of low-gluten altar bread available for those who cannot tolerate gluten. Hearing Assistance in Church The church is equipped with an FM listening device. Small receivers are available for anyone who may have trouble hearing the sound system. Simply request a receiver from any one of our greeters before Mass. Access for the Disabled The church is accessible by elevator. Sunday Parking Reduced-rate parking is available on Sundays at the Prudential Center parking garage and at the Hilton Boston Back Bay; Sunday parking is also available at LAZ Parking (53 Belvidere Street maximum of three hours). Be sure to have one of our greeters validate your parking ticket before returning to your car. Saint Cecilia Rainbow Ministry Saint Cecilia Rainbow Ministry is a GLBTQ community at Saint Cecilia. For more information, contact stceciliarainbowministry@gmail.com. Joining Our Community We re happy that you re with us! Our community offers a warm, spiritual home for a diverse group of Catholics. We come from many neighborhoods in and around Boston but also have parishioners from as far afield as Marlborough, Newburyport, and Stow. Please introduce yourself to a staff member, drop in for coffee on Sunday, or fill out a new parishioner form in the gathering space. No matter what your background, please know that you are always welcome at Saint Cecilia. 10