The Extraordinary Gift of our Faith

As I complete my time with you at St. Patrick’s, I’d like to take this final opportunity to express my gratitude for these past 18 months. While it was an unexpectedly short assignment, it was filled with joys and graces that I will carry with me for years to come. Having arrived here after six years in campus ministry at Harvard, I honestly wasn’t sure what it would be like to return to a more typical parish setting. I was admittedly a bit apprehensive about whether or how God was going to make use of the seemingly specific skills I had acquired; things like campus outreach, forming student leaders, marketing and fundraising, etc… all of these seemed far removed from ordinary parish life. But within a few months, I started to see, once again, that God does not work by human logic, and His plans are far greater than our own. As some of you know, I’m one who values deep, personal relationships. I don’t like conversing in large groups; in fact, I feel quite awkward at public speaking settings that do not involve preaching in church! And so, I quickly recognized and appreciated your sincerity, authenticity, and your hunger for growing in faith alongside each other. My friendship with you has enabled me to see firsthand how some of the most profound movements of the Holy Spirit happen relatively quietly and invisibly. They don’t make news headlines or grab our attention, but they impact us profoundly. Things like cultivating a new habit of prayer, being healed through the sacrament of confession, experiencing Christian fellowship, or a child learning to love God at school and then sharing that at home; all these unfold quietly, and yet they effect nothing less than the transformation of the world around us. Through you, the Lord has shown me how much He works through authentic human relationships, and that all the practical plans we make and human structures we build are always secondary. As I previously wrote, we are called to communion: communion with God and with the “whole Christ”, that is, His entire Mystical Body. And Christ’s Mystical Body – the Church – is manifest most concretely in the parish community: the local family of God assembled by the Holy Spirit to offer itself to the Father. I am reminded of the words of the First Letter of John: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God; yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us. Indeed, amid all your daily trials and struggles with faith, God’s love is being brought to perfection in so many of you, and it has been a privilege for me to witness. I’d like to thank Fr. Barnes for his leadership that has been an inspiration and model for me to follow. I’m grateful to him and Fr. Sijo for welcoming me into their home and for the memorable priestly fraternity the three of us have shared together. I also thank all of the staff at St. Patrick’s who are so joy-filled and hard-working; they share a personal love for the St. Patrick’s community that helps us priests to more effectively minister to you. And finally, I thank Mrs. Schmidheiser and the school faculty for their dedication to attending so well to the spiritual formation of the children, and welcoming my presence in the classrooms each week. I will be moving out on Tuesday and beginning at St. André Bessette Parish right away. Please come visit for Mass anytime at either St. Joseph Church in Amesbury or Star of the Sea in Salisbury. I am deeply grateful for St. Patrick Parish and will miss you all! Yours in Christ, Fr. Patrick

Sometimes words flow easily and other times, not so much. For whatever reason, writing this Grand Annual Appeal letter has been tortuous for me this year! I keep looking for the “right words” to inspire you to be generous and supportive. Then, happily, it occurred to me that you do not need to be convinced to be generous. You are generous. You are a people who respond generously to the graces that God gives to you. There are a lot of “nuts and bolts” things to be addressed in our parish facilities. The chiller for the AC system is at the end of its 20-year life span and needs replacing. The estimated cost is approximately $200,000. If you look at the front stairs, the steeple, the trim on the church, and the carpet on our interior stairs, you know that there is some serious work to be done. Almost all of the exterior trim work for the stained-glass windows needs to be replaced. These necessary projects are all costly. In addition, the parish house where the priests live needs a lot of attention. When I was pastor of another parish, I did not put any money into the parish house because I feared it might appear like I was doing it for me personally. In retrospect, all I was doing was leaving it for someone else. In the St. Patrick Parish House where the priests live, the bathrooms were last updated between thirty and sixty years ago. Much of the electrical wiring in the house is the original knob and tube that was installed in 1903, and there are wires that run outside of the walls and ceilings throughout the house. The foundation is not sealed so we have uninvited “guests” who visit us regularly. The windows, last replaced forty years ago, no longer properly close and the frames are all warped or broken. Slowly and over time, I would like to make the parish house a place that is a true home for the priests who will live there. Not fancy, but a home. Those nuts and bolts are a necessary part of parish life and they, of course, need our attention. At the heart of who we are, however, is Jesus Christ. I hope it is evident to you that we are working hard to provide abundant opportunities for faith formation, spiritual growth, service to the poor, and increased provision for reception of the Sacrament of Confession. I am deeply impressed by the spirit of discipleship that is present among the people of this parish. Something is happening in our midst. Christ is doing something beautiful here, and you are responding to what Christ is doing. You desire to follow Him with greater intensity, and you desire to bring others to Christ. I see it in a thousand ways. Blessed be God! I ask you to join me in generously supporting the Grand Annual Appeal this year. We ask everyone to consider a sacrificial gift of $350, but if you can give more, please do! And if you cannot afford to give $350, please just do what you can. Mostly, I ask us all simply to be as generous as we can be. There are a lot of repairs, overhead and bills to be paid. All of this supports our mission as a parish and allows us to have a beautiful space that truly feels like our spiritual home. Lastly, I wish to thank all of you. As your pastor, it is a source of profound joy to see you following Christ and every day becoming more and more His disciples. I feel very blessed by your witness. Here’s to a good Grand Annual! Your Brother in Christ, Fr. David Barnes

Hopefully you’ve all heard my news by now, but in case not, I’ll be concluding my ministry at St. Patrick’s on October 5. Archbishop Henning has appointed me pastor of St. André Bassette Parish, which encompasses the two churches of Amesbury and Salisbury. While I knew that my time at St. Patrick’s would not be long, I was neither expecting nor seeking a transfer at this specific time. Therefore, I am naturally sad to be leaving this community which I grew to love so quickly. At the same time, I am excited for this new opportunity, as St. André Parish seems like just the right place for me to be a first-time pastor. I’ll be present following all the Masses on October 4-5 to give my final goodbyes. If you’re able to join me, I will celebrate the noon Mass on October 5 and there will be a gathering in the hall afterward. I will offer further reflections on my time here in my bulletin letter that weekend. Over the past few weeks, we’ve found ourselves mourning the loss of innocent life amid several acts of violence, and trying to grapple with the meaning of it all. I wouldn’t dare try to offer a complete diagnosis of the problem or presume to have a simple solution. Plenty could be debated about mental health issues, social media, the glorification of violence, the accessibility of weapons, and the role of ideology in capturing young minds. But as a priest, my role is not to propose specific policies or tell you how to vote. Rather, it is to identify the invisible, spiritual wounds that lie beneath the surface – both within the perpetrators of violence and in the wider culture – to propose a path of healing and redemption found only in Christ, and to discern what Christ is asking of us as members of His Body. One theme that sticks out to me is the isolation experienced in the perpetrators. Isolation is one of the great obstacles of healing and is the antithesis of communion. Isolation exacerbates the shame we all experience from sin, elicits feelings of discouragement and despair, kindles resentment and anger, and leads to further sin. And we live in a culture that tends toward isolation. One could argue that this began with suburbanization in the 1950s; many of us are no longer forced to interact with our neighbors on a daily basis, let alone rely on them for our safety and well-being. But that’s a far cry from the isolation many young people today experience through the world of social media, through a secular culture that tells them they need to construct our own personal identity without reference to past traditions and institutions, and a culture that sees ideological opponents as personal enemies. But as the late Pope Benedict XVI continually reminded us in his writings, we as Christians and as human persons are called to communion. Communion is the sharing of our very selves – our personal and spiritual goods – with one another and with God. It is the fruit of divine charity. Heaven, according to Benedict, “is a stranger to isolation.” And so, if heaven is our destiny, and if heaven is foreshadowed in our participation in the Mass and reception of the sacraments, then communion must be something we strive to cultivate in our daily human experiences. And so, I see these recent tragedies as an urgent reminder of our call to communion. It begins and ends in Christ, and in-between lies all our daily, often complicated, human interactions. I challenge everyone to reflect on these questions. Am I a source of communion to others? What do I hide from God and others that is in need of healing? Do I seek authentic human connection and friendship with all those around me? Do I present the Good News of salvation and redemption to my neighbors? Do I contribute toward making St. Patrick Parish a place of communion, a true home where anyone can discover his/her deepest identity in Christ? As I wrap up my time at St. Patrick’s, this call to communion has been a guiding light for my ministry. Fr. Barnes has said this before, and I will reiterate, that one of our great joys as parish priests is bringing people together and fostering new friendships. Because the full “joy of the Gospel” (as Pope Francis wrote) is only experienced alongside others. Sin and shame isolate us and distort our identities; grace and holy friendship draw us out of ourselves and toward becoming the saints God is calling us to be. Yours in Christ, Fr. Patrick

This week I’d like to use this column in the bulletin to address an important aspect of our life together. For most, these reminders will seem unnecessary, but experience shows that regular reminders about these matters are indeed necessary. I know mistakes about these matters are not usually the result of ill-will or obstinate refusal, but simply because no one has ever taken the time to teach about them. I offer these reflections not to scold anyone or to make anyone feel badly, but rather to help us all to give proper reverence to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Like I said, many of these things will sound obvious to most, but experience shows that it is necessary to raise these issues. Who can receive the Eucharist? You must be Catholic to receive the Eucharist. Holy Communion not only builds communion in the life of the Church, but it also presumes communion. You must examine your conscience and confess all serious sin and receive absolution before receiving the Eucharist. You must fast for one hour before receiving the Eucharist. When you receive the Eucharist at Mass, do not snatch it from the priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. If you receive on the tongue, this is not an issue. If you receive in the hand, allow the minister to place the host on the palm of your hand. Please hold your hand in such a way that the Host will not slide off of it. It must be flat. Then, you take the hand underneath and place the host in your mouth. Do not grab it from the minister or fumble with it. Do not break the Host, walk away with the Host, bless yourself with the Host, or do anything with the Host other than consume it. Please, if you receive in the hand, step to the side and immediately consume the Host so that the minister sees you consume it. (Many times at funerals and weddings, we see people take the Host away and not consume it. It puts the priest or minister in an awkward position because we have to go and ask the person to either consume it or we have to take the Host back. It is embarrassing not only for the person, but also for the priest. None of us enjoys doing that. The same thing holds true at Sunday Mass, so please consume the Host in the sight of the priest or minister.) No one is permitted to break the Host in order to bring a piece of it to someone back in the pew or at home. Children who have not received First Holy Communion cannot receive the Host and no one should break a piece of the Sacred Host and give it to them. No one is permitted to take the Host that has been received in order to bring it to someone else. These things are absolutely forbidden. If you have not been instituted as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at St. Patrick Parish, please do not approach the priest, deacon, or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Mass with a pyx asking for Hosts. As guardians of the Blessed Sacrament, we need to have certitude that all proper care is being taken with the Eucharist. Those who have been instituted to administer the Eucharist to the homebound must be properly trained and follow the proper ritual. If you desire to be instituted as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, then you should contact the parish office. Those who are instituted to administer the Eucharist to the homebound must go immediately from Mass to the person receiving the Eucharist. You cannot carry the Host with you while you run errands etc. The Eucharist is never to be kept overnight in someone’s home. It is to be brought to the sick and consumed by them immediately. No one may reserve the Eucharist in their own home. I know that sometimes “tone” does not always come across accurately in a letter, so let me assure you that the tone which I intend when I write this is one of trying to be helpful (but clear). It is not my intention to sound like I am scolding anyone. We do, however, want to make sure that the Most August Sacrament of the Altar is treated with the absolute reverence and honor to which it is due. Sometimes laxity and bad habits slip in. Some folks may never have even learned this to begin with, so this is all meant to be helpful. Your Brother in Christ, Fr. David Barnes

I spent five days last week on my annual retreat. Five glorious days of complete silence. Phone off, email off, no TV, radio, or another human voice. I know for some people, that sounds like a kind of punishment, but it was so great. I admit that I don’t think I’d want to do that kind of retreat in the winter when I couldn’t sit outside for hours, but this time of year, it was perfect. I stayed in this little wooden hermitage–a cabin–on the property of a monastery of nuns. It had a little porch on it (I love porches), a bed, a desk, a nook to eat meals, and an oratory for prayer. It was in that little oratory–made of all wood with a small altar and three icons on the wall–that I had Mass each morning. The rest of the day was spent walking, praying, and reading. Almost every time I go on retreat, I expect some life-changing revelation, but that rarely happens. Instead, almost every time I go on retreat, I am simply reminded of the basics of living a Christian life and the life of a priest. It is a little humbling actually. Retreats, more often than not, are for me, a reminder that I should pray, read, love God, love my neighbor, be humble, trust in Divine Providence, embrace the Cross, abhor sin, and hope in the Lord. Basic stuff, but I seem to require a yearly reminding of it. Each day during the retreat, I read several chapters of a spiritual book about those (and other) topics. Almost every chapter, I would think, “Well, this is kind of basic stuff.” Then I’d think, “So, if it is so basic, you probably should be a lot more advanced in it than you are!” I also finished a wonderful novel. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to end. Written by Singred Undset, the book is entitled, “Olav Audunsson.” It is filled with such deep humanity. There were times in the novel when I would have to put the book down because the author’s capacity for describing the interior life of the characters–their pain, their love, their hatred, their fears, their desire for redemption–was so vivid that I couldn’t bear the reality! I think that the novel is so brilliant because, as you read it, you recognize yourself in its pages. Speaking of recognizing ourselves . . . . This week Pope Leo XIV canonized two new saints, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. St. Carlo is the first millennial saint added to the Church’s canon of saints. Both were young men who lived extraordinary lives of holiness and virtue. They are pictured on the front of the bulletin this week. The saints help us not only by praying for us, but they assist us by their example. They remind us that people just like us can become saints. They remind us that ordinary people can become extraordinary saints. Every assignment I’ve ever had as a priest has either been a school or had a parish school attached, so while January is the beginning of the Calendar Year, and Advent is the beginning of the Liturgical Year, it’s really September when everything seems actually to begin. So, these days everything is beginning. As we begin another year together, let’s remember to take some time each day to read, to pray, and to reflect. Taking a little time each day to do these things can help us all to live the other hours of the day with greater meaning. Setting aside time every day for a little bit of prayer, a little bit of reading, and a little bit of reflecting can help to remind us of those basic things that we tend to forget. Those little moments each day can remind us that there is a God who loves us, who desires for us to be close to Him, who wants to save us, who can save us, who wants to forgive us, heal us, and give us graces to help us to love Him, to love others, to overcome sin, and to become more like His Son. A little bit of solitude each day can save us from forgetting what is most important, the basics. And remembering and living these basics is how ordinary men and women become extraordinary saints. Your Brother in Christ, Fr. David Barnes