Celebrating Vocations Awareness Week and Remembering Good and Faithful Servants

Vocations Awareness Week

Among the many celebrations in the Church is National Vocation Awareness Week, a nationwide effort during the first week of November each year to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life. Please pray for vocations and offer your passionate support for someone who may be discerning a call to religious life this week. 

While the number of permanent deacons and Catholics has increased worldwide, there is a decline in the number of seminarians, priests, those discerning religious life, and baptisms, according to a Catholic News Service analysis of Vatican statistics. I suppose there are a number of reasons for this, likely in part because of a busy world with many distractions plus heightened materialism, secularism and other modern challenges. But there is also richness in religious vocation. If you are interested, please contact our Vocations Office to explore a vocation as a priest, deacon, or member of a religious order. 

Called by Name: How it Works

The Called By Name Vocations campaign is being launched in our Diocese this week. I am excited to share how you can nominate a young man who might be discerning a call to the priesthood. Visit the Vocations website and complete a form that invites you to share a young man’s name, age range, and parish. That’s it. Once we receive the information, I will send the individual a letter of invitation and encouragement, and he will have the opportunity to opt into receiving resources from the Vocations Office and invitations to discernment events. Thank you for your help as we seek to connect with and support faithful young men in the Diocese of Fall River.

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servants

During November, we pause to remember the faithfully departed in meaningful ways. At the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Wednesday, I celebrated our annual Mass to pray for the repose of the souls of deceased bishops, priests, and deacons of our Diocese. We remember by name those who have died during the past year:

• Father Henryk Kropiwnicki
• Deacon Thomas Bailey
• Father Martin L. Buote
• Monsignor Ronald A. Tosti
• Bishop George W. Coleman
• Father Fintan Sheeran, SS.CC.
• Deacon Paul M. Fournier
• Monsignor John A. Perry

During this month especially, please keep our departed bishops, priests, and deacons in your daily prayers.

Celebrating More than a Century of Building Faith

In 1898, Saint Stanislaus Parish was founded to serve Polish Catholics in the Fall River area. Shortly after that, a school opened in 1906, the first in Massachusetts to serve Polish children, and it continues today. Sadly, the original church building was lost to a fire in 1991, but the spirit and people of the parish have endured. I was honored to be the celebrant of the Mass and to participate in the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of St. Stanislaus last Sunday.

This Mass and gathering afterward was more than a celebration of the buildings where parishioners have gathered as a faith community for more than a century. It was also a reminder of the foundation of an enduring faith community that has opened its hearts and minds to God’s love. 

I began my homily by sharing Shemah Israel, a Jewish prayer recited for thousands of years that calls upon people of faith to follow God’s commandments. The Israelite’s belief that God should have all of our attention, love, and care and that our lives should be centered on Him is shared by Catholics today. Processing into a crowded St. Stanislaus, I was reminded that despite many distancing themselves from the original idea of God’s centrality in our lives, countless faithful Catholics gather at their home parish each Sunday to reconnect with and grow into a deeper relationship with God. This has remarkably occurred for 125 years at St. Stanislaus in Fall River. 

We live in a world where we are distracted, scattered, and focused on so many other things that God is only a meager spark in our lives. We need to listen to God like several generations of St. Stanislaus parishioners have. Our confused and troubled world amid countless distractions needs God and His love. How much time do you have to connect with God amid the competition of television, radio, social media, texts, etc.? Our challenge is not just to hear but to listen to God. Spend some time talking and listening to Him, even if it is just for a few minutes each day. It has worked for 125 years for St. Stanislaus parishioners. I pray that setting aside time for God will help you, too.

Election Day 2024

Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord,
with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice
in the years ahead for all people,
and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.
(USCCB, Prayer After an Election)

The results are in and the nation will inaugurate a new president in January. I pray that the new administration will govern in a way that protects life at all stages and provides for those in the greatest of need. I hope this prayer from the USCCB provides an opportunity for reflection.

Here in Massachusetts, I was pleased to see that voters in the Commonwealth overwhelmingly rejected the legalization of psychedelic drugs.

The Installation of Boston’s New Archbishop

Last Thursday, I joined over 50 brother bishops and nearly 500 priests and deacons for the Installation Mass of the new Archbishop of Boston, Archbishop Richard Henning. More than 1,200 were present in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the installation. I wish the new Archbishop the very best in his new assignment and pray for the continued ministry of Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Yours in Christ,
Bishop da Cunha