June 7, 2020 - The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Dear Friends in Christ:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Cor 13:14)

This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday…officially called "The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity." It is one of the few celebrations of the Christian Year that commemorates a reality and doctrine rather than a person or event.

On Trinity Sunday, Christians remember and honor the eternal God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday is celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost, and lasts only one day, which is symbolic of the unity of the Trinity.

The Trinity is a mystery. By mystery the Church does not mean a riddle, but rather the Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension that we may begin to grasp, but ultimately we will only know through worship, symbol, and faith.

If we reflect on the mystery of the Trinity, we can see also that it is the way that God has been revealed to us, as Father; as the Son, Jesus; and as the Holy Spirit or the Advocate.

We can never fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we can sum it up in the following formula: God is three Persons in one Nature. The three Persons of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are all equally God, and They cannot be divided.

This week take some time to meditate on the place of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in your life.

We are OPENING our doors for Public Worship! It is super exciting that we are opening our parish, once again, for public worship. Archbishop Blair has announced that parishes can open beginning tomorrow, June 8th, for daily Masses. Since word came our way, we have begun to lay out the plans to open, while keeping the safety and well-being of our parishioners at the forefront of all that we do! I am grateful to the Pastoral Council for their leadership in implementing the “Guidelines for Opening Churches for Public Worship” here in our parish!

I also want to express publicly my gratitude to our maintenance staff for all that they have done to ensure we are ready to open our doors. They have been busy preparing the facilities and ensuring the grounds look great for the return of our parishioners!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REOPENING OUR DOORS FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP!

· Saint Bridget Church building will be the only location for Masses at this time. It was recommended that parishes with more than one church consider only opening one location at this time to make it easier to monitor adherence to the guidelines.

· We have decided to provide 12 Masses during the week to ensure all who want to attend Mass can have the opportunity to do so. Masses will be at 7AM & 9AM Monday through Friday and at 6PM on Tuesday and Thursday.

· Mass will continue to be livestreamed two days during the week (this week that will be on Monday and Wednesday at 1PM) and on Sunday at 11AM.

· We will continue to open the Church for private prayer on Saturday from 10AM-12noon and on Sunday from 9AM-10:30AM.

· Confessions can be offered…we will continue to offer drive-thru confessions by appointment. We will also be offering drive-thru confession on Saturday from 3PM-3:30PM. Please pull-up next to the priest and roll down your window—there is no need for you to exit your vehicle. (If you are coming with others in the car we ask that you pull into the far parking lot and approach the confessor one at a time.)

· Hymnals have all been removed from the pews so if you are used to using one for the prayers on the back please bring your own with you to Mass or use myParish App. If you have not downloaded it yet please do so by texting APP to number 88202, then you will receive a link, click on it, open it in the store, download, search, and enter St. Bridget of Sweden and then click to get started!

· F.F. Hitchcock was on-site and changed all the filters in our HVAC system and also added Ultra Violet lights to help clean the air in the system.

· We have secured a new disinfectant spray: Envirocleanse A. We were given a tip from a parishioner (thank you) about a new disinfectant spray being used by the Fire and Police Departments in town. Envirocleanse A is a disinfectant for use on hard non-porous inanimate surfaces. Envirocleanse A is an oxidized, pH-neutral water-based solution that is ready-to-use. It simply needs to be sprayed on surfaces by our volunteers and then after ten minutes all viruses are killed. It is safe and organic.

GUIDELINES THAT MUST BE FOLLOWED BY THOSE WHO ATTEND MASS!

· You must sign-up through the Signup Genius at https://bit.ly/masssignup. The link was emailed to those parishioners whose email we have in our database. If you did not receive that email please check your spam as it might be there. If we do not have your email address, please send it to office@stbridgetcheshire.org. If you do not have any means to use the internet, please contact the parish office and they can sign you up for the Mass.

· You must practice social distancing at ALL times including entering and exiting the Church. ONLY the main entrance and the south entrance will be utilized.

· You must use sanitizer (your own preferably, since the parish has limited amounts) as you enter the Church.

· You must wear a mask at ALL times—there are few exceptions!

- Children under the age of two should not wear masks.

- Parents should judge for children between the ages of two and five whether they should wear a mask.

- All people who claim an exemption for a legitimate health reason (one that does not pose a risk to others) can forego wearing a mask.

· You will be brought to a seat to be socially distant from others. Families from the same household may sit together.

· There will be NO shaking hands.

· Communicants will receive the consecrated host in their hand, step to the side, lower their mask, consume the host, replace their mask, and then return to their pew. Gloves are NOT permitted to be worn when receiving Holy Communion. Please also note that no one is obliged to receive Holy Communion so if you feel the risk is too high please make a Spiritual Communion at your place.

· There are to be NO social gatherings inside the Church or in the parking lot at any time

Remember NO ONE is obliged to attend Mass at this time. If you are in a high risk group, are a member of the elderly, do not feel well, are anxious or fearful, or are immune-compromised, please stay home!

Archbishop Blair has also extended the dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass through September 6th. Please join us on Sundays at 11AM as we livestream the Mass on Facebook, YouTube, and our Parish Website at

www.stbridgetcheshire.org.

I am what some would call a news junkie. I love to watch the news, listen to the news in the car, and have the news on in the background throughout the day. During the past few months, however, it has at times become too much for even me to handle. It can be overwhelming following the state and national response to the pandemic. Father Federico and I have even had to declare at some mealtimes this will be a pandemic-free discussion. It can just be so overwhelming.

This past week the news has changed its’ focus now to another horrific reality: the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd and the protests that have followed. His death has reignited the call for justice in our country. People have taken to the streets to protest this racial violence. This whole experience has revealed the deep wound of racism that still exists in the land of the free. The news now covers the protests, some peaceful others not, some respectful others not. My friends I am not writing about this to get involved in any political discussion or even to offer my personal thoughts on the events of this past week. I am simply bringing it up to say that racism, in any form, is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Our faith calls us to love one another, to see the face of God in the face of those we encounter. We know that EVERY person is made in God’s image, so let’s treat one another with value, respect, and yes love!

JOIN ME IN PRAYER! Pray for peace in our nation, in our state, on our streets. Pray for our first responders. Pray for firefighters, police officers, EMTs, doctors, and nurses. Pray for those who have died from the Coronavirus, those who have lost loved ones from this virus, and those who are struggling to maintain their sanity through it all.

As always, remember to also pray for our parish family and ask God’s blessings upon us all in this time of pandemic. With the gracious intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, may we be united with one another in prayer! Please pray for me and know that I am praying for you!

"And Jesus wept."

This is not what any of us hoped for when we complained about the lack of stories other than coronavirus in the media. As you have no doubt noticed, American attention has been fixed on Minneapolis this past week following the death of George Floyd.

Video surfaced of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into Floyd's neck, despite Floyd's repeated pleas that he could not breathe. Since the incident, America has been burning with tension, anger, and violence. How should we, as the people of God, respond to this event?

This incident has become extremely divisive. To begin with, let's focus on what we should all agree on, based in Catholic social teaching: George Floyd deserved life, unequivocally and without discussion.

The Catholic Church is staunchly pro-life in its teachings and practices. While many outside the Church seek to distill this into only opposing abortion, in reality we are called to respect and protect life from conception until natural death.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the section on the Fifth Commandment, does allow for the death penalty "if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor," yet also states that "the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.'"

It cannot be argued that George Floyd's imprisonment would have posed a legitimate threat to the lives of others; he was being detained on suspicion of forgery, a nonviolent crime. On top of these moral factors, he died without trial or sentencing, a clear violation of both his human and Constitutional rights. This was, without a doubt, an unjust death, and we should mourn it and call for justice in full voice.

The shortest verse in the Bible in just about every translation is "And Jesus wept." This verse, John 11:35, comes when Jesus learns of the death of His friend Lazarus. I think it's the single most humanizing verse in the Bible when it comes to Jesus, and it's intensely powerful. What we sometimes forget is that Jesus weeps for us all when our time comes. While He longs to be united with us forever in Heaven, He feels our pain along with us, including the final pain of death.

Jesus is weeping profusely for George Floyd and his family. He is also weeping for all of us in the wake of this tragedy as we search for the right path forward as a nation. He knows the fear, anguish, anger, and confusion many of us feel, and He hurts right along with us.

This is not the end of the story, however. The Lord does not simply feel our pain along with us and then forget about it. He wants to help us make positive changes to avoid feeling a similar pain again.

This brings us to the aftermath of Floyd's death. I will not use this platform to make political statements about race in America or how those who feel threatened in the aftermath of Floyd's death should act, but I will seek only to apply Catholic social teaching to the situation. The rights to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances are enshrined in the Constitution's First Amendment, and all Americans (and Catholics) should respect those rights.

Those who have taken to protesting and assembling in solidarity with the black community, whatever their race, should be protected and supported. However, the outbreaks of violence and looting at some of these protests have become another flashpoint of national discussion over the weekend. This muddies the moral waters considerably, and should be considered separately from the peaceful protests.

In the same section of the Catechism quoted earlier, we read that "to desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit." We also read that "hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil," and that "deliberate hatred is contrary to charity."

Taking these statements into account along with the general tone of the Catechism's writings on life, we can conclude that violence borne from anger towards one's neighbor, no matter how understandable that anger is, is not permissible by Catholicism.

As I said, this anger is largely understandable and relatable. We should all empathize and share in it, because the killing of George Floyd was gravely wrong on every level. But we must also not forget that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

The Catechism tells us that "earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ." We all acknowledge that killings such as George Floyd's do not bring about this peace, but neither do burning, looting, smashing, and other forms of violent anger that we have seen in these recent days.

Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers." He calls us daily to work to bring about peace and harmony among mankind. Mourning George Floyd and honoring his memory through trying to prevent further such tragedy is wholly in line with our Catholic duty. Speaking out against the violence and looting that has broken out in the aftermath is also in line with this duty, as is respecting those who are protesting peacefully.

This is an incredibly painful topic for all of us as Americans, Catholics, and human beings. We need to work extra hard to respect each other in times like these when tensions are running high.

We must work to prevent another such tragedy, and we must do so without inflicting further pain and violence on each other. Jesus calls us to promote peace and justice, and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Pray for the healing of our nation and our communities. I look forward to the day when we can all once again pray for unity together in the body of our beautiful church. Until then, stay safe and be well.

God Bless,

Regis

Apologetics 101: Apostolic Succession

What is Apostolic Succession? As Catholics we believe that at the Last Supper when Christ instituted the Eucharist, He also instituted the first Apostles as priests of the New Testament. Through the laying on of hands, Ordination, the bishops down the centuries have received their commission in unbroken sequence for two thousand years. The bishops in unity with the Pope have been given the mission to teach and guard the faith entrusted to the Apostles. Through the Holy Spirit, we believe that the same mission given to St. Peter, as the first Pope, and St. Paul as an Apostle in the Early Church is being carried on faithfully and continuously by the bishops and priests ordained today. This unity of faith across time assures us that the faith and Church we profess is the true Church, which Christ promised He would be built on the rock, St. Peter.