From the Pastor April 12/13

It is Holy Week 

Holy Week is the most solemn week of the Liturgical Year when we commemorate the events of Jesus’ final days. Please plan to participate in all or as many of these sacred days. They will surely help deepen your faith and nurture your appreciation for Easter.

Here is the schedule of Holy Week and Easter Liturgies:

Wednesday: Tenebrae 7 pm. 

Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7 pm.

Following the Mass, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be held until 11 pm.

Good Friday: Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion and Death 3 pm.

Stations of the Cross 7 pm.

Holy Saturday: Vigil of Easter 7:30 pm.

Easter Sunday Masses 8 am & 10 am.

Easter Hospitality Ministry

There are numerous opportunities to contribute to making Holy Redeemer a welcoming church this Easter. On the welcome desks, we have Sign Up Sheets for Welcome Ministers in our parking lot and at the doors of the church. There are opportunities to be hosts in church. If you can smile, and everyone can do that, you are qualified to be part of our hospitality team. Sign up today. Take a few Easter Mass invitations with you to use to welcome unchurched family, friends, and neighbors too.

Holy Week Confessions

Celebrating God’s forgiveness by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation in anticipation of Easter is important for our faith life. Fr. Sullivan is setting aside extra time to be in the Reconciliation Room at the back of the church this Wednesday from 4–6 pm. It will be the last opportunity before Easter.

Filling Your Lenten Folders

Parishioners have been filling their Lenten Folder as a Lenten almsgiving activity. They have put aside 25c each day for a total of $10 throughout Lent. You can begin returning your folders starting this week. Collection boxes are by the Welcome Desks at the church doors. Please convert the quarters to currency or a check. We will donate proceeds from the folders to the Cape Cod Foster Closet. The Closet is a charity that provides clothing and other essentials to foster parents welcoming a child from state custody into their home. Providing a home for a foster child is a very generous gesture from these people, and we need to support them. 

Earth Week Spring Clean-Up

Parishioners plan to join the Chatham Conservation Foundation’s Earth Week Clean-up on Saturday, April 26, at 9:00 or 11:00 am to pick up litter and winter debris from CCF properties around town. Last year, Holy Redeemer recruited the most people for this effort. Let’s do it again this year. Sign up at the welcome desk today. 

Lower/Outer Cape Young Adult Group Forming

A Young Catholic Adult Group for those aged 19-35 is being formed in the Lower/Outer Cape Area to socialize, play, and pray together. If you are interested in joining, please contact Colin Murphy at YACapeCod@gmail.com

Parish Photographer Wanted

Do you enjoy photography? Holy Redeemer is looking for parish photographers to take pictures of parish events and happenings to put on our parish website. If you are interested, please call the parish office at 508-945-0677. 

Join Us at the Chrism Mass

Several Small Faith Sharing Group members will join Fr. Sullivan at the Chrism Mass on Tuesday. The Chrism Mass, an annual gathering of the presbyterate with Bishop Da Cunha, will take place on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 4:00 pm at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. This Holy Week Mass is the liturgy where the Holy Oils, used in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and the Sick are blessed and where priests recommit to their Ordination promises. It is a beautiful and spiritual event. If you want to join your fellow parishioners, please call the Parish Office (508) 945-0677. 

Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis

Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis at a special Holy Year event for youth on Sunday, April 27, 2025. Blessed Carlo will be the first Millennial saint. Carlo was a young Italian teenager with a special devotion to Eucharistic Miracles. As a computer-savvy youth, he developed a website to share information about these miracles. While not coming from a particularly devote family, his childhood nannies helped him build his faith. 

In many ways, Carlo was a typical millennial child enjoying computer games, soccer, and other pursuits. While not being showy about his faith to his peers, they recognized him for his kindness and sensitivity to others. His example caused several people he was in contact with to inquire about Catholicism and seek baptism. 

At age fifteen, Carlo died on October 12, 2006, only eleven days after the onset of a very aggressive form of leukemia. On his deathbed, Carlo predicted to his mother that he would become a saint. His canonization, a process that can take centuries, will occur less than twenty years after his death.

A movie, Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality, will open in theaters from April 27-29. It will be shown here on Cape Cod at the Regal Cinemas at Mashpee Commons. The screen time is 4 pm on April 27 and 7 pm on April 28 & 29. If 5000 tickets are sold, they will be screened for an additional three days.