Welcome to St. Dorothy and St. Thomas Churches!

Join us in the celebration of Word and Sacrament as we continue to grow in our Catholic faith and as a faith community. We welcome all to join us as we seek to follow Christ, to come alive in His Spirit, and to share His love with one another.

Parish Office: 11 Harnden St., Wilmington 978-658-4665
Faith Formation Office: 126 Middlesex Ave., Wilmington 978-658-6040

BULLETIN FOR MAY 22, 2022

ASCENSION THURSDAY IS A HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION - MASSES WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 7:00PM, ST. THOMAS CHURCH
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 9:00AM, ST DOROTHY CHURCH

2022 Catholic Appeal: Helping Our Parishes Do What They Do Best Many parishes in our Archdiocese operate food pantries that provide nourishment and support for thousands of families in need. Food pantries across the Archdiocese are more important now than ever as the number of those suffering from food insecurity increased by 55% during the pandemic. Your support of the Catholic Appeal provides ongoing and wide-ranging operational support and assistance to our parishes as they do what they do best: carry out Christ’s mission to help those most in need. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE CATHOLIC APPEAL VIDEO INFORMATION ABOUT THE CATHOLIC APPEAL 2022 HERE

PASTOR'S NOTE

Greetings,

I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to all of you were able to attend, and those who perhaps couldn’t but were present through prayer or well wishes for the weekend of my installation as pastor of this great Parish of the Transfiguration. I certainly realized your thanks for finally getting someone who would stay a little more permanently as pastor and your love and appreciation during the Mass. The way Bishop Hennessey celebrates the installation is, I think unique, in that he has the pastor-elect make the same promises that were made on the day of ordination. Additionally, the leading of the Creed and the Oath of Fidelity made at the Altar with my hand on the Book of the Gospels was quite moving for me. These are all things I have done previously when assuming the pastorate of the previous two parishes where I served in that capacity, but they were done in the bishop office or at a chapel solely in the presence of the bishop. To do it in the presence of the parishioners whom I will serve and with my family present was an emotional moment for me because of your witnessing of the event.

I could never fully express my gratitude for all that was done to celebrate us as a parish on this eventful weekend. I give heartfelt thanks to you for your presence as I wanted this to be about all of us, not just me, but all of you who comprise this parish community. I truly thank the Parish Office and Faith Formation staff: Patty Worthington, Barbara Doherty, Deacon Joe Fagan, Tom Griffin, Debbie Casey, Dawn Horak, Pat Pelosi, Jeannie Pettiingill, Don Dompier, to Lora, Kathy, Joe, Dave, Abby, and the members of the choir who added that extra prayer, as described by St. Augustine (or was it St. Ambrose), For Ron Colbert and Jean Jordan and all who in any way helped bring the celebration together in liturgy and shared meal, which quite at the last minute. A special thanks to Debbie who helped get that done even while in the hospital and at home. I wish you all many Blessings!

I imagine most of you know that I was and continue to be a teacher. I tell my current students of Spanish and Portuguese at St. John Seminary that I often teach tangentially, whatever comes into my mind at the time comes out of my mouth as something good to know. You’ve probably noticed this is also a part of my preaching, which I wish I could say is planned but is not, it’s so often just tangential thoughts given voice. And so, in that line I will at times write about things that either come up in conversations or which come to mind at other inopportune times. Another thought came up in conversation with one of the faithful. Many Catholics believe that a person who is divorced cannot receive Holy Communion. That is only partially true! Only when a divorced Catholic remarries WITHOUT a canonical annulment is that person not permitted to receive Holy Communion. Therefore divorced and not remarried is not an impediment to reception of communion. It’s good to know the facts prior to making a judgement, and even then one may not know all the facts.

Another very important fact about sacraments is important to know, that is a sacrament cannot be given to a deceased person. This is most important to recall when a loved one becomes ill. What used to be called Extreme Unction or the Last Anointing came to be known as the last rites. Since 1972 the sacrament has been called Anointing of the Sick and is no longer a final anointing but may be administered as soon as a Catholic becomes ill, or is advanced in age and can be received more than just once. PLEASE DO NOT wait until the final moments to call for an anointing. If it is known that a person is soon passing the Last Rites are: penance, anointing, and Viaticum, or Eucharist given in danger of death, originally applied to food taken on a journey, the journey being the final, great journey to the Kingdom.

Peace & Blessings, Fr. Walter Carreiro

Faith Formation Registration is now open for 2022-2023. You can find the registration form/link on our website: parishofthetransfiguration.org, click the Faith formation tab. We also offer an adaptive faith formation class for students that need more assistance in the classroom. We also offer a heritage faith formation session class for students that have missed 1 or more years of faith formation and would like to return. If you have any question please email Dawnh@parishofthetransfiguration.org or call 978-658-6040. You can also register here: https://boston.parishsoftfamilysuite.com/Secure/Member/Home/Home.aspx

Praying hands with Ukraine National Flag, Pray for Ukraine concept - stock vector | Crushpixel

Forgive us for the war, Lord. Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on us sinners. Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus, dead in the arms of a mother in Kharkiv, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus, in the 20-year-olds sent to the frontline, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus, who continues to see hands armed with weapons under the shadow of the cross, forgive us, Lord. Forgive us if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hand, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons. Forgive us if these hands that you had created to protect have been turned into instruments of death. Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother. Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother, if we continue like Cain to take the stones from our field to kill Abel. Forgive us if we go out of our way to justify cruelty, if, in our pain, we legitimize the cruelty of our actions. Forgive us the war, Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, we implore you to stop the hand of Cain, enlighten our conscience, let not our will be done, do not abandon us to our own doing. Stop us, Lord, stop us, and when you have stopped the hand of Cain, take care of him also. He is our brother. O Lord, stop the violence. Stop us, Lord. Amen. Pope Francis

CATHOLIC TV DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS

Cardinal Seán encourages Catholics to participate in the daily and Sunday Masses broadcast from the CatholicTV chapel.

Daily Mass airs live at 9:30am and is rebroadcast at 7pm and 11:30pm.

Sunday Masses air throughout the day at 10am, 4pm, 7pm, and 11:30pm.

The Sunday Spanish Mass airs live at 8am and is rebroadcast at 5:30pm and 10pm.

Viewers can watch these Masses on demand at any time at www.WatchtheMass.com. For more information about CatholicTV and where you can watch it, visit http://www.catholictv.org/.

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