Celebration of Catholic Faith in Brockton, MA
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Celebration of Catholic Faith in Brockton, MA Presented to the People of God in the City of Brockton May 30, 2015 ~ June 14, 2015 Table of Contents Introduction 2 St. Casimir 3 Christ the King 5 St. Colman 7 St. Edith Stein 9 St. Edward 11 St. Margaret 13 St. Nicholas 15 Our Lady of Lourdes 17 Our Lady of Ostrabrama 19 St. Patrick 21 Sacred Heart 23 1 June 15, 2015 Dear Friends, We have just completed our Celebration of Faith weekends in each of our parishes. All of us have benefited from the faith of those who have gone before us, be they family, friends or religious leaders. We have also been blessed here in the city of Brockton by the faith of those who built our beautiful churches. Though some of those churches have closed, our faith is strong today as in the past. We have become renewed parishes and this is what we celebrate. This booklet is meant to honor the Lord and the saints for whom our churches were named. I hope the sketches done by Jow Shaw of Christ the King Parish will inspire you. The write-up on the saints and the churches were done by our seminarians Chris Bae and Joe Hubbard. Fathers Garcia and Irineu helped translate the texts into French and Portuguese. Thank you to each of them. I hope that this booklet will inspire you and give you hope. We move forward in faith together. God Bless you, Father Joe 2 St. Casimir Feast Day: March 4 Patron Saint of Poland and Lithuania 3 Casimir was born in 1458, the third of thirteen children born to Poland's King Casimir IV and his wife Elizabeth of Austria. He and several of his brothers studied with the priest and historian John Dlugosz, whose deep piety and political expertise influenced Casimir in his youth. The young prince did not like the luxury that came with his royal heritage, and chose a simple, devout life instead. He wore plain clothes, slept on the floor instead of a regal bed, and was known for his great charity to the poor. These sacrifices he made signify the simplicity and holiness with which he lived his life. His father the king and his advisors wanted Casimir to marry, but he chose to remain single so that he could focus more on his prayer life, his relationship with God and his service to the people he served. After experiencing symptoms of tuberculosis, Casimir foresaw his death and prepared for it by deepening his devotion to God. He died en route to Lithuania on March 4, 1484, and was buried with a copy of a Marian hymn he frequently recited. Pope Adrian VI canonized him in 1522. St. Casimir Parish was established in 1898 by Archbishop John Williams as a home to the Lithuanian community of Brockton. For more than 110 years, this parish served the faithful in the Lithuanian community and in 2009 when the parish closed, the parishioners were welcomed into St. Michael Parish in Avon and St. Edith Stein Parish in Brockton. 4 Christ the King Feast Day: The Last Sunday of Ordinary Time 5 Reference to Jesus under the title of Christ the King can be found in scripture several times, most notably in John’s Gospel when Jesus says “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (John 18) and in Revelation when Christ is referred to as the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Rev. 19:16). Since the year 1925, Catholics have been formally celebrating the Feast of Christ the King. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast on the last Sunday of October and since 1970 it has been celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, which is the final Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year and one week before the beginning of Advent. The placement of the feast at the end of the year emphasizes the importance of recognizing Jesus Christ as King of the Universe, and reminds us that at the end of our Earthly life, we hope to meet Jesus Christ, the King. The institution of this feast was seen as a response to growing nationalism and secularism and was communicated by Pope Pius through his encyclical letter Quas Primas. In this letter, Pope Pius said, “[Christ] must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls…” The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe serves as a reminder and source of meditation for us each year that our constant goal is to be united with Christ for eternity in heaven. Christ the King Parish was established in 2004 by Cardinal Sean O’Malley and is one of the Brockton Tri-Parishes. Both Sacred Heart and St. Colman parishes were closed and formed into the new community of Christ the King at the site of the St. Colman Church on the East Side. 6 St. Colman of Cloyne Feast Day: November 24 Patron Saint of the Diocese of Cloyne 7 St. Colman Mac Lenine was born in Munster around the year 510 A.D. He was endowed with many natural talents, and served as a poet and bard to the royal court of Aoch Caomh, King of Munster, at Cashel in Tipperary. When he was about 50 years old, Colman converted to Christianity under the guidance of St. Brendan and St. Ita. He was baptized, renounced the splendors of Cashel and became a priest. Colman was given a grant of land that used to belong to the kingdom of Cashel and it was on this site that the Church of Cloyne was established in 560. He oversaw this monastic foundation for about forty years and died on November 24 in 604. St. Colman wrote several poems, some of which are still remembered today. Cardinal William O’Connell established St. Colman Parish in 1910. St. Colman’s served the Catholic faithful on the East Side of Brockton for 94 years before it was closed in 2004, along with Sacred Heart Parish, and the two joined together as the new parish of Christ the King at the site of St. Colman’s. 8 St. Edith Stein Feast Day: August 9 Patron Saint of Europe, loss of parents, converts from Judaism, and World Youth Day 9 Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland and was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. She was an outstanding student and was especially interested in philosophy. Eventually she gained interest in the Catholic Faith, and in 1922, she was baptized at the Cathedral Church in Cologne, Germany. Eleven years later Edith became a Discalced Carmelite sister at the Cologne Carmel, taking the name of Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Because of the politics in Germany during the 1930’s, Edith was sent to the Carmel at Echt, Holland along with her sister Rose who had also converted and became associated with the Carmelite Order. When the Nazis conquered Holland, Teresa and Rose were arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of fifty. Pope St. John Paul II beatified her in 1987 in Cologne and canonized her in 1998 at the Vatican. Because of her beautiful life of consecration, prayer, fasting and penance, she is remembered as a most holy example that lived as a stark contrast to the evil that existed in Europe during the 1930’s and 1940’s, and thus she was named a patroness of Europe. Founded in 2003 by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, St. Edith Stein Parish is located in the former St. Edward’s Church in the Montello Section of Brockton. This parish community was formed by the parishes of St. Edward and St. Nicholas and has served in the Tri-Parishes of Brockton for more than 10 years. 10 St. Edward the Confessor Feast Day: October 13 Patron Saint of difficult marriages and England 11 Edward was born in 1003, the son of Ethelred II and Emma of Normandy. When Edward was a young boy, he and his brother Alfred were sent to Normandy to be raised in the court of his uncle the Duke of Normandy. Because of political situations, he spent much of his early life in exile, and came to see political ambition as foolish. Instead, he found great delight in assisting at Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, and in surrounding himself with the professed religious. The English crown was in the hands of Danish royals for many years, but eventually Edward and Alfred were convinced to return and try to seize power over the kingdom. Alfred was killed while fighting for the crown, and Edward decided to return to Normandy. However, the reigning king died suddenly and Edward was called by acclamation to become king, welcomed by the English and the Danish settlers alike, in large part because of his holy character. Edward’s reign was a reign of peace, and much of the potential conflict was avoided or handled for the most part without war because of Edward’s prudence and gentleness. Because of his lack of personal ambition, he focused his attention on the welfare of his people, lessening the burden they had by lowering taxes and sharing much of his wealth with the poor and the Church.