Summer at St. Patrick’s

An Update from our Youth Community

Our summer is well underway at St. Pat’s.  The Youth Community continues to provide a variety of options for all ages. Summer Boy’s Hoops, under the direction of John Cooley was a success. More than 60 teams signed-up for the season.  Pete Taurassi has begun the girls season and we have more than 30 teams participating.

Camp is in its fourth week and this year we have added two travel weeks.  Our season ends the 20th of August.  Campers enjoy on-site activities as well as sites on Long Island such as Splish Splash, Holtsville Ecology Center, local beaches and Sailor’s Haven.  Our teen travel has ventured to the City as well as Six Flag’s.  Our wonderful camp staff, counselors and directors continue to work hard so that the attendees have wonderful memories of their camp experience.  Friday Mass is a regular part of our camp schedule and we are grateful for the priests who have assisted us this summer with timely homilies and visits to our program.

Kickline camp had more than 35 participants and our softball and baseball players are doing well, despite the heat.  New this season is our Summer Dek league.  We have more than 250 players and we are already taking sign-ups for the Fall league.  Volleyball will be offered in the early Fall.  Please visit our website www.stpatsyouth.com or call us at 724-1261 or 360-0257 for more information.

Happy, healthy summer,
Cynthia Marsh
Youth Administrator

This week Catholic Charities held its annual review meeting which gives the leadership and Board of Directors the opportunity to report to the Bishop on the many extraordinary projects that our Diocesan Catholic Charities carries on in behalf of the vulnerable and needy in our midst.  The largest social service network outside of the government in all of Long island, this is the face of the Catholic Church to pregnant teens, elderly couples, special needs children and their families and a host of other persons and groups who depend on the Church to help them cope with life and become self-reliant with dignity and meaning in their lives.

In the past three weeks, there were graduations from our three diocesan high schools, McGann Mercy in Riverhead, Holy Trinity in Hicksville and St, John the Baptist in West Islip.  Almost 1,000 seniors received diplomas and are going on to some of the best colleges in the area and in our country, thanks to the dedicated faculty and administration at these three Catholic schools.

In May it was my privilege to ordain ten men to the permanent diaconate and assign them to serve in parishes around our diocese.  On June 12, the cathedral was filled with family and loved ones and parishioners of the three men ordained to the priesthood after completing their years of formation at our seminary in Huntington.  A fourth, whom I ordained last year, has completed his studies in theology at the Gregorian University in Rome last week will join them in parish assignments to St James. Seaford, St Brigid, Westbury, St Joseph Ronkonkoma and St. Patrick, Smithtown.

A month ago, 65 men and women received graduate degrees in theology, divinity and pastoral studies after completing their work at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington.  With great joy many will gather in the Cathedral of St. Agnes this week for graduations from the Pastoral Formation Institute for all those who will receive their certificates from the PFI in various areas of religious studies.

In the meantime throughout the year, almost every weekend has seen a charismatic retreat which gathered Spanish speaking members of our parishes for prayer, and deepening of their spiritual lives.  On our campuses, adult and peer ministers attuned to the spiritual and special needs of Catholics in the colleges and universities that make Long Island so attractive to the young collegians of our parishes and those from other parts of the country.  I pray we may find vocations to priesthood and religious life among some of them which is why Fr. Brian Barr and his cohort of priests have made themselves available to offer Mass on these campuses and to conduct retreats for college age students throughout the school year.

In the meantime, my colleagues who oversee the needs of the clergy, the coordination of social outreach in our parishes, the efforts at communications in all the media from this newspaper to Telecare to our website, the various organs of diocesan life like the Presbyteral Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council, in short, all those who assist me in the many activities that help the fifth largest Catholic Church in the United States function, will gather with me next week to review the year’s efforts and to begin preparations for what we will undertake as a diocese when the summer holidays are over.

What do all these have in common?  Many things not the least of which is that they are all aspects of a healthy and vibrant expression of the Spirit who animates this Diocese of Rockville Centre.  They also are the many ways that the office of bishop is carried on in service to the People of God, a service offered in strict union and collaboration with my brother priests, your pastors and their staffs. But, what all these, including the parishes, all have in common is that they all are assisted by the annual Catholic Ministries Appeal.

None of these could continue to function without your support of the Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). The Diocese has only two real sources of income. One is the annual assessment, called the Cathedraticum, to which every parish contributes a small percentage of its income so that the Bishop and the Diocese can carry on essential work of the Church, only a portion of which I have mentioned above.  The second source is your generosity to the CMA.

Unfortunately the number giving has decreased and, while the average gift is somewhat greater every year, the overall donations through the CMA have grown little and seem to be flat or a little behind last year.  Our pastors are working hard to make their goals.  Many lay people continue to offer their efforts to encourage parishioners and others to give to the CMA which literally touches the lives of all the Catholics on Long Island and many thousands who are not Catholic.

So as we start to look ahead in anticipation of some summer days on this most beautiful part of God’s earth, I would like to ask each and everyone of you to help me.  This week or next or any day before you go on vacation, stop and ask yourself if you can give a little more to the CMA before you and your family go off on your holidays.  If you have stopped giving, for whatever reason, think about this fact: no money from the CMA enriches anyone or adds to anyone’s salaries or benefits who work in this Diocese beginning with your bishop on down to every other person who serves you.  The CMA contributions go exclusively to the five areas of the Diocese that are so much more in need because today’s needs are greater than yesterdays.  So, even if it is only a small amount, that doesn’t matter.  What matters is the generous heart that makes a sacrifice to help others.  And that sacrifice, however large or small, will multiply itself because of your goodness and your care.

So please let’s make an end of the year, beginning of summer effort to give a little more, give a little extra, give something from your heart to the CMA before you go off on vacation.  And may the God who watches over us watch over, protect you and your family during these summer months wherever you may be relaxing and being refreshed by the beauty of God’s creation and the joyful fun of family and friends together.

If you can help, please do so.  Contributions can be made using this form and sending it to:

Catholic Ministries Appeal
Diocese of Rockville Centre
P.O. Box 4000
Rockville Centre, NY 11571-4000

Gifts to the Catholic Ministries Appeal may also be made via your credit card.  Make your donation online by visiting www.drvc.org/make-a-donation.html .

St. Patrick’s currently has received $85,339.09.00
in pledges from 388 families toward our goal of $130,000.00.

Bishop William Murphy  

It has been almost a month since I first moved to St. Patrick’s.  So much has happened in such a little time.  All moves are challenging.  The move that I was part of was more than just transferring my stuff from one place to another.  In fact it was transferring my stuff from three places to one.  I had to move stuff from my deaconate parish, my mother’s house, and from the seminary to the rectory of St. Patrick’s.  However, that was not the most magnanimous transition.  The biggest transition for me has been going from seminarian-deacon to associate pastor-priest.  With that in mind, however, the transition has been very smooth thanks to the goodness of God and the kindness of others most especially Msgr. Walden and the priests here at St. Patrick’s.

From the Desk of The Old Testament readings for this week involve the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Though the townspeople deserve severe justice, Abraham appeals to God’s mercy.  Repeatedly Abraham questions God about the extent of his mercy.  As the questions come from Abraham the response is always the same, God’s mercy will triumph over justice providing that there is a glimmer of faithfulness.

From the Desk of Mercy is a unique word.  In the Old Testament the words “hesed” and “rachamim” are employed when the authors speak of mercy.  Hesed refers to God’s steadfast love. It is often used when speaking about the relationship of God and his covenant and how His love is steadfast, unchanging, unyielding. (Is. 54:10): “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love [hesed] shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.  The second most common word for God’s mercy in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word ”rachamim”: tender, compassionate love, a love that springs from pity. Rachamim is often used in conjunction with hesed.  It comes from a root word “rechem,” which means a mother’s womb.  Thus, there is a special intimacy and responsiveness about this kind of love, and a special concern for the sufferings of others.

From the Desk of We know in our experience that God is merciful.  Constantly he pours out wonderful gifts to us despite our human condition. Actually it is because of our human condition that we need mercy.  We begin the Mass with a plea for mercy and over and over again we implore His mercy.  In our Eucharistic Prayer we go so far as to implore him to not look at us, but “see the victim whose death has reconciled us to you...”  We can do that because we are, not only made in the image and likeness of Himself, but in virtue of our baptism we have put on Christ. Therefore, what he sees and loves in us is what he sees and loves in His Son.

From the Desk of Because of our baptism we have the right to make use of the two great reservoirs of mercy: Confession and Eucharist.  In Confession the Divine Healer, through the words of the priest, stretches His arm through time and space while healing and forgiving.  Through sacramental Confession we allow ourselves to be peeled of the things that keep us away from God and others.

From the Desk of When we celebrate Eucharist our time and space changes.  We are in God’s time and His space.  In the Mass, as we offer God our gifts of worship, praise and thanksgiving, we in essence give Him the very best that we are.  In turn He gives us the very best of Himself, Jesus Christ.  Let us pray that we always have the strength to enter into these wonderful Sacraments and in turn have God the Father, see and love in us, what he sees and loves in His Son.

God Bless You... Fr. David Regan