May 3, 2026

April 28, 2026

Dear Friends,

We are still celebrating the days of our Easter! I have been blessed since our Easter Vigil, just a month ago, with so many wonderful moments to acknowledge and feel blessed because of the life of Jesus Christ!

Since I last wrote a column for our bulletin, I was at our annual Priests’ Convocation. The highlight for myself and so many of our priests was being in the presence of our new Bishop. Bishop John Bonnici was so gracious in sharing some history about himself and that he is here to walk beside us and be present to us as a brother. His words were a welcome breath of these Easter days!

This same week, I was privileged to be with Bishop Bonnici, welcoming Cardinal Tobin from the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Cardinal Tobin’s nephew attends the U of R, and the Cardinal was a guest presider at Mass with a presentation to follow. He spoke of Pope Francis and Pope Leo. My good friend Father Brian Cool is the Chaplain for the U of R and R.I.T. Father Cool invited our support group for dinner and the evenings’ celebrations. Cardinal Tobin was as gracious and welcoming as our new Bishop! If you are not familiar with Cardinal Tobin, check out 60 Minutes from a few weeks ago and his interview with Norah O’Donnell.

This past week, on April 29th, we celebrated a great Doctor of the Church, Saint Catherine of Siena. Her wisdom and witness to the Risen Lord blesses me continuously with her words, “Be everything you are meant to be and set the world on fire.” I pray that I follow our Lord in being everything He desires of me.

And this weekend, we hear in our Gospel that those who follow Jesus will do the great things Jesus did, and even greater things. Reading those words, I always marvel in the confidence that Jesus has in you and me.

We celebrate this weekend with some very special young people who are making their First Communion! How exciting to have been with 17 individuals coming into the church at our Easter Vigil and now just about a month later to be among all these young individuals saying AMEN to the Body of Christ! 

Indeed, for me, Easter is still vibrant and before all of us!   This Thursday, on May 7th, our young people will be coming to Sacred Heart Cathedral for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  These wonderful people from our parishes will be among the first to receive this sacrament from our new Bishop, John Bonnici. The gift of the Holy Spirit will further enliven the lives of these young people. I still recall being confirmed by Bishop James Kearney, and what a special evening it was for me, my family and my friends. I pray our soon to be confirmed will have the same joys and love for the Lord as I do for this very moment.

Let us pray for our new faithful who are joining us at the table of the Lord and those who will be confirmed in the coming week! As they bless us with their witness and faith, may we bless them witnessing us being everything we are meant to be modeling Jesus Christ, our Risen Saviour! 

May we keep proclaiming the Lord with our Alleluias!!!

Blessings,

Rob

 

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Father Rob's Weekly Message

September 13, 2026

September 9, 2026
Dear Friends, Yellow School Buses are on the road reminding me another passage of time is happening. The young people and children I have been fortunate to talk to seem ready for this new school year. On the other hand, some are honestly expressing their hesitation in returning to a new academic year. This month I always recall the “Staples” ad with a woman, jubilant with her cart, going through the aisles with the music in the background ringing out “It’s the most Beautiful Time of the Year!”. I also remember a dear friend who for years always found this month sad. She so enjoyed having her children home for the summer and didn’t want it to end! Everyone has a thought, a memory, and a tug one way or another in their heart. Let’s pray for a safe, peaceful, enjoyable, and blessed year ahead for everyone in this new academic year! Our Parish Staff is getting excited about our welcoming Bishop Bonnici on September 26 ! We hope you and all our parishioners will join in welcoming him to the 5:30 PM mass at Saint Catherine’s. I am sure you’ll enjoy meeting him and praying with him at Mass. Ater the mass, a light reception will follow and give everyone some time to meet, greet, and welcome him to our parishes. Mark your calendars!!! On September 1 we began our new 2026 Season of Creation! I hope you received the great handout in last weeks bulletin offering us ideas on how to celebrate this season and continue to respect and care for the world God has entrusted to us. Pope Francis instilled in us inspiration for this treasured gift, God’s Creation, that has been placed in our hands. A focused theme for our 2026 journey is on “Living Water.” Check out Ezekiel 47:1-12. Water has been a major focus for ourselves and our sisters and brothers throughout the world. Too much water and flooding in so many areas ,and then not enough water in other areas where folks and landscapes are parched. Where can we find ourselves in helping to address this issue? The Season of Creation continues to October 4 , the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis and Saint Kateri Tekakwitha are patron saints for creation and ecology. Let’s ask their intercession in our prayers to be good stewards of this fabulous world we are entrusted to care for ourselves and future generations. On September 12th very generous men/stewards from our parishes and beyond will be heading to Booneville, Kentucky. A week ago some of these wonderful brothers were at Mass. See the photo accompanying this article. We prayed over them and others in absentia, gifted them with a beautiful cross created by Sam Damico, and blessed their response to the Lord’s invitation to go and bring Good News to Booneville. Keep these gentlemen in your thoughts and prayers. May their week be abundant in blessings! I am prejudiced. I believe in a very good way. A man of God I have admired from the time I first met him is having a birthday. Not just a birthday, but his 90th birthday! Who would ever have thought I would be blessed to follow in his footsteps when he retired from Saint Catherine of Siena. I was so honored to be able to do so with the person I looked up to for his ministry, love of the Lord, and his wisdom on how to be bearers of Jesus’s Good News among one another! Father Jim Lawlor will be celebrated October 4th, from 2 – 4 PM, at Saint Anne’s Hall, 1600 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester NY, 14620. Everyone is invited!!! Please come and celebrate Jim if you are able. Please send him a card if you cannot at the address I mentioned above. Wow! We have been blessed with a wonderful friend and disciple of Jesus! Hope you’re doing well. As ever, know I’m remembering each of you in my prayer.  With Blessings & Joy, Father Rob

September 6, 2026

September 1, 2026
Dear Friends, This weekend leads us into Monday celebrating Labor Day. Mass will be celebrated at 9AM at Transfiguration. This day we acknowledge the dignity of work for all people. Those who still work, may we thank the Lord for what they provide for all of us. Let us also thank those blessed to be retired for their contributions they gave us over the years. May everyone enjoy a safe and enjoyable holiday. Some students have returned to school this past week and others will be returning this week. I pray for all our students at every level of education, teachers, professors, support staffs and everyone involved in the administration and care for our students. May we all keep them in prayer for a blessed year of learning, accomplishments that will enrich their lives, and for the safety of all. God bless these individuals! And to all who are reading this brief message, May God’s blessing be with you! Father Rob

August 30, 2026

August 26, 2026
Dear Friends, First of all, thank you to everyone who reached out to me with birthday greetings. I am very appreciative and grateful to the Lord for another day/year to celebrate joys and blessings of my natal life! I lift each of you in my prayers of thanksgiving!!! I was blessed to be with wonderful friends for my birthday and a week following. Some of you know, my “second home” has been in Beverly, Massachusetts. Now, get it right, I’ve never owned a home there, (hello, I do not have that financial realm) but I have been blessed to be part of the North Shore for forty plus years. I won’t bore you, but I met the North Shore of Cape Ann in 1982. The beginning of my journey there was as a Chaplain at Beverly Hospital with a seminary program called Clinical Pastoral Education. It was profound as I was to minister to the pediatric floor and the terminal dying. At this time, I actually lived in the hospital. It will always be a gift to me and my Director, Rev. Don Hunt was a wonderful, instrumental guide in my ministry. Then, a wonderful Pastor, Father Richard Johnson, asked if I would consider coming back the following summer and work with him. The parish was Saint Mary Star of the Sea. Well, it was possible and I did, and my life has never been the same. Many friends/family, I have made over these decades. There have been endless joys. And with love and time, we have had weddings, baptisms, stresses, funerals, and all the life situations we all know as families. I do not own physical property, but I will say, I have in my soul the bounty of family and friends in the most blessed way. I am grateful. As you might have heard and been informed about, Bishop John Bonnici will be with us September 26 for the 5:30 mass at Saint Catherine’s. We invited him to come and he asked if this liturgy would be possible. Well, of course!!! This day we will suspend our 4 PM mass so that we might all come together to meet and welcome our Bishop! I pray you will come and meet Bishop Bonnici. A few times, his presence has been gifted with me to engage in meeting him and having some conversation. After mass, there will be a light reception where you can introduce yourselves and welcome him to our parishes and diocese. If you are in town this weekend, please come and celebrate our mass with Bishop Bonnici and one another!  Holding onto summer, Blessings, Father Rob