To the dear parishioners of Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Our Lady,

How I love and will miss you! After three very happy years, I must leave you now to take up my new assignment as curate of St. Joseph’s in Middletown. From my heart, I wish to thank our pastor, Fr. Sorgie, for being so good to me and teaching me so much about what it means to be a good priest who is devoted to the souls entrusted to his care.

I also wish to thank all of you for your kindness to me and your love of the Lord and His Church from which I have taken so much inspiration. In particular, I wish to thank and express my affection for the youth of this parish, especially those with whom I serve at the altar. They are the future of the Church and deserve every bit of support and prayers we can afford.

As I take my leave to begin again at a new parish, I am reminded of this little episode in the life of St. John Vianney, the Patron Saint of parish priests:

When the saint was assigned to be the curé in the little village of Ars, he had trouble finding his way. On his journey by foot, he came across a young boy herding sheep and asked for directions. At last when they arrived together in front of his parish church, the holy curé said to the boy: “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars… now I will show you the way to Heaven.” This, in brief, is the duty of every priest. In my time here in Tuckahoe, I only hope that I have been a help in showing you all the way to Heaven. Please pray that I may be able to do the same for the souls that await me in Middletown.

Though we are now separated in practical terms, we will always remain united in prayer before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We priests come and go, but Jesus Christ Who is the True and Eternal High Priest, remains with us always.

In the Heart of Jesus through Mary,
Fr. Seán Connolly

In the Easter Season when we prayerfully reflect upon our Lord Jesus’ victory over death by His Resurrection, it is fitting to revisit the Church’s teaching on the resurrection of the body. Many Catholics are unaware of this important teaching and assume that only the soul is resurrected. This is a mistaken assumption. For the sake of clarity, let’s look at what is meant by the resurrection of the body:

When each of us dies, our souls will be separated from our bodies. The soul is immediately judged by God and goes either to heaven, hell or purgatory. (All souls in purgatory eventually go to heaven, which is why they are referred to as the “holy souls.”) The body ought to be given a proper Christian burial. (The scattering of ashes or storing them anywhere other than a proper cemetery is forbidden.)

What too few Catholics realize, however—and this is why a proper Christian burial is stressed—is that when Our Lord Jesus returns to Earth, He will physically raise all those who have died, giving them back the bodies they lost at death. At the end of time when Christ returns in glory as the Just Judge and this world comes to an end, our physical bodies will be raised from the earth and will be reunited with our souls.

These will be the same bodies people had in earthly life, but our resurrected bodies will not die. For the righteous, they will be transformed into a glorified state, freed from suffering and pain, and enabled to do many of the things Jesus could do with His glorified body, as is detailed in the Gospels after His Resurrection. (cf. 1 Cor. 15:35–44, 1 John 3:2).

This Catholic belief in the resurrection of not just the soul but the body as well, is included in the three infallible professions of faith—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—and has been solemnly and infallibly taught by ecumenical councils of the Church.

In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council infallibly defined that at the second coming Jesus “will judge the living and the dead, to render to every person according to his works, both to the reprobate and to the elect. All of them will rise with their own bodies, which they now wear, so as to receive according to their works, whether these be good or bad [Rom. 2:6-11].” (Constitution 1)

Most recently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope Saint John Paul II, reiterated this long-defined teaching, “‘We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess (Council of Lyons II). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a ‘spiritual body’ (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–44)" (CCC 1017)

We look forward with joy to May 11 where First Holy Communion will be distributed to so many beloved children of our parish. Guided by Sr. Cora and her team in PREP, they have been well prepared for this day by studying the Church’s teaching on what the Eucharist is and by going to confession so Our Lord can be received worthily.

The seriousness with which these children are preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time should inspire us all to renew our own devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. To help in this effort, let us call to mind an important address Pope Benedict XVI delivered, while still a cardinal, to the bishops of our country on the worthiness needed to receive Holy Communion:

Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so. According to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: ‘Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting at least an hour? The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf. Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” nos. 81,83)

The ‘I confess” at Mass is not sacramental confession. It does not take away mortal sin. The prayer at Mass “say but the word and my soul shall be healed” does not take away mortal sin. Catholics may not go to Communion in a state of mortal sin which would be another mortal sin of sacrilege. Sadly one of the most frequent mortal sins is the deliberate missing of Mass on Sunday when not prevented by illness or some other possibility like the inability to leave a sick person for which you are responsible. Leaving Mass early, ‘the quick getaway’ after receiving Communion, is disrespectful to the Lord just received.

May God bless our first communicants!

It is fitting that May, the most beautiful month of the year when spring is in full bloom, is devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. During this month try to deepen your devotion to the Mother of God who will never fail to lead you to her Son. Pray a decade of the rosary together as a family.

The Church now enters the period of mourning over her divine Bridegroom, Christ our Lord. Passiontide, beginning today on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, marks the third stage in our Lenten preparation for Easter. First was Pre-Lent (Septuagesima to Quinquagesima Sunday), our introduction to Lent; second, the past four weeks were a time of conversion and spiritual renewal; third, we have Passiontide until the Sacred Triduum begins on Holy Thursday, commemorating in a special way Christ’s suffering.

This commemoration finds expression in the liturgy in various ways. For instance, in many places, the crosses and statues in churches are draped as an outward sign of the Church’s inward sorrow. Over crosses of shining gold, a cloak is placed, while pictures and statues are covered too, as they lose their importance in the face of Christ’s suffering.

Pope St. Leo the Great addressed the public during the liturgical services on Passion Sunday in Rome in the 5th century with these words:

Among all Christian celebrations, dearly beloved, the Easter mysteries are, as you know, the most excellent. In order to observe them worthily and properly, this whole period is so arranged as to effect our spiritual reformation. But these present days [of Passiontide] in particular require our entire devotion. For you are not unaware how these days are most intimately bound up with the most exalted proof of God’s mercy. During this period the apostles, under inspiration from the Holy Ghost, rightly decreed a stricter fast that by a common sharing in the Lord’s Cross we might thereby do something of that which He has done for us, as the apostle says: ‘If we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him.’

So, we would do well to follow this counsel of one of Christ’s vicars on earth, Pope St. Leo the Great - also a doctor of the Church - during Passiontide, where focus is given in a most particular way to Our Lord’s sufferings. Our fasting should be rigorous and we should give much of our time to a prayerful meditation on the Lord’s Passion. Consider reading the Gospel accounts of the Lord’s sufferings:

• Matthew 26:30–27:66

• Mark 14:26–15:47

• Luke 22:39–23:56

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​John 18:1–19:42

After reading these accounts recognize all that Jesus did for you. And then ask yourself: “What can I do for Him?”

Traditionally, the three weeks before the beginning of Lent were known as Septuagesima, which begins with the Sunday it takes its name from. The name refers to “seventy,” as in the approximate days until Easter. As a result, the two following Sundays are called Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, “sixty” and “fifty” respectively. The two days after Quinquagesima Sunday — Lundi and Mardi Gras in French — lead inevitably to Ash Wednesday. Either way you cut it, we are in a time that can be known as “Pre-Lent.”

The wisdom of this traditional season is to have us ease into fasting and abstinence and not plunge into it cold turkey at the stroke of midnight on Mardi Gras. We don’t want to be dropped into the penitential season like a jump into a cold pool.

It is better to ease into the season of Lent. This is where the great alternative name to Pre-Lent — Carnevale, meaning “good-bye meat” in Latin — comes from. Among our Eastern Catholic brethren, a food item is dropped with each Sunday of Pre-Lent: meat, then dairy, and then eggs. The point of “Fat Tuesday” is to enjoy a great feast by using up all of those foods before the stroke of midnight on Ash Wednesday. This is why pancakes are a common food item in celebration of Mardi Gras.

All of this is to say, we should be preparing in these next days to have a great fast during the holy season of Lent. Begin to think carefully about how you can make this holy season as profitable a time as possible for the salvation of your soul. You can accomplish so much good by offering up your penances for a worthy intention: the conversion of sinners, the purification of the Church, the repose of souls in purgatory and so much more.

I recommend two Lenten practices for you to take on as a family. We, of course, must abstain from meat every Friday during Lent. I suggest you take on one more day of the week to abstain from meat: the penitential day of Wednesday. It was on a Wednesday that our Lord Jesus was betrayed by Judas and it was on a Friday that He was crucified for our sins. To make reparation for these sacrileges, let us abstain from meat on Wednesdays in addition to Fridays.

I also recommend that as a family, you pray one decade of the rosary together every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It is only one “Our Father,” ten “Hail Mary’s” and one “Glory Be,” which should take four minutes of your time. You can do it! But, be sure to do it everyday together as a family.

Do also check the Lenten Handout for information on the many activities we are offering here at the parish during Lent, such as our Stations of the Cross every Friday, our parish mission, and the lecture of Sohrab Ahmari on his new book, “From Fire, By Water: My Journey to Catholicism.”

(Source: Charles Coulombe, “The Trouble with Cold-Turkey Lent,” from the Catholic Herald 2.15.2019)

Without hyperbole, it can be said that January 22, 1973 was the most tragic day in our nation’s history. It was on this date that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court was issued which ruled the procedure of abortion falls under every American’s right to privacy.

Mother Teresa once said, “There are two victims in every abortion: a dead baby and a dead conscience.” Allow these statistics of what abortion has done to our country since 1973 to weigh on your conscience:

• Over 50 million abortions have taken place in the U.S. since 1973.

• In the U.S., less than 1% of abortions occur because of rape or incest.

• More African-American babies have been killed by abortions since 1973 than the total number of African-American deaths from AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease combined.
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• Since 1973, abortion has reduced the black population in the U.S. by over 25%.

• In the U.S., over 90% of Down Syndrome babies are aborted.

• The abortion industry in America each year in the U.S. brings in approximately $831 million through abortion services alone.

We cannot claim to live in a civil society until the scourge of abortion is ended. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we cannot be idle as this tragedy continues. We must do our part by supporting the pro-life movement in the ballot box and in charitable aid
supporting women in crisis pregnancies. St. John Paul II urged us to, “Never tire of firmly speaking out in defense of life from its conception and do not be deterred from the commitment to defend the dignity of every human person with courageous determination. Christ is with you: be not afraid!"

I saw this commitment on full display this past Friday at the 46th Annual March for Life. A bus-load of our parishioners and I joined hundreds of thousands in the largest annual
gathering in our nation’s capital to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves —the unborn. We can only continue to offer prayers and sacrifices that efforts like these bear fruit in reducing the toll of abortion and one day, finally ending it.