My dear brothers and sisters,I want to begin by reminding you that next Sunday is the in-pew appeal for Partners in Charity. At all parish Masses, we will have an opportunity to provide for the charitable, educational and ministerial mission of the Catholic Church throughout the Diocese by making a pledged gift during the in‐ pew solicitation. In doing so, we will unite our diocesan family and become partners in charity and partners with Christ. Though the Diocese has a goal, and our parish has one as well, the most important goal is that every family join in providing for the charitable works of the Church.
This week you will have an opportunity to view the video in which Bishop McManus explains this year’s campaign as the Diocese looks to you once again for your support. Please make a commitment based on your gratitude to God for the blessings in your life as well as your willingness to assist others. And most importantly of all, pray to St. John Vianney, our patron, for the success of this important initiative!
Also, this week, I wanted to say a word about a sad tragedy being enacted just a few blocks from the Cathedral Church. As you may know, Planned Parenthood recently opened a new clinic at 470 Pleasant Street.
I visited the website of the new “Health Center” and read the following statement: “Abortions are very common. In fact, more than 1 out of 3 women in the U.S. have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old.” I pray that this statistic is not true. In any event, however, the purposeful taking of the life of even one child is an unimaginable horror.
I am told that approximately seventy-five abortions are performed on Thursdays, Fridays and every other
Saturday at the Pleasant Street facility. On each of these days groups of people gather to pray outside the clinic between 8:00am and 10:30am. I encourage you to consider joining them on occasion, and plan to do so myself.
If you wish to join others to pray for the children and their mothers, you can park at Blessed Sacrament Parish, 555 Pleasant Street and walk across Park Avenue. If you do go to pray, I would encourage you to simply pray (bring a rosary) in a calm and peaceful manner. Make sure to obey all laws and be aware of the “buffer zone:” make sure to stand outside the clearly marked white line on the sidewalk. Others who are present will help you to understand what the law requires.
Across the street from Planned Parenthood is Problem Pregnancy (at 495 Pleasant Street). This agency is run by some of our own parishioners who have worked for years with mothers in crisis, helping them to understand the alternatives to abortion which they can choose. Please pray for all the good folks who work at Problem Pregnancy! They are very dedicated folks!
Finally, I ask you to join me on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in praying for each of the mothers who are struggling with this terrible decision. Ask the Blessed Virgin Mary in particular to guide them. Perhaps we might make the prayer of Pope John Paul II our own.
In the Lord,
Monsignor James P. Moroney
rectorsaintpauls@aol.com

O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and love to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life. Amen.
Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (March 25, 1995)
