Dear Friends,

For the past five weeks, our liturgy focused on the Bread of Life Discourse from St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 6. However, beginning this Sunday till the end of the month, our Sunday liturgy will shift focus on Stewardship. You may recall that for several months in the past, I spoke about and wrote articles on stewardship. I am convinced therefore, that stewardship is by now not a new concept to our parish.

Dear Friends,

Over these past four Sundays we have spent time reflecting on the Eucharist as we explore the words of Our Lord in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel. As we move into this final Sunday, I believe it is worthwhile to look back on the rich teaching of the Eucharist provided by Jesus in the Gospel of John in order to grow in our Eucharistic devotion as individuals and as a parish.

Dear Friends,

This weekend, our homilies will be the fourth, based on the Bread of Life Discourse taken from John, Chapter 6. We have devoted these five weeks to reflect on the Eucharist because as Catholics, the Holy Eucharist really matters to us as the Source and Summit of our Faith. The beauty of all this is that the Eucharist truly embodies Christ’s uninterrupted Presence among us twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week in all the tabernacles around the world.

Dear Friends,

We are now in the seventh week since the actual construction of our perpetual adoration chapel commenced. I am extremely excited about the progress so far made. Though you may not see much behind the barricade, we have already done the plumbing work for the bathrooms and laid the foundation for the building. These are the most important aspects of the structure of the chapel, (Mt. 7:24-26). As we wait for the concrete for the foundation to set, I look forward with even greater anticipation and excitement for the superstructure to soon take shape. We expect this to commence soon.

Dear Friends,

We have just concluded the National Eucharistic Revival in the United States, which ran from July 17-21. By all accounts, it was said to have been one of the most successful Catholic revivals in our country and the first in 83 years. Over 60,000 Catholics attended, enthusiastically participating in Eucharistic Processions and Adoration, and had many opportunities to listen to inspiring speeches. This number included more than 1,100 priests, 1,200 religious, 600 deacons, 600 seminarians, and 200 bishops and cardinals.

Dear Friends,

One of my ardent prayers is that before I leave this parish or retire, we should have produced at least three priests from our parish. This prayer has been intensified by the assignment of seminarian Max Rich for his summer pastoral experience here at our parish. His presence and commitment to his vocation has not only renewed my own vocation but has also given me hope that my prayers will be answered.

Dear Friends,

This weekend we celebrate two events. The first is the community celebration of our Patroness, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We transferred the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to this weekend so that our entire community can more easily participate it. Our second cause for celebration is our Pastor, Father Robert Aliunzi’s priestly anniversary. This Saturday, July 20th, Father celebrates 33 years of priesthood. This is significant especially for a priest since the number 33 is associated with Jesus as he was 33 years old when he ministered and died on the cross. Father Robert, thank you for your many years of ministry and please know of our prayers as we celebrate your priesthood.

Dear Friends,

As I pointed out in my last article, the Feast Day of our Parish, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, is indeed around the corner. This is our 92nd Anniversary and since the founding of our Parish in 1932, (although our current Church was built in 1968), we have celebrated this great Feast in various small and big ways. This year, we shall celebrate it in a rather moderate way. However, despite that, we all know that to better celebrate an important Feast, a proper preparation is always necessary. In our case, we have already begun this preparation with the Novena on Thu, Jul 11 which will go up to Fri, Jul 19.

Dear Friends,

Feasts of various kinds are always occasions to rejoice and reflect on what is being celebrated. The Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, our Parish’s Feast, is no exception. Every year we celebrate this feast on July 16, and we have celebrated it for years, to remind us of the special place Our Lady plays in the life of our Parish and to encourage us to grow closer to her and to her son Jesus Christ.

Dear Friends,

If you have seen that my smiles have broadened these days, you are correct. Why? Well, this is because the long-awaited Perpetual Adoration Chapel construction is now underway as you have probably seen. This project is dear to my heart as it is in many of yours, I am sure. Yes, for many months, we have longed for, prayed fervently and battled with mundane procedures to reach this moment.

Dear Friends,

We have just recently concluded our Parish Census and Survey. One of the major purposes of these exercises as I told you, was to identify the needs of our Parish and appropriately address them. While the final outcome of the survey is still being compiled and will be shared at an appropriate time, one need that came out frequently from many of you and which I personally have been also thinking about, is the need for a Bereavement Support Ministry here in our Parish.

Dear Friends,

This was the simple but profound question I was asked one day by one of my OLMC preschool friends named Luke this past school year. Much as Luke constantly asks me very many questions whenever I visited their class or after Mass, this particular one about the Father of God caught me completely off guard. For all my years of studying theology, some years of teaching religious education and years of preaching, I could not immediately provide him with a simple response suitable for a four-year-old.

Dear Friends,

“You have a great and joyful community here at OLMC. Keep on doing whatever you are doing, Robert. I will certainly come back soon!” These were the final words Bishop Dolan told me as I escorted him to his car after my Installation and thereafter the Groundbreaking for our Adoration Chapel last week. I couldn’t agree more with the Bishop but more especially with his first sentence about being a joyful community.

Dear Friends,

Twelve days ago today, despite his extremely busy schedule, our Bishop, John Dolan, accepted my short-notice invitation for him to come over and officially break ground for the construction of our long-awaited Divine Mercy Perpetual Adoration Chapel this weekend. He is also at the same time installing me officially as your Pastor. I am especially so grateful to God that this historical occasion of the groundbreaking is finally taking place today June 2, 2024, soon after the 11:00am Mass. I am also grateful to our Bishop for making the time to come over and be with us to Preside over these events.