Serving our Country & Our Churches

Driving by the rectory at night, you might notice a green light on in one of the second floor rooms. I bought one of those new LED lights that can change color (mainly because I like gadgets!). But when I’m not playing with the settings, I generally leave it as a green light as part of the campaign of green lights for our veter-ans. Especially since we have been a country at war for 17 years now, we have a lot of veterans coming home or completing their term of service stateside with very little fanfare or public recogni-tion. They volunteered to serve our nation – often risking their lives for us – which is why we pray so often for those in military service in our universal prayers of the faithful at Mass. They return often battle-scarred, on the inside even if not on the outside, and have a radical transition to make back to civilian life. May we each find a way this week (and beyond) to show as many veterans as possible the loving support of a grateful nation.

In a less dramatic but also important way, we also are blessed by many “veterans in ministry” serving our churches. Whether they are ordained or lay ministers, we are blessed by the wisdom of their experience and breadth of ideas and connections with peo-ple outside of our Collaborative. One such veteran in ministry has been serving the Church for over 25 years, including more than eight years here in Plainville and Wrentham. Regrettably, our Director of Faith Formation for Youth, Bob Collins, informed me recently that he needs to resign from our Pastoral Team due to private family circumstances. Bob, with the support of his wife Charlene, very generously care for others in his extended family (and beyond). It has become clear that he can no longer continue working two demanding jobs (full-time public school teacher as well as DFF for our collaborative) while maintaining his support for his loved ones. We are deeply saddened by his need to step down from this ministry position, but our parishes are blessed that he remains a parishioner and wants to continue in some volunteer ministries as his time allows.

Hired by Father Chip Hines, Bob initially worked alongside Bobbie Oles at St. Mary Parish, but soon after he became the Director of Faith Formation for middle school and high school youth at St. Martha and St. Mary Parishes. Faith Formation includes both education (catechesis) and experiences of our faith, like prayer time, retreats, and other youth ministries. Working with Fr. Bill Lohan, Fr. Bill Schmidt, and many volunteer youth ministers from our parishes, he started middle school youth ministry activities. As those youth entered high school, our program grew into a peer ministry with the older teens witnessing to the younger students. All the while, he was coordinating the classes for Pre-Confirmation and Confirmation program. In fact, Bob is one of those rare individuals who enjoys working with middle school students! We owe mainly to Bob’s vision and leadership the fact that our collaborative boasts one of the strongest youth ministries in our archdiocese right now – one which grew to the point we needed to hire a Coordinator of H.S. Youth Ministry! Bob is leaving us in a very good position to continue these successes, with the support of many active parish volunteers and a Faith Formation Staff that includes director Maggie Hoagland (grades 1-6), Coordinators Diana Zeller (FF) and Trish Moore (YM), and now Maureen O’Brien and Michelle DeLorenzo, who provide administrative support. If you see Bob Collins in church or around the area, please be sure to express your great appreciation for all he has done!