The Holy Spirit Is Active at St. Martha & St. Mary Parishes

Some of you have commented to me recently that you notice a new spring in my step and a new enthusiasm in my preaching. This started from the experience of having many more of you return to in-person participation during Holy Week and Easter. I was moved by how important the practice of your faith is that you would make returning to church and to receiving Christ in the Eucharist one of the first things you return to after getting vaccinated. Before Holy Week, we had plateaued around 1/3 of our pre-pandemic attendance, but since Easter we have been averaging over 40% and are slowly growing! Another factor in my enthusiasm is the letter from Cardinal Seán, accepting my request for a second term as your pastor, based on the recommendation of our leadership councils, pastoral team, and Bishop Reed. It is always encouraging to know that people support the general direction that our PWC parish communities are going, encouraging us to live as disciples of Christ.

Of course, we face significant challenges as we strive to rebuild our parishes, our collaborative activities, and continue the healing so many people need after such life-changing events. Like the vaccination effort, getting the first half of our people back to church will seem easy compared with the second half. And to be blunt, our pre-pandemic attendance wasn’t anything to brag about, so we need to cast our nets for “welcoming back” wider than just the people who were coming in February 2020. But the gradual ending of a pandemic is the perfect excuse for us to start new initiatives to do just that: reach out to all Catholics in a desire to welcome them back to the parishes we love so they can find the communities of faith, joy, and hope that sustain us!

Below are some excerpts from Fr. Lambert’s column from last Pentecost to inspire us with the courage not to shrink from our call to work with the Holy Spirit as He guides and rebuilds His Church. If I have learned anything in my time with our collaborative parishes, it is to trust more fully in the Holy Spirit, who is present and active in the Church here in Plainville and Wrentham! The process of writing and implementing our first Local Pastoral Plan, the blessing of achieving all eight of our goals, and the dedication that all of you have shown to our parishes throughout the pandemic… none of these could have happened without the gifts and action of the Holy Spirit!

So yes, I am invigorated and enthusiastic about our present and our future here in the Plainville-Wrentham Collaborative. These communities of parishioners are filled with the Holy Spirit, whether we consciously realize it or not. We have a bright future if we continue to allow the Spirit to work in and through us, inspiring us to live as active disciples of Christ in our world!

- Fr. Joe