St. Oscar Romero Parish

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

            We have begun the new Church Year and are now half way through the Season of Advent.  Advent is the time when we, the Church, look forward to the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time.  We long for the fulfillment of all God’s promises when we will rejoice in the Eternal Life that has been won for us through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  Advent reminds us that we are called to prepare the world for Jesus when He comes again.  To help us prepare the world for His Second Coming, we look back to His First Coming at Christmas. We look at the details of His First Coming so that we will be ready when He comes again.  

           When we look at the First Coming of Jesus, we see that God chose to share our life in the most extreme manner.  He was born homeless, born in a stable.  His parents were not influential; they were at the mercy of others for their well-being.  Most of the citizens of Israel were unaware of what was taking place, only the shepherds received this Good News.  During His infancy, His parents were forced to become refugees and had to flee into Egypt for safety.  The world at that time was not ready for Jesus when He came.  In order for us to be prepared for His Second Coming, we need to be attentive to those who today are in the same situation as Jesus was over two thousand years ago.  We need to be mindful of the poor, the homeless, the refugee and the foreigner, all those who depend on the mercy of others for their well-being.

           Our theme for this Advent season is “We are the Work of Your Hands.”  On the cover of the bulletin and in front of the altar, we see the image of a clay pot that is broken.  This image reminds us that we are made in the image and likeness of God, but that we are also fragile.  Even though we try to do good and to be faithful, many times we fail and sin.  We see that we are broken and that we need to be made whole again.  Our God knows that we are not perfect, He knows that we struggle to live out our faith and yet He chooses us to prepare the world for His Son’s Second Coming.  Why?  Because it’s imperfect people who understand the need for forgiveness and mercy.  Our God will never reject us; He will never abandon us.  He is the potter, we are the clay, the work of His hands.  He will heal us and mold us once again into His image and the image of His Son.

            Brothers and sisters, we prepare the world for Jesus’ Second Coming by treating others with mercy and compassion, by seeing the homeless, the poor and marginalized in the face of Jesus.  In this way, we will be ready when Jesus comes again.  We are the work of His Hands.

           In Christ’s love,
           Father Carmen
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is now over a month and a half since we have become Saint Oscar Romero Parish and even though it has been difficult to come together as sisters and brothers, we are trying our best to continue the work and mission of Jesus. Our Lord has told us that we must pick up our cross daily and follow Him and He also told us to come to Him when we become heavily burdened. You all have been in my thoughts and my prayers. I can only imagine the struggles that you endure, the pressures and stress that you deal with on a daily basis. That is why it is my role as your pastor to pray daily for your needs and for your well-being. This time of pandemic has challenged our faith, but it has also strengthened our faith, for we know that Our Lord is with us. 
We are beginning to form our parish leadership. I have called together representatives from our three churches to be part of our new Parish Finance Council. These sisters and brothers will work together with our Business Manager, Barb Turk, and advise me on the parish budget and expenditures. I am grateful for their expertise and support. Our Finance Council members are Victor Cerna, Doug Dinardo, Sue Hofrichter, Bill Lackner, Art Martin, Roly Petrone, Paul Schaefer and Alejandro Viveros. Please keep them in your prayers as we move forward in being good stewards of our parish’s finances. 
Soon I will be sharing with our congregation the requirements and skills for membership on our new Parish Pastoral Council. The Pastoral Council will be responsible for developing a vision for our parish’s future.  They will be tasked with developing a 3- to 5-year plan for the parish that can be evaluated and updated yearly. Once our Pastoral Council is formed, we can begin the work of bringing the Good News of Jesus to the people of North Central Washington County. Until next time, may God bless you all and again know that you are in my prayers.
In Christ’s love,
Father Carmen
 
 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As of July 1, 2020, we are now officially the Parish of Saint Oscar Romero.  It has been a challenging few months leading up to the beginning of our new parish, but with the grace of God, we will be able to accomplish great things. It is important for us to understand the difference between a parish and a church. A parish is a geographical area and a church is a building in that geographical area.  The geographical area of the new Saint Oscar Romero Parish is the North Central part of Washington County, including the boroughs of Canonsburg and Houston and the townships of Cecil, Chartiers, North Strabane, South Strabane and parts of Peters.  Our parish is now made up of the three churches of Holy Rosary, Miraculous Medal and Saint Patrick.  These facilities will serve the worship, ministerial and programmatic needs of our parish. We are blessed to continue to offer the Holy Mass and other ministries at these churches. 
Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we had to postpone a number of important events including the Sacraments of Initiation of Adults, as well as the Sacrament of Confirmation and a Baccalaureate Mass for our graduating seniors.  I am pleased to announce that we will be celebrating the Sacraments of Initiation of Adults on Sunday, July 26 at the 11 a.m. Mass at Saint Patrick Church for the English-speaking new members of our Faith and on that same Sunday at the 1 p.m. Mass at Miraculous Medal Church for the Spanish-speaking new members of our Faith. 
We will be celebrating Baccalaureate Masses for our graduating seniors on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 9 a.m. at Holy Rosary Church, 10 a.m. at Miraculous Medal Church and 11 a.m. at Saint Patrick Church. Finally, we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation for our candidates on three different evenings on Monday, Aug. 3, Wednesday, Aug. 10 and Thursday, Aug. 20 -- all at 7 p.m. at Saint Patrick Church. 
This is a great way to inaugurate the beginning of our new parish with these celebrations for our youth and young adults.  It will be the mission of our new parish to find innovative ways to share our Catholic Faith with the generations to come and to learn from the example and witness of Saint Oscar Romero.  May we benefit from his intercession as we continue to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
In Christ’s love,
Father Carmen
 
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have celebrated the great Feast of the Resurrection, not so much
with public ceremony and pageantry in our parish churches, but more
so in the simplicity of our family homes. Some of us gathered around
a computer monitor to watch the celebration of the Easter Liturgy live
streamed from an empty Miraculous Medal Church, some simply
watched the live stream on their smart phone or others gathered in their
living room to watch the Easter Mass on television from an empty
Vatican City in Rome. As I imagined each of these scenarios, I couldn’t
help but think of how much this Easter was similar to the very first Easter.

On that very first Easter Sunday, there were no large gatherings of
Christians joining together to sing and rejoice that Jesus was risen from
the dead. There were no large processions or singing of hymns. In fact,
there was no public display of faith. On that first Easter Sunday, the
followers of Jesus were secluded in their homes, many afraid to go out
publicly for fear of injury, imprisonment or even death. Instead of these
Christians going to be with Jesus in some public celebration, he came
to their homes. In the Gospel of John 20:19-31, we read that “On the
evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where
the disciples were, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
‘Peace be with you.’ The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
In the Gospel of Luke 24:36-49, we read how on that Resurrection Day,
Jesus appeared to the disciples in the place where they were staying.
We read how he ate with them in that place and then instructed them to
stay there “sheltered in place” or “quarantined” so to speak, until he sent
the promise of His Father, the Holy Spirit.

In many ways this Easter reminds us that we are like those very first
disciples, hunkered down in our homes, wondering when we can gather
together again. But like them, let us realize that our Risen Lord is with
us, He is here in our midst!! Every time we gather together in our
homes and call upon His name, He is present to us! Maybe this Easter is
really a gift to us. Maybe this Easter is the time when we rediscover
what many of us learned a long time ago, what the early Christians
knew and believed, that the home, the family is the domestic Church.
That our home is a sacred place! Maybe this Easter is the time for us to
go back to our earliest roots and rediscover the great power of prayer,
like those first disciples gathered together in prayer, praying and blessing
each other. Maybe this Easter is actually a great blessing! In fact,
maybe this Easter is a gift from our God. Maybe this Easter, we once
again discover the importance of praying together as a family; the
importance of a father blessing his children before he leaves for work
in the morning or a mother blessing her children before they leave for
school; or a grandmother or grandfather reading Bible stories to the
grandchildren or sharing with them the stories of the lives of the saints.

I don’t know about you my brothers and sisters, but I believe this Easter
is very special. I believe we will be stronger because of it. I believe
our faith will be enlivened, like those first disciples, who went forth
from their homes and proclaimed the Good News. Maybe this is the
beginning of a new Pentecost, the beginning of great renewal in the
Church and in our lives! We know that our God is always at work.
He takes what seems to be a tragedy and makes it into a victory and
isn’t that what Easter is all about? On behalf our clergy and staff, I
wish you all a blessed Easter and may Our Risen Lord grant you
strength and joy during this very special time.

In Christ’s love,
Father Carmen

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This has certainly been a Lenten Season to remember even though many may want to forget it.
 
We started out on March 1, the First Sunday of Lent with our theme “Lord, I need You.” Little did we know how true that phrase would turn out to be.  In late January, we had heard about a viral outbreak in Wuhan, China.  It seemed so remote, so far away. We’ve gotten use to that type of thinking.  Our lives here in the United States have become so comfortable.  We are used to doing things when we want, how we want, where we want and with whom we want.  American individualism truly describes us. 

By mid-February, we learned that the remote viral outbreak in China had now spread to Italy.  It was not as remote, but still far enough away.  It was now being described as a pandemic and some were beginning to ask, could this possibly spread here in the U.S.?  Many were still thinking and saying that it was not possible. 

When Lent began, we had our perfunctory General Intercessions for the sick in those other places.  We sang, “Lord, I need You,” each of us thinking of our own personal problems and situations, never thinking of how much our lives would change.  By March 8, the Second Sunday of Lent, we continued to sing and reflect on our theme “Lord, I need You.”  But during that Second Week of Lent, we heard about the first reported cases of the coronavirus in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Then we received a notice from Bishop Zubik stating that all elderly parishioners and those with compromised immune systems were dispensed from attending Sunday Mass.  Some of us joked saying that many would use this as an              excuse to not attend Mass.

On March 15, the Third Sunday of Lent, we noticed that the attendance was down - many decided not to attend.  We sang more fervently, “Lord, I need You” because now there were reported cases of the coronavirus in Western Pennsylvania.  Now the situation had become real.  It was no longer a remote far off exotic disease in some far away country. It was in our own backyard.  During the Third Week of Lent, Bishop Zubik ordered all public Masses be discontinued and that priests may celebrate private Mass or a Mass may be live-streamed online. In addition, all fish frys were cancelled.  All of this news was really stunning.  How would we continue?  How would we be the Church?  We prayed earnestly, each from our hearts, “Lord, I need You!” 

On March 22, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, our churches were locked and we live streamed the Mass from Miraculous Medal.  It was a bit strange to celebrate the Mass without the congregation being physically present, but we were connected spiritually.  We sang and we prayed, “Lord, I need You.”  These words began to take on a more profound meaning.  We began to realize the great blessing of the Eucharist and the other  Sacraments.  In some cases, some of us realized that maybe we had taken for granted these precious gifts of our faith. 

By the time the Fifth Sunday of Lent came on March 29, we understood how much we longed for the Eucharist and for each other.  We sang again “Lord, I need You.” So many of our parishioners began to discover creative ways of reaching out and being present to one another. We discovered that no barriers can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus and one another. 

Palm Sunday was celebrated on April 5 and the palms were blessed and then stored.  We wait for the day when we will distribute them.  They are a reminder to us of that day that we long for, not simply that day when we can return back to church to celebrate the Mass together, but that day when Jesus will come again.

Today is Easter Sunday – Resurrection Day!  This is the day when Jesus rose from the dead!  This is the day when He makes all things new!  This is the day when we celebrate that death has no more power over us!  This is the day when we sing “We believe!”  We believe, O Lord, that you will change our mourning into dancing.  We believe that you will renew our hearts and our minds!  We will be stronger!  We will be more grateful!  We will never forget that we need You! 

On behalf of our clergy and staff, I wish all of you a blessed and healthy Easter and we look forward to the many new ways that God will use us for His purposes in the future.

n Christ’s love,
Fr. Carmen  

My Brothers and Sisters,
 
We are certainly experiencing challenging times with the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19).  In order to protect our most vulnerable parishioners and to prevent the further spread of the virus, Bishop  Zubik has ordered that all weekday and Sunday Masses be canceled.  With that in mind all church activities at our three parish sites will be canceled.  Our church buildings will be locked and church offices will be closed and all parish functions will be cancelled or postponed until further notice. While this may seem drastic, we again must consider the safety and well-being of everyone, including our parishioners and parish staff. 
 
We will, however, have a local Mass that will be lived streamed on our website Sunday through Friday at 10:00 AM and a Spanish Mass on Sunday at 1:00 PM.  These Masses will be celebrated by one of our priests and the scheduled Mass intentions will be offered at these Masses.  Please note that these  Masses will be celebrated without a congregation present in the church.  Our congregation will be those who log onto the website.  To view the Mass, go to our website at hrmmsp.org.  If you are not able to watch the Mass at the scheduled times, each Mass will be recorded and you can view it later.  
 
Our regularly scheduled Confession times will also be canceled. If you would want to go to confession, please call the church office to make an appointment.  If you or a family member would need the Sacrament of the Anointing, please contact Father Tom Galvin at 724-745-6560 extension 113.  The Miraculous Medal Novena will be streamed on Monday after the 10:00 AM Mass and the Sacred Heart Novena will be streamed on the First Friday of the Month following the 10:00 AM Mass.  We will also have the Stations of the Cross on our website as well.  You can view the Stations at any time. 
 
Please use this time to check in on your elderly neighbors and friends and acts of kindness that you can give individually will be greatly appreciated.  Please also sign up for Flock Note on our website, so that you can receive up-to-date messages and immediate Parish news. Since we will not be celebrating the Mass at our three Parish sites, please mail your church envelopes and donations or place them in the mail slot at our administrative office at the St. Patrick Rectory. 
 
In Christ’s love,
Father Carmen

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

During this Season of Lent, we have been focusing on our theme “Lord I need You.” It has been a wonderful opportunity to turn to the Lord Jesus in our times of stress, anxiety, fear and sadness.  We know that Jesus is with us and that He loves us, but to put our trust in Him is a completely different matter.  This has been extremely challenging for us these past years with the release of the Grand Jury Report in August 2018.    

Our trust in the leadership of the Church has been severely damaged.  In many cases, we have felt betrayed and  disrespected.  It has only been through God’s grace and our love of the Lord that we have endured.  As the administrator of our parish grouping, I can only say how amazed and inspired  I have been in witnessing the selflessness and generosity of our parishioners.  So many of you have been so encouraging and supportive in spite of the sadness and embarrassment we have faced.  I know that when I have called out to God “Lord I need you” that He has shown me the witness, love and faithfulness of the parishioners of our grouping. 

One area that has truly amazed me of your goodness and                   generosity is your response to the Parish Share Program.  Each of our three churches not only reached our Parish Share goals in 2019, but overwhelmingly exceeded those goals!  This in spite of many being reluctant to give to diocesan programs.  As a result of exceeding our goals, each church was able to deposit thousands of dollars to our savings.  Holy Rosary deposited $41,337, Miraculous Medal deposited $12,461 and St. Patrick deposited $41,319 into each church’s savings account.  This money stays here in our parishes to support the continued efforts to promote the faith here in our communities.  I am so humbled by your goodness and love for Jesus and our faith.

We are now beginning our Parish Share Campaign for 2020.  There is some more good news!  The assessment for each of our three churches has been reduced or has remained the same.  Each parish is assessed 17.6% of its income to support various diocesan pastoral, social and educational activities.  The Parish Share goal for St. Patrick has been reduced from $118,628 to $106,738.  The Parish Share goal for Miraculous Medal has been reduced from $70,600 to $55,226 and the Parish Share goal for Holy Rosary has remained relatively the same with a slight increase from $31,025 to $32,444.

Last year we started having a Second Collection on the first and third Sundays of each month to support our Parish Share effort.  Because so many of you split your parish donation on those Sundays between the two collections, we were then able to accomplish two goals – lowering our Parish Share assessment and paying off our Parish Share goal and depositing  thousands of dollars into our parish savings accounts!  As I mentioned earlier, everything collected over and above our Parish Share goal is deposited in our parish savings accounts. 

I thank you so much for your amazing generosity and I ask your once again to be as generous as you can for this year’s Parish Share Program.   Let us continue to call out to the Lord, may we continue to say “Lord, I need You!”  Through His grace and His love, He is able to turn our sorrow into joy, our fear into trust and our doubt into sure faith!  He is able to do great things!  “Lord, I need You!”

In Christ’s love,                                                                                                         Father Carmen

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
Now that the holy Season of Lent has begun, we have many opportunities at our three sites to grow deeper in our spiritual lives. 
 
We have Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent at each site, Adult Faith Formation Sunday on Sunday, March 8 at St. Patrick Center, the Holy Name Society Lenten Retreat with Fr. Michael Greb on Saturday, March 21 at Miraculous Medal Church, a special Mass and fiesta celebrating the life of St. Oscar Romero on Sunday, March 22 at Miraculous Medal Church, the Living Stations put on by our children on Friday, March 27 at St. Patrick Church, Family Friendly Confessions for families with young children on Saturday, March 28 at Miraculous Medal Church.
 
We also have Soup and Stations on March 27 and April 3 at Holy Rosary, the Light is On Confessions on Wednesday, April 1 at St. Patrick Church, Young Adult Bible Study every Thursday at Miraculous Medal Rectory Basement, the Patriotic Rosary every first Wednesday at Miraculous Medal Church and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every first Friday at the newly renovated Eucharistic Adoration Chapel in the St. Patrick Center. 
 
Speaking of the Adoration Chapel, I want to thank Fr. Tom   Galvin for organizing the renovation effort.  I am so grateful to him and the many parishioners who volunteered their time to paint, repair and clean the chapel.  Also, to the many  parishioners who contributed financially or through in-kind  donations. What a beautiful expression of faith and love for Our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
Lent is a special time for us to examine our lives and see the many ways we can allow Jesus to be at the center of everything we do.  When Jesus is at the center of everything we do, then we can see the effects of His presence in everywhere.  Sadness is turned into joy, bitterness into contentment, hatred is turned into love and confusion into understanding.  Let us take advantage of these many opportunities to refocus our lives and grow together in faith.
 
In Christ’s love,
Fr. Carmen
 
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are nearing the end of February and continuing to make preparations for this momentous year when our three faith communities will merge into one.  Starting in July, we will be one parish with a new name and three parish sites.  

Several Town Hall meetings on the merger process have already been held and we plan to conduct three more in March to keep everyone informed about the process. Our Town Hall meetings will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 4 at St. Patrick Church, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5 at Holy Rosary Church and on Saturday, March 7 at Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Banquet Hall following the 6 p.m. Mass.  Parishioners are               invited to attend any of these presentations.

The presentation will include a snapshot of our grouping, our buildings and our ministries. We will also share our vision for the future. Our staff members, Pastoral and Finance Councils already have previewed the presentation to provide input into this process.  Now we would like to hear from our parishioners.

There are many preparations that need to take place before we merge in July. While some of them have already occurred, such as combining our bulletins and streamlining Sunday collections, there are other matters which still need to be addressed. For    example, our bank accounts will merge in July and financial  and sacramental records will all be one. There will also be one new Pastoral Council and one Finance Council.
We are not the only church grouping which will merge on July 1.  Seventy parishes in the diocese will merge into 16 parishes in July.
  
By God’s grace and our openness to his Holy Spirit, we will accomplish much more for our youth, young adults, seniors   and all our parishioners.  By our coming together as one parish, we will have a greater impact in the community where we live and serve. 

Please come to one of the presentations and learn more about where we are and where we are going.

In Christ’s love,
Fr. Carmen

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we move deeper into this new year of 2020, we are also moving closer to the date of our parish consolidation in July.  We have already begun to share many things together and are becoming more and more familiar with one another. 

The heart of our unity is our relationship with Jesus.  It is our love for the Lord that brings us together as one.  We know that Jesus instilled in the Apostles the importance of unity and prayed on the night before He died “that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:21).

It is so important that we make this a priority in our lives and in our new parish.  Each of us has unique gifts and wonderful qualities, all of which come from our God.  All of this gifts and qualities are to put at the service of Our Lord and His Church.  All of the Apostles were different - with different gifts and   abilities, but they all worked for a common purpose, to spread the Good News of the Risen Lord.  Jesus called the Apostles to be leaders and to minister in His name.  Our Lord continues to call forth leaders today.  Those who are called to change will use their gifts and talents to advance the Gospel.  

For the past year and four months, we have relied on the leadership of the Pastoral and Finance Councils of our three churches.  In July we will need to form a new Pastoral Council and a new Finance Council to represent our new Parish.  These leadership councils will assist the Clergy Team and Parish Staff in implementing our vision of “Preparing for the Next Generation.”  Like the Apostles, we will pursue creative and faithful ways of sharing our Catholic Faith in this part of Washington County. 

In the next few weeks I will be sharing the roles and responsibilities of a Pastoral Council member and a Finance Council  member.  I ask that everyone become familiar with these roles and responsibilities and pray that God will guide us in the filling of these council positions. Both of these councils will be essential to bringing about a deeper unity among all of us as we become one in Christ Jesus.

In Christ’s love,
Father Carmen 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas Season. Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany. This is the day that the Magi came from the East in search of the newborn King of the Jews. These pagan astrologers were open to God’s call and responded generously to the Incarnate Word made Flesh. They expected to find Him in a palace, with all the trappings of royalty, all the regalia of a king.  Instead, they found Him in a stable among the animals, not with the sweet aroma of incense, but rather the foul smell of animal feces. Even though, this was not the expectation the Magi had in mind, they were, however, open to see the real presence of God. They saw the presence of God in this homeless infant and His poor parents and bestowed on them their gifts of gold,  frankincense and myrrh. They generously shared what they had with this forgotten Messiah. 
 
This Feast of Epiphany reminds us to share our gifts with the homeless, the poor and the needy.  This feast reminds us to see the presence of Jesus in those the world has forgotten.  You may have noticed a change in your church envelope packet. Along with the regular Sunday envelopes and Parish Share envelopes, you will see an envelope for the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.  As many of you know, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society helps the poor and needy in our area. These are individuals or families who call or come to the door of our three churches and ask for assistance. The members of the Saint Vincent de Paul, who are our parishioners, pray with and assess the needs of those ask for help.  Your generosity in aiding the work of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society will ensure that we treat the poor and needy as we would Jesus Himself. 
 
Also, included in your packet is an envelope for church maintenance. Your generosity here will help with the upkeep and the repair of the facilities at our three churches.  We want to make sure that our facilities are well maintained and safe. The other new envelope in your packet is for our School Subsidy.  The Diocese requires each parish to donate 10% of their total income to support Catholic Education.  Your generosity here will ensure that we not only meet our assessment, but also that our families will continue to have the benefit of a Catholic School Education for their children.
 
The Magi are truly our inspiration to recognize the presence of Jesus in the faces of the poor, our fellow parishioners and our children. Thank you so much for your openness to God’s call to be generous and may Our Lord Jesus bless you abundantly for your generosity.
 
In Christ’s Love,
Fr. Carmen