Mother of Mercy - Pray for Us

One more day!  We have only one more day before our bishop arrives to celebrate mass with us.  The occasion?  The naming of our new parish – Mother of Mercy.

Mother of Mercy parish is a gathering together of four communities – two churches that closed for a variety of reasons, including buildings that were no longer habitable – Our Lady of Providence and St. Peter Claver and the two Churches with beautiful, but aging buildings, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Holy Spirit.  This is the final – on paper – step in merging of these four distinct Churches into one new community of the faithful.

In reality, the merging together into one group of followers of the Way, is only in its infancy.  With three predominant languages - English, Spanish and Creole, defined cultural distinctions, - Haitian, South and Central American, old European (Italian, Irish and others) and African-American and differing worship practices (the Mass, may be the Mass everywhere, but our approach to it certainly has diverse local traditions) and separate world needs – immigrant, retired, youth, poor, wealthy and diminishing middle-class, etc., the most encompassing description of us that can be said of people of the new Mother of Mercy parish is that we are all Catholics.

When you come down to it – that is the best description of all.  We are one – holy – catholic and apostolic – One Body in the One Lord, Jesus Christ.

Hail Holy Queen,

Mother of Mercy,

Our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping

In this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,

Thine eyes of mercy towards us.

And after this, our exile,

Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement O loving O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us, oh holy Mother of God. 

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.