Weekly Bulletin


Bulletin for March 16/17, 2024

(A PDF version of the bulletin as printed is available here)


Good News!   The Paulist Center will remain in operation at 5 Park Street!

Members of the General Council reported in a meeting with the other Paulists that they felt the Holy Spirit’s guidance — and all of our prayers — during their deliberation process. The Paulist Fathers’ press release will have more details.  In the short term, the Paulist Center continues on as usual. Holy Week, First Communion, the Auction, and the end of the Family Religious Education Program year will proceed as planned!   The Paulists have decided to transition three of our smaller foundations — including the Paulist Center — to being staffed by one full-time Paulist, with the assistance of some senior priests in residence. At this time, the Paulists are not able to publicly announce who will be serving where, which means that we are not able to publicly announce who the Director of the Paulist Center will be.  Please plan to join us for an all-community meeting this spring (date TBD) as we begin determining together how the Paulist Center Community will operate in the future.


Lay-led Service of Reconciliation and Reflection – This Wednesday

On Wednesday, March 20 at 7pm, please join us in the Chapel for a Lay-led Service of Reconciliation and Reflection. The service will be live-streamed, here is the link.  There will be an opportunity for individual confession with a Paulist or Franciscan priest.


The Olympics in Paris! An Evening Soiree

Paulist Center Auction Updates: Visit the Auction Table After Mass!
With more reasons than ever to celebrate, we hope you will join us for the 41st Annual Paulist Center Auction on Saturday, April 27! Before then you can support this important and fun community building event by donating items for the live or silent auction or becoming a financial sponsor.    We also need people to help sell tickets in the lobby after each Mass. Beginning this weekend you can meet our volunteers at the Auction table in the elevator lobby after each Mass. The Auction table is your one-stop shop to become a financial sponsor, buy raffle or seat tickets or donate! Looking to do these things online? Visit www.paulistcenter.org/Auction2024/ for seat tickets, sign-ups, and Auction FAQs. Contact Auction Co-Chairs Maggie Keefe and Mairead Nolan at auction@paulistcenter.org with any questions.  Let the Games Begin!


Parents’ listening session for grades K-6! – This Sunday, March 17

This Sunday after the 10am Mass in the 3rd Fl Library, please join parents of our kindergarteners through 6th graders for time to talk about what you love about religious education here at the Paulist Center, what could be tweaked, and how our intergenerational and socials went this year.  Looking forward to seeing you! 


Live-Streamed Mass Links

At the time of each livestream, the appropriate Order of Worship will be available at paulistcenter.org/order-of-worship.


Can You Help Buy Supplies for Our Service Project?

Please support the grade 4-6 FREP class, the Junior and Senior Youth Groups and the Immigration Advocacy Group in a service project to create women’s hygiene kits for the migrant shelters supported by Catholic Charities in Brighton and Newton.  Kits will be assembled after the 10am Mass on March 24. We need clean reusable grocery bags, new socks, packs of hair ties, new hair brushes, new hand towels and menstrual pads to assemble 200 kits. You can shop directly for these items on our Amazon wish list (tinyurl.com/yvppcsaj) or you can drop items off in the Mary alcove. We appreciate your help!  This QR code will also bring you to the Amazon wish list!


Flower Donations for the Easter Season

Help us decorate with a lily or other Easter flower in honor of a family member or friend, living or deceased. Suggested donation is $10.  You can contribute: at the front desk, during the week from 10:30am-4:30pm; by using the “Flower Donation” envelopes in the pews; or go to Donate Online, and choose “Flower Donation” and note that it is “in honor of, or in memory of” in the space provided.  Thank You!


Racial Justice Advocacy Group (RJAG)

The next RJAG  meeting is Tuesday, March 19 at 7pm via Zoom.   For the Zoom link, email Tom Sharkey at sharkey.te@verizon.net. All are welcome!


St. Patrick and St. Paul

Fr. Rick Walsh, C.S.P.
Associate Director

I’d like to share a brief reflection on the relationship between two great powerful missionary saints.

St. Paul, the patron saint of our faith community and the Paulist Fathers and St. Patrick, the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Though they lived centuries apart and served Christ in very different climates and cultures, we can see in hindsight how truly alike they were in their work on God’s behalf. The Irish have a word for one who is considered a soulmate or a friend whose soul resonates with our own and that word is Anam Cara.

Both men came to their unique and hazardous vocations in unexpected circumstances. Prior to receiving a calling from Christ Jesus to serve Him they both had good reasons to be at enmity with the groups of people they eventually came to serve on behalf of Christ.

The then-Jewish evangelist and Pharisee, Saul despised believers in Jesus called “People of the Way.” They were hurting the unity of the Jewish people in and around the Mediterranean.

Roman citizen and teenager Patrick was kidnapped by pagan marauders from Eireann and forced him into slavery on the island Romans called Hibernia.

At first at enmity with those at the very least distrusted “others” become kindred fellow workers in God’s vineyard.

Each had the opportunity on numerous occasions to leave the missionary work they were called to, but they came to love the people God asked them to preach to and labor with. Each felt compelled to preach the cross of Christ Jesus and to share with strangers its paradoxical fruit of freedom and life, not slavery and death.

I believe our patron and the patron of the Archdiocese are working on our behalf in ways beyond our understanding that will lead to a sense of freedom and life-giving ministry.


Happy St. Patrick’s (3/17) and St. Joseph’s (3/19) Days to all who celebrate them!

 


Three Upcoming Events for Young Adults (Ages 18-39)

All young adults are welcome to help serve a dignified, sit-down meal for hungry people at our Wednesday Night Supper Club at 5:30pm, Wednesday, March 20.

At 7:00pm, some of us will head up to the chapel for the Reflection & Reconciliation Service.

We’ll have a Bible Study for young adults 6-7pm on Thursday, March 21. Come by any time after 5:30pm to hang out. (We’ll have Trader Joe’s takis!) Walk-ins are welcome, but please email youngadults@paulistcenter.org if you know in advance that you’re coming.

Our next Monthly Dinner (open to people of any age who bring a dish) will be after the 6pm Mass on Palm Sunday, March 24. RSVP at tinyurl.com/YAMPotluck by Friday, March 22.


Stewardship

​The Paulist Center receives no funding from outside sources. All costs to operate our ministries for both members and the wider Boston community, maintain the building, and pay our staff are supported solely by your financial donations. We are so grateful for your financial support!  See paulistcenter.org/give/ways-to-give for a variety of ways to give to the Paulist Center.
Two options include:

Give a one-time or recurring donation using your bank account or credit card by visiting tinyurl.com/DonatePaulistCenter or scanning the QR code on this page outlined in blue. You can use this method for donations for specific programs, too, and, if you are a registered member with us, these donations will be included in a year-end tax statement sent to you for any donations that are tax deductible per IRS regulations. Giving by this method helps us with our budgeting and stewardship efforts.

Use Apple Pay or Google Pay by visiting donorbox.org/paulistcenter, scanning the QR code on the red cards in the pews, or scanning the QR code on this page outlined in red. Please note that these donations will not be included in any year-end giving tax records, and they solely support our general operations.

Community Gift

The Paulist Center gives 5% of our annual offertory to 52 other charitable organizations with missions consonant with our own. These organizations receive an equal amount from our annual offertory.  The weekend of March 16 and 17, we raise up New Entry Food Hub which helps beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers in eastern Massachusetts successfully sell their produce, and to expand access to healthy foods in underserved areas through production of locally grown foods.


Parent Preparation for Infant/Child Baptism

The Paulist Center offers a preparation session on Saturdays, from 10am – 12pm. The next three (3) dates are April 13, May 11 and June 8, at the Paulist Center in the 3rd Fl Library and in the Chapel.  Expecting parents are invited to attend before their child is born/adopted.
To register for the session, please contact Fr. Rick at rick@paulistcenter.org.


Family & Friends Of LGBTQIA Persons – Monthly Meeting

A consortium of seven Boston Catholic communities (including the Paulist Center) hosts a support group for family and friends of LGBTQIA persons at 2pm on the 3rd Sunday of every month.  For the Zoom link to the March 17 meeting, please email lgbtqministry@stanthonyshrine.org


Marriage Preparation Needs Your Help!

Fr. Rick is preparing to contact several couples to assist this important ministry to the Archdiocese of Boston. We are looking at having several couples offer as little as two hours of their time once per year. This will be a great opportunity to meet other couples at the Paulist Center and help develop a much-needed and worthwhile outreach to those preparing for marriage.  You don’t have to wait for Fr. Rick to reach you. Please call him (617-948-2424) if you are able and willing to join him and other couples.


News from our Immigration Advocacy Group!

Thursday, March 28 is Immigrants’ Day at the State House. Immigrants’ Day is a day each spring, in which hundreds of immigrants and refugees come to the State House to hear from public officials and advocate for our communities’ legislative and budget priorities.

We are organizing a Paulist Center presence at the event which takes place from 9 am – 1 pm. Join us to advocate for our pro-immigrant budget and legislative agenda. We’ll advocate for the Safe Communities Act, the Work and Family Mobility Act, the Language Access and Inclusion Act, the Cover All Kids bill, and upcoming FY23 budget campaigns!

Our 3-6th graders and teen groups made some amazing posters this past weekend for us to use.  Please mark your calendars, and stay tuned for more information.

Our Immigration Advocacy Group is also looking to update and expand our list of supporters. Please give us your name, address, and email using this form (information will not be shared with others).  To learn more, check out our updated page on the Paulist Center website.


Low-Gluten Hosts

Low-gluten hosts are available upon request.   Please see the presider in the Chapel or Sacristy fifteen minutes before Mass and indicate where you will be seated in the Chapel so the communion minister in that section will have the low-gluten host for you at communion.


Paulist Center Rosary Circle Intention Form

Do you have a special intention that you would like the Paulist Center Community to pray for?   Our weekly Rosary Circle (see below)  is happy to include your intentions (may be anonymous).   Go here for the form.

Paulist Center Rosary Circle

All are welcome to the Paulist Center Rosary Circle, every Monday at 7:30pm.Zoom linkhttp://bit.ly/RosaryCircle  Meeting ID: 487 503 158   Passcode: 021078