From the desk of Fr. John...

May 27, 2024

Dear Parishioners of Divine Mercy Parish,

It has been on my heart for some time now to write this pastoral letter to you, but I haven’t had the words until just now. Today’s Gospel at daily Mass was the  parable of the rich young man who approaches Jesus and asks “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus challenges him to sell all that he has and give to the poor. Then he tells him, “Come and follow me!” The rich young man becomes very sad and walks away from Jesus for, “he had many possessions”.

As I reflected on this story from Scripture, I realized that it challenges each one of us in three ways. First, it challenges us to accept the fact that we ourselves as creatures are utterly dependent on God’s grace. Second, it calls each one of us to act in accordance with God’s divine will for us. Finally, it dares us to give it all away in a radical act of trust that, paradoxically, will make us richer than our wildest dreams.

This call to accept, to act, and to give from today’s Gospel ties in with something that I have been praying about since my annual retreat a few weeks ago. I spent a great deal of time in prayer thanking God for your many gifts and the blessings that have been bestowed on our now vibrant and thriving parish (and upon me as your pastor as well) over the past two years. From that recognition and acceptance of how powerfully God’s grace has been moving in our parish came a desire to act. A desire to respond, as a parish community, to God’s will for us.

The book of Proverbs tells us to “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your produce; then will your barns be filled with grain, with new wine your vats will overflow.” In this Scripture passage we are given guidance for the way in which to make a radical gift back to God. We do this by offering back to him the “first fruits” (e.g. the choicest and best) of the blessings he has bestowed on us.

For our parish community I believe this is a two-part challenge from the Lord for our Divine Mercy Parish. First, a call to action here and now and second a commitment to the future.

     In Christ's peace,

     Rev. John Larochelle

Dear Parishioners,
This week I would like to update all of you on the status of our two church properties; Saint Theresa’s and Saint Augustine’s. Both properties are still under agreement to be purchased and the buyer is actively working through their due diligence matters in order to close on both properties. This has also necessitated some work on our end as well and I wanted to share that with all of you.

As some of you are already aware, the statues of Saint Therese and the Blessed Mother that were located outside the church have been removed. Both statues are currently in storage in the garage at Divine Mercy where they are being cleaned. In the process of removing the statue of Saint Therese we discovered that she is, in fact, a very old and beautiful statue made of metal and weighing about 600 pounds. We believe that she was imported all the way from France at some point in the past and is probably more than 150 years old. Currently, we are making plans to repair some pre-existing damage and then restore her fully so that all of the beautiful detail on her is fully visible.

In addition, the cornerstone of the building at Saint Theresa has been removed and a time capsule was located inside of it. This time capsule contained the original newspaper articles from the dedication of the building in 1966. Although there was a small amount of water damage these documents are being carefully preserved as part of the history of the parish.

Here too, all statues, including the white marble statue of Saint Augustine have been removed. Currently the statue of Saint Augustine is also stored in the garage here at Divine Mercy and has been carefully cleaned. It will become the center-piece of the side-chapel in the church once the painting has been completed.

The cornerstone of the building at Saint Augustine was also located and removed as well. It also contained a time capsule with newspaper articles and documents from the dedication of the church building 1970. These documents are in good shape and are now being stored in our archives in a fire-proof safe for safekeeping.

Unfortunately, there has been a rumor circulating that the pews at Saint Augustine’s were being broken apart and dumpstered. I want to make clear that every effort has been made to find homes for all of the pews and, as of right now, we believe that the few remaining pews all have a home. None will be broken up and thrown away! While there was a large dumpster at Saint Augustine’s a few weeks ago it was used almost exclusively for cleaning out the rectory, which unfortunately, was left in serious disrepair by a previous tenant.

Furthermore, I want to share that a plan is now in place to safely remove the altar at Saint Augustine’s, along with the matching ambo, baptismal font and tabernacle stand. These stone and marble pieces are being relocated to our parish cemetery where they will be preserved and will provide a place to celebrate Mass on Memorial Day, All Souls’ Day, and other special occasions for our parish. This plan took some time to create due to the weight of the pieces and the complexity involved in safely moving them. This move will be happening in the next 2-3 weeks.

I hope these updates can serve to give all of you peace of mind regarding the preservation of our parishes’ histories. Please know that I consider this work of preservation a serious responsibility and appreciate the trust that has been placed in me as your pastor in working to ensure that this happens.

In Christ's Peace,
Fr. John

Fr. John assisting with the relocation of the St. Augustine altar to St. Paul's Cemetery! Once the project is fully completed, Divine Mercy will begin to hold Special Masses at our cemetery.