From the Pastor January 10/11

Add a Little Nuance 

No sooner had I preached last week’s homily, when I encouraged parishioners with unused religious items such as old palms, devotional prayerbooks, and statutes of saints with one hand broken off, that it was alright to throw them in the trash rather than leave them on the church steps, when I came across a story from Our Sunday Visitor that caused me to think I should add a few stipulations to my comments. 

The story was about a Wisconsin man who regularly drove truckloads of scrap metal from an industrial plant near his home to a recycling facility outside St. Paul, MN. Evidently, while waiting to unload his cargo he would poke around the items left at the scrap yard. While doing that one day, a shiny object caught his eye. He realized it was a bishop’s crosier. He recognized it from his days as an altar boy when he was assigned the duty of holding, this symbol of the office of bishop, which resembles a shepherd’s crook, during Masses his local bishop celebrated in his parish.

The truck driver took it to one of the yard workers. He explained he thought it was a religious item and asked if he could buy it. The employee told him they would have to check with the supervisor. On the truck drivers next visit, he met the supervisor who gave it to him free of charge. The truck driver contacted the police to make sure the item hadn’t been stolen or reported missing. The authorities said they had no reports of anything like it being lost. 

The truck driver had the crosier refurbished and took it the Chancery of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese. No one at the archdiocese recognized it as belonging to any of the former Archbishops or Auxiliary Bishops of the diocese. The truck driver offered it to the archdiocese and the man presented it as a gift to Archbishop Bernard Hebda. 

As I mentioned the bishop’s crosier resembles a shepherd’s crook, the staff with a hooked top a shepherd uses to coxes sheep out of tight spots and back to the herd. Well, that is exactly what this crosier did. The truck driver was brought up Catholic but fell away from the faith decades ago. He explained that a childhood friend was a victim of clergy sexual abuse and had committed suicide. But the man explained his experience of returning the crosier to a place of respect and usefulness had caused him to reconsider the Catholic Church. He has returned to faithful participation at Mass. The crosier literally found a lost sheep and returned him to the flock. 

Now to add a few qualifications to my homily comments about throwing away old religious articles. I didn’t mean crosier, chalices, or other items used in the celebration of the sacraments. If you have such items they should be brought to church. We know how they can be respectfully cared for.

After Mass, a parishioner came to me and spoke about how the Sisters at her grade school had taught her to either burn or bury damaged or old religious items. The rule is, items used in the celebration of the sacraments should be disposed of that way. If your sensibilities urge you to dispose of non-sacramental items by burning or burying them by all means do so. Items such as old crucifixes, you might want to break up the corpus so it is not misused. Other religious items that we referred to as sacramentals, items that point us toward the Sacraments but aren’t used in sacramental celebrations can be disposed of in the trash. 

If you have your mother’s old prayerbook, a sick call kit that has been in the family for a couple of generations, or other religious items, consider passing them on to the next generation. Even if you question the next generations appreciation for them. You never know, they might be like that crosier. They might hook a lost sheep back to the fold. 

Healing Mass for Separated and Divorced

The Divorced and Separated Ministry of the Diocese of Fall River is sponsoring a Mass of Healing at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, 327 Second Street, Fall River on Sunday, January 25, 2026 @ 10 :30 a.m. Very Rev. Jeffrey Cabral, JCL, Judicial Vicar for the diocese will be celebrant. The failure of a marriage can inflict feelings of abandon and hurt on many spouses. For more information, contact Deborah LeDoux, Family and Respect Life Director, at 508-658-2956. 

Annual Wedding Anniversary Celebration

The Fall River Diocese’s annual Wedding Anniversary Celebration will be held at a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, February 8, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. Married couples celebrating significant wedding anniversaries, (including first year) are invited to renew your wedding vows with Bishop Da Chuna at the Mass celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Please call the Parish Office (508)-945-0677 as soon as possible to register for an invitation. The registration deadline is January 16, 2026.

Baby Bottle Boomerang 

January is Sanctity of Life Month. Again, this year Holy Redeemer is conducting a Baby Bottle Boomerang as a fundraiser for Your Options Medical Centers. Your Options is an agency that offers pregnant women services such as free ultrasound tests and counseling to help women considering abortion to know all their options before deciding. Pro-Life people need to be ready to help women with problem pregnancies with prayer and financial resources. We need to meet our words with action.

Parishioners participating in the Boomerang should fill their bottle with the loose change they receive during the month and return it in early February.